Mark Lee (singer)

Mark Lee (born August 2, 1999), known professionally as Mark, is a Canadian rapper and singer-songwriter based in South Korea. He is best known as a member of the South Korean boy group NCT and its sub-units NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream. Mark made his debut in April 2016 as a member of rotational unit NCT U, became a member of Seoul-based fixed unit NCT 127 in July 2016 and also a member of NCT Dream in August 2016. In October 2019, Mark debuted as a member of the supergroup SuperM.

Mark Lee
이마크
Mark Lee in October 2018
Born	Mark Lee (1999-08-02) August 2, 1999 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Other names	Lee Min-hyung
Education	School of Performing Arts Seoul
Occupation	Rapper singer songwriter
Musical career
Genres	K-pop hip-hop
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2013–present
Labels	SM Avex Trax Capitol
Associated acts	NCT NCT 127 NCT U NCT Dream SuperM SM Rookies SM Town
Korean name
Hangul	이민형
Hanja	李敏亨
Revised Romanization	I Minhyeong
McCune–Reischauer	Yi Minhyŏng
Stage name
Hangul	마크
Revised Romanization	Ma Keu
McCune–Reischauer	Ma K'ŭ

Career

2013–2015: SM Rookies

In 2012, Mark joined SM Entertainment after passing the SM Global Audition in Canada in 2010.

In December 2013, Mark was introduced as a member of SM Rookies, a pre-debut training team managed by SM Entertainment.[1]

In 2014, Mark appeared on Exo 90:2014, a reality TV Show starring Exo, alongside other members of the SM Rookies program, where they performed songs and recreated music videos of prominent 90s K-pop idols.[2]

In 2015, Mark appeared on Disney Channel Korea's The Mickey Mouse Club as a Mouseketeer alongside other members of the SM Rookies program, some of which are currently in NCT Dream. The show aired from July 23 to December 17, 2015 and was hosted by Leeteuk of Super Junior.[3]

2016–present: NCT and solo endeavors

In April 2016, SM Entertainment confirmed Mark alongside five other members of the SM Rookies program to debut as members of NCT and its first subgroup, NCT U. On April 9, Mark, alongside Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten and Jaehyun debuted with the digital single "The 7th Sense", which he and Taeyong participated in the writing of.[4]

In July 2016, SM confirmed Mark as a member of NCT's second subgroup, NCT 127, alongside Taeyong, Taeil, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin and Haechan. NCT 127 made their official debut with NCT #127 and title track "Fire Truck" on July 10, 2016.[5]

In August 2016, SM confirmed Mark as a member of NCT's third subgroup, NCT Dream, alongside Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. The group made their official debut on August 24, 2016, with the single "Chewing Gum".

In September 2016, Mark featured on Henry Lau's "Going Through Your Heart", an original soundtrack for the KBS drama, Sweet Stranger and Me.[6] This marked his first solo endeavour since debuting under NCT.

In January 2017, Mark joined High School Rapper, a survival hip hop reality TV show which aired on Mnet.[7] He made it to the finals and performed an original song, "Drop" featuring labelmate, Seulgi of Red Velvet. He subsequently placed 7th overall.[8]

In July 2017, Mark collaborated with Exo's Xiumin on single, Young & Free. The single was released through Season 2 of SM Entertainment's digital music project SM Station.[9] In the same month, Mark appeared in the first season of the music variety show Snowball Project. He teamed up with Park Jae-jung and released "Lemonade Love" on July 21, also through SM Station, which was produced by former labelmate Henry Lau and Yoon Jong-shin.[10]

In February 2018, Mark was named as one of the main emcees of the music program Show! Music Core. He subsequently left the program in January 2019 to focus on activities with NCT 127.[11] In May 2018, he became a regular cast member on the MBC reality TV show It's Dangerous Beyond The Blankets.[12] In October 2018, Mark released the song "Dream Me" with Red Velvet's Joy for the soundtrack of the KBS drama The Ghost Detective.

On December 31, 2018, Mark became the first member to officially graduate from NCT Dream.[13] He would later rejoin the group in 2020.[14]

On August 7, 2019, Mark was confirmed as a member of SuperM, a "K-pop supergroup" created by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The group's promotions began in October and were focused at the American market.[15][16] SuperM's self-titled debut EP was released on October 4, 2019 with lead single "Jopping".[17]

In April 2020, it was announced by SM Entertainment that Mark would re-join and take part in NCT Dream future activities, as the sub-unit was to evolve from its prior youth concept with its age-based graduation system to be abolished.[14] This will bring back the original line-up of NCT Dream including Mark, commonly referred to as "7Dream".[18]

Discography

Main articles: NCT discography and SuperM § Discography

Songs

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Sales	Album
		KOR Gaon [19]	US World [20]
As lead artist
"Drop" (두고가) (featuring Seulgi)	2017	93	—	KOR: 46,443[21]	School Rapper FINAL
Collaborations
"Young & Free" (with Xiumin)	2017	31	6	KOR: 72,133[22]	SM Station Season 2
"Lemonade Love" (with Park Jae-jung)		197	17	N/A
Soundtrack appearances
"Going Through Your Heart" (with Henry)	2016	—	—	N/A	Sweet Stranger and Me OST
"Dream Me" (나라는 꿈) (with Joy)	2018	—	—		The Ghost Detective OST

Filmography

Main article: NCT videography

Television shows

Year	Title	Network	Role	Notes	Ref.
2017	High School Rapper	Mnet	Contestant		[7]
	Snowball Project	Naver TV	Cast member		[10]
2018–2019	Show! Music Core	MBC	Co-host	with Ong Seong-wu and Kang Mi-na	[11]
2018	It's Dangerous Beyond The Blankets	MBC	Main cast	Ep. 8–10 (Season 2)	[12]

Music videos

Title	Year
"Young & Free" (with Xiumin)	2017
"Lemonade Love" (with Park Jae-jung)

Awards and nominations

See also: List of awards and nominations received by NCT

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2018	18th MBC Entertainment Awards	Rookie Award in Music / Talk Show – Male	Show! Music Core	Nominated

References

1. Jeon, Won (December 13, 2013). "'SM루키즈' 마크·지성·한솔 전격공개, 안무가 토니테스타 극찬" (in Korean). MyDaily. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
2. Kim, Sara (October 4, 2014). "[어저께TV] '엑소902014' K팝 시험, 90 반갑고 2014 새롭고" (in Korean). Osen. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
3. Hwang, Geung-ji (July 9, 2015). "디즈니채널, 한국판 '미키마우스클럽' 제작 'SM 루키즈 출연'" (in Korean). TV Report. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
4. Son, Ji-hyoung (April 6, 2016). "NCT U confirms lineup, set to unveil singles 'The 7th Sense,' 'Without You'". The Korea Herald. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
5. "NCT 127 전곡 음원 공개, 보너스트랙까지 총 7곡 수록". Herald Corporation (in Korean). July 10, 2016.
6. "헨리X마크 '우사남' OST '니 맘에 들어갈래' 26일 자정 공개". Sports Dong-a (in Korean). Retrieved August 9, 2020.
7. "NCT 127 마크, 고교 랩 대항전 '고등래퍼' 출전". 뉴스1 (in Korean). 2017-01-09. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
8. "Mnet 측 "'고등래퍼' 시즌2 확정, 올 수능 이후 제작 돌입" (공식입장)". www.xportsnews.com (in Korean). 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
9. "엑소 시우민·NCT 마크, 'SM스테이션'으로 스페셜 듀오 결성" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-06-29.
10. ""눈덩이 출격"...박재정X마크, '레모네이드 러브' 오늘(21일) 발표". n.news.naver.com (in Korean). July 21, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
11. "옹성우·미나·마크, '음악중심' 新 MC 발탁 [공식]". Herald Corporation (in Korean). January 26, 2018.
12. "MBC 측 "NCT 마크 '이불밖은 위험해' 출연 논의중"". Osen. May 3, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
13. ""[공식입장] NCT 마크, 올해 마지막으로 NCT DREAM 졸업…졸업송 수록"". newsen (in Korean). August 26, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
14. "NCT Dream Set New Album 'Reload,' Scrap Age-Based System With Return of Mark". Billboard. 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
15. Benjamin, Jeff (7 August 2019). "Super M, 'The Avengers Of K-Pop,' Unveiled By SM Entertainment And Capitol Music Group". Forbes. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
16. "SM Entertainment and Capitol Records Team Up to Launch Super M". Billboard. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
17. "SuperM Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart With 'The 1st Mini Album'". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
18. Halliwell, Kate (May 8, 2020). "How K-Pop's NCT Dream Became Too Big to Deny". The Ringer. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
19. "Gaon Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean).
20. "World Digital Songs". Billboard.
21. Cumulative sales for "Drop":
    • "Gaon Download Chart, Week 13". Gaon Music Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
    • "Gaon Download Chart, Week 14". Gaon Music Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
22. Cumulative sales for "Young & Free":
    • "2017 Gaon Download Chart – Week 27". Retrieved 2017-07-31.
    • "2017 Gaon Download Chart – Week 28". Retrieved 2017-07-31.

External links