Lee Tae-min

Taemin was born on July 18, 1993, in Seoul, South Korea. Little is known about his family. He has an older brother named Lee Taesun. There are rumours about his father being a history teacher but that has not been proven true.

Out of all the members of Shinee, Taemin’s family was reportedly the least well-off. He did not have an MP3 player as a child and used to walk around with a set of headphones with the connector tucked into his pocket and not plugged into anything.

In the early years of his life, he had aspirations of becoming a pilot. He then became interested in dancing and was inspired by Michael Jackson. His parents recognized his talents and urged him to audition during the 2005 SM Open Weekend Audition Casting. He did and was subsequently selected.

Taemin initially attended Chungdam High School, in Seoul, but later dropped out and enrolled at Hanlim Multi Art School as it was better suited for the hectic schedule he had to maintain for Shinee's Japanese advancement, graduating in February 2012. However, he could not attend the graduation ceremony due to group activities. At present, he is studying musical and film at Myongji University.

In 2008, the K-pop group Shinee was formed with Taemin, Onew, Key, Minho, and Jonghyun by SM Entertainment, who marketed the group as a contemporary R&B boy band. They made their debut in May 2008 with the EP ‘Replay’. About five months later, in August 2018, they released their first studio album, ‘The Shinee World’.

In 2009, the group put out two EPs, ‘Romeo’ and ‘2009, Year of Us’. They then released their second studio album, ‘Lucifer’, which topped the Korean music chart and sold over 250 thousand units in Korea and 30 thousand units in Taiwan.

On December 26, 2010, the group embarked on their inaugural concert tour, Shinee World. This eventually led to their performance at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul on January 1, 2011.

Shinee subsequently went on a Japan tour and took part in the Japan leg of SMTown Live '10 World Tour in Tokyo. On 19 June 2011, Shinee became the first Asian group in history to entertain an audience at Abbey Road Studios in London.

On June 22, 2011, the group released the Japanese version of ‘Replay’, making their debut in the Japanese music scene. It was a massive success, having sold over 100 thousand copies. The group’s first Japanese album was ‘The First’, which was released in December 2011.

In August 2014, Taemin started off his solo career with the release of ‘Ace’, an extended play with six tracks. It topped the South Korean music charts and at the United States of America, it peaked at the number two spot. It also earned Taemin two Golden Disk Awards, Bonsang (main prize) and Inkisang (popularity award) in 2015.

He put out his first studio album, titled ‘Press It’, in February 2016. In the following year, he released ‘Move’, his second studio album. It peaked at the number two spot on the Korean chart and at the number three spot on the US chart. The reissue album ‘Move-ing’ was released in December 2017 and it peaked at the number three spot on the Korean chart.

Taemin has also put out two more extended plays: ‘Sayonara Hitori’ (2016) and ‘Flame of Love’ (2017). In November 2017, his only video album to date, ‘Taemin The 1st Stage Nippon Budokan’, was released.