Soulman Profile & Facts
Soulman (소울맨) is a South Korean singer who made his official solo debut on January 11, 2010 with “Love Is On.”
Stage Name Meaning: It derives from “Soulman Joe,” one of the artists who is present in Mariah Carey‘s discography.
Official SNS:
Facebook: 강태우 (Soulman)
X: soulmankang
Instagram: soulman80
Stage Name: Soulman (소울맨)
Birth Name: Kang Tae-woo (강태우)
Birthday: October 23, 1980
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Monkey
Height: N/A
Weight: N/A
Blood Type: N/A
MBTI Type: N/A
Nationality: Korean
Soulman Facts:
— He is/was a Practical Music guest professor at Kukje University of Arts.
— He is/was also a vocal adjunct professor at Korea Gaon Arts College.
— He dropped out of high school, but prefers not disclosing why.
— He has been singing since he was young.
— His mother contributed to his involvement in music and art. She used to sing while playing the piano. She graduated from an art college and took piano lessons at home.
— He was also meant to learn to play the piano at first, but, because of his self-described small, hard to stretch hands, he ended up playing the cello instead.
— He was a member of the Black gospel group Heritage (also known as Legacy of Faith; 2003) and the R&B group SoulSighty (2005), as well as the project group Soulman & Minos (2007).
— He’s considered one of the best vocalists in South Korea. His explosive and slick vocals are praised not only by music fans, but also by fellow musicians.
— He’s also been active in the popular music scene as a chorus recording session vocalist.
— He originally didn’t have a huge aspiration to become a musician. However, he was given an environment where he could continue to sing, which is why he believes he naturally came this far. Therefore, he thinks he’s very lucky.
— He started music as a member of an a cappella club, as a hobby. While he was a member, people from the nearby R&B club would ask him to collaborate, to which he’d ask that favor back (to take part in an a cappella album).
— At first, he didn’t really have a dream. Singing is what shaped it.
— The first album he ever bought was the OST for the movie Sound of Music. He also bought a lot of pop albums after listening to Music Camp by Bae Chulsoo, which he’d listen to a lot as he grew up.
— One of his best friends is fellow singer Junggigo. He’s also close to Addsp2ch.
— He first met Addsp2ch at a drinking party and he felt so good that they became close. He thinks Addsp2ch is “such a nice little brother” and takes care of him despite all the teasing.
— He once listened to an album by DEEZ and felt “stimulated” by it.
— He isn’t an artist who feels the urge to have a lot of releases in a short span of time because he’s more of a vocalist and need a lot of staff to produce, such as composers or lyricists.
— He thinks an album is a window where a singer can show oneself. He isn’t usually anxious about releasing music because he know from past experience that being “greedy” doesn’t mean an album will come out more quickly.
— He believes the most common topic of vocal music is love while admitting it can become repetitive.
— He doesn’t watch movies. He ascribes that to the fact that he’s a very empathetic person. An example to that is on the movie Gladiator, where the main character faced stabbing. Soulman doesn’t really like being sensitive, which also contributes to his stance of not watching movies.
— On the other hand, he does watch dramas. He can understand them because their plots and characters typically develop in the span of 8 to 16 episodes, whereas, in a movie, a character has to be developed in merely an hour and a half to two hours, which makes it harder for him to understand them even if he can relate to them and, as a result, to prepare for the feelings caused by watching the movie.
— Before debuting, he was active under his birth name Kang Taewoo. He was featured in tracks by Junglim, Cho PD, and other hip-hop artists.
— His favorite work he was featured in is “M.S. & S.M” by Soul Dive.
— Most of the musicians he’s close with are people he really admires musically. In particular, he enjoys Soul Dive’s soul songs.
— Two vocalists he really appreciates are Rahsaan Patterson and Yang Heeeun.
— He wants to feel more comfortable the day he sings anything than the day before. He wants to express as much as he can without stress while singing.
— When asked if there are any pros and cons to pursuing a specific style (in terms of difference between the hip hop scene and the ballad scene), he admitted he hadn’t really thought about it. That’s because he’s convinced he’s gonna sing for the rest of his life.
— He doesn’t think there’s a genre for vocals. He admits there’s a genre for hip-hop as well as there being a rap and a hip-hop scene.
— In his opinion, the reason why there’s no vocal scene is because there are so many genres in vocals that it’s hard to limit them all to a vocal scene. On the other hand, rap is a part of hip-hop culture.
— He thinks he should show many different sides as a vocalist. As such, he doesn’t want to limit his music to just R&B and Neo-Soul.
— Even though his stage name is Soulman, he doesn’t think it’s limited to the genre of soul. He just wants people to think of him as a singer.
— While he doesn’t think being part of a group or a duo is the most suitable option to him, he’s open to trying it if there’s a vocalist who matches his style.
— He was nominated for three Korean Popular Music Awards for his 2007 album Coffee Calls Cigarette with hip-hop storyteller Minos.
— In 2015, he won the Performer of the Year Award (Chorus category) at the 4th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards.
— If he had to choose the best song he’s ever sung, he’d go for “Fade Out – Stolen Moments,” a song he took part in with Minos.
— He chose that specific song because he’d poured all his heart in it, while also pointing out there aren’t a lot of songs he feels he put his whole heart in.
— He revealed that his collaboration project with Minos came out of an impromptu suggestion.
— He believed that the collaboration with Minos wouldn’t work very well, but there was a charm of Minos that he wouldn’t have felt hadn’t they collaborated together.
— At first, he didn’t think the curse words on Minos’ lyrics would be “attractive.” When he did, however, he realized that they had a role in shaping the meaning of the lyrics as a whole.
— He and Minos lived together for a period.
— Unlike other musicians, who at the time complained about the system of the domestic music market, he didn’t really pay attention to it and just went his own way instead.
— Rather than complaining, he’s “grateful that someone like him releases singles.” He thinks it’s “amazing” when anyone listens to and looks for his music.
— He wants to be remembered as a vocalist who does a variety of music. More specifically, he wants people to remember his voice when it comes to “Soulman,” and not simply associate it to a genre (ex. R&B, ballad, etc.)
— He doesn’t want to tell listeners he’s the one who “spearheads domestic R&B.”
— He doesn’t think music is about winning gold and silver medals, but it’s about how one can express oneself through it. He’d like to “be one of a bunch of stars that are twinkling, if not really bright, in the sky.” Like, “There’s still that star there.”
— He thinks music plays an important role in his life. In his mind, he just wants to wake up and sing, and not get stressed out from practice.
— He believes that, if he thought his job were to be a musician, he wouldn’t care about criticism as much as he’d expect.
— In his opinion, the “top 5 vocal albums of his life” are, in order: The Preacher’s Wife OST (Whitney Houston), Waiting to Exhale OST, Music Box (Mariah Carey), Sound of Music OST and 1991 (Yang Heeeun).
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(Special thanks to this interview for the additional info)
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