Overview |
"Do everything to your best ability with a positive mindset." —Wendy
Shon Seung-wan (Hangul:손승완; born February 21, 1994), better known as Wendy (Hangul: 웬디), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and actress. She is the main vocalist of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet.
Biography
Wendy was born as Shon Seung-wan in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, South Korea. Her family consists of her parents, an affluent couple whose names haven't been revealed to the public, and her sister, Son Seung-hee, who is three years Wendy's senior. Wendy spent most of her childhood years in Cheongju, South Korea.
Wendy aspired to become a singer from the age of six and throughout her life trained to fulfill this goal. She also learned to play the saxophone, piano, flute, and guitar.
At the age of 12, Wendy and her sister moved to live in Canada, and later the USA. Whilst living in North America, Wendy began using the name Wendy Shon and learned to speak English, as well as some French and Spanish. For her education in these countries, she attended Shattuck St Mary's School in Minnesota, USA, and Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, Canada.
After graduating high school in 2012, she moved to South Korea to establish a professional singing career. Prior to this in 2010, she auditioned for the "Koreaboo: Cube Entertainment Global Auditions 2011" with an online audition and was picked from over 5,000 videos by Koreaboo and Cube Entertainment to continue to the final round in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. G.NA personally picked the 15 finalists with Koreaboo to open for her first solo showcase, held in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In 2012, she auditioned at the SM Global Audition in Canada and was recognized for her musicality, being able to play several instruments, as well as having strong vocal skills.
Career
2014: Pre-debut activities
She trained for less than two years before she was introduced as a member of SM Entertainment's pre-debut trainees team SM Rookies on March 14, 2014
As part of SM Rookies, Wendy released the song "Because I Love You" for the soundtrack of the Mnet drama Mimi, which was one of the soundtracks of the Mnet drama series, Mimi, which labelmate Changmin starred in, appearing in the music video as well. A clip of Wendy singing a cover of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" was released on SM Entertainment's official YouTube channel.
2014–2019: Debut with Red Velvet, stage accident
In late-July 2014, Wendy was assigned to represent the color blue and chosen to be the main vocalist of Red Velvet, which debuted on August 1, 2014 with the single "Happiness".
Wendy collaborated with rapper Yuk Ji-dam for the song "Return", one of the OSTs of KBS2's drama Who Are You: School 2015. The song was released on June 8, 2015 and debuted at #31 on the Gaon Singles Chart. She released another song "Let You Know" for the soundtrack of the JTBC drama D-Day on October 16. On January 9, 2016, she became a panelist on We Got Married. On King of Mask Singer (episode 43 aired on January 24, 2016), she participated as a contestant with the stage name "Space Beauty Maetel". Wendy released a collaboration single with Eric Nam titled "Spring Love" on March 4, 2016, as part of SM Entertainment's SM Station project.
On December 25, 2019, Wendy fell from a raised stage while rehearsing for a performance on the year-end show SBS Gayo Daejeon. She fell approximately 2.5 meters (8.2ft) and received multiple injuries, including a broken wrist, fractured pelvis, a cracked cheekbone, and other unspecified facial and bodily injuries. Wendy was subsequently on hiatus for over a year while she recovered.
2021: Return to activities, Wendy's Youngstreet, GOT the beat
On January 1, 2021, Wendy's health hiatus official ended and she returned to idol activities.
On July 12, 2021, Wendy became the DJ host for SBS Power FM's radio show Wendy's Youngstreet, adopting the DJ name "WanD". The show ran for almost two years, until July 2, 2023.
On December 27, 2021, Wendy was revealed alongside Seulgi as one of the members of GOT the beat, the first unit of the project group Girls On Top.[2] The unit debuted on January 3, 2022 with the digital single "Step Back".
2023: First musical role
On June 19, 2023, Wendy confirmed that she had been cast in the role of "I" in the musical Rebecca. She performed from August 19–November 19, 2023.
Filmography
Since her debut, Wendy has appeared on the variety shows, We Got Married, King of Masked Singer, Trick and True, Raid the Convenience Store and Battle Trip. She made a cameo in the series, Descendants of the Sun and made an appearance in the documentary, SMTown: The Stage.
Discography
Mini albums
- Like Water (2021)
- Wish You Hell (2024)
Collaborations
Year | Album | Song | Note |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | SM Station
Season 1 |
"Spring Love" | with Eric Nam |
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" | with Moon Jung Jae and Nile Lee | ||
"Sound of Your Heart" | with Lee Dong Woo, Yesung,
Sunny, Luna, Taeil and Doyoung | ||
2017 | SM Station
Season 2 |
"Doll" | with Kangta and Seulgi |
"The Little Match Girl" | with Baek A Yeon | ||
2018 | "One Summer" | with Yang Da II | |
SM Station X 0 | "Written In The Stars" | with John Legend | |
2019 | SM Station X | "This Is Your Day (for every child, UNICEF)" | with BoA, J-min, Siwon, Sunny,
Taemin, Doyung, and Suho |
2022 | 2022 Winter SMTOWN :
SMCU PALACE |
"Time After Time" | with BoA and Ningning |
Featuring
Year | Album | Artist | Song | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Ricky Martin | Vente Pa' Ca (English Version) | ||
2020 | Never Gonna Dance Again: Act 2 | Taemin | Be Your Enemy | |
2023 | SHALALA - The 1st Mini Album | Taeyong | Move Mood Mode |
OST
Year | Album | Song | Note |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Mimi OST | Because I Love You | Solo |
2015 | Who Are You - School 2015 OST | Return | With Yuk Ji Dam |
D-Day OST | Let You Know | Solo | |
2016 | Uncontrollably Fond OST | Don't Push Me | With Seulgi |
2017 | Hwarang OST | I Can Only See You | |
Elena of Avalor OST | My Time (Korean Version) | Solo | |
2018 | The Beauty Inside OST | Goodbye | |
2019 | Touch Your Heart OST | What If Love | |
2020 | The King: Eternal Monarch OST | My Day is Full of You | with Zico |
Start-Up OST | Two Words |
Credits
✓ = Participates as writing/composer/arrange
✖ = Not participated as writing/composer/arrange
Album | Song | Artist | With | Writing | Composer | Arrange | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | Close To Me (Red Velvet Remix) | Ellie Goulding, Diplo & Red Velvet | Yeri & Lee Seuran | ✓ | ✖ | ✖ | [3] |
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | SMTown: The Stage | Herself | Documentary Film of SM Town |
2020 | Trolls World Tour | Wani | Animated Film |
Queen Poppy | Voice-over of Queen Poppy for the Korean-dubbed version |
Variety Shows
Year | Title | Network | Role | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 100 People, 100 Songs | JTBC | Contestant | with Seulgi |
2015–2016 | We Got Married | MBC | Panelist | |
2016 | Duet Song Festival | Contestant | Paired with Kim Jaegoo, Episode 6 | |
Descendants of the Sun | KBS2 | Herself | Cameo, Episode 16 | |
King of Masked Singer | MBC | Contestant | as "Space Beauty Maetel" (Ep.43) | |
2016–2017 | Trick & True | KBS | Fixed panelist | Since Episode 1 |
2017 | Raid the Convenience Store | tvN | Host | Trial Programming |
K-Rush | KBS | Episodes 1-4 | ||
2018 | Battle Trip | Contestant | with Seulgi (Ep.100–103) | |
2019 | King of Masked Singer | MBC | Contestant | as "Green Witch" (Ep. 225-226) |
2021 | Mysterious Record Shop | JTBC | Host |
Radio DJ
Year | Radio | Channel | Role | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Kiss the Radio | KBS Cool FM | Special DJ | October 13 with Seulgi |
2018 | NCT's Night Night! | SBS Power FM | January 15-18 | |
Young Street |
Endorsements
Year | Brand | Notes |
---|---|---|
2018 | Dongwon Yangban Rice Porridge | with Irene |
Awards and Nominations
Year | Award Show | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 18th Mnet Asian Music Awards | Best Collaboration (with Eric Nam) | Spring Love | Nominated |
2019 | Annual Fresh Asia Music Awards | Top 10 Asia-Pacific Gold Song of the Year | What If Love | Won |
Trivia
- Prior to joining SM Entertainment, Wendy used to upload music videos of her singing on YouTube.
- She can play four musical instruments - piano, flute, saxophone and guitar.
- Being raised in Canada and Minnesota for 7 years, she is the only member who can speak fluent English.
- For that same reason, she can withstand the cold the best, which is the opposite of Irene.
- She is reluctant to speak English in a Korean accent.
- Her sister is a pharmacologist.
- She is known as a "reaction queen".
- She is also known as a chatterbox because once she starts talking, she won't stop. She also writes the longest letters and posts on Instagram.
- The other members picked her as the healthiest member.
- She loves Boba Milk Tea.
- She has also been chosen as the most forgetful member.
- She possesses a 4-octave vocal range that spans from Eb3-Eb7.
- She tried out for Cube Entertainment before making it as a trainee at SM Entertainment in 2012.
- In 2012, she got 2nd in a Fantastic Baby cover song contest.
- She was a member of the Richmond Hill HS Show Choir and participated as a soprano.
- She trained for 1.5 years under SM Entertainment, being cast in 2012.
- She can imitate Christina Confalonieri, Louis Armstrong and Lil' Wayne.
- Her favorite number is 77, which is also her representative number.
- She represents the color of blue.
- Her designated animal is squirrel since Summer Magic era. Prior to that, it would be deer since her debut.
- Her representative fruit is blue-flesh orange.
- Her representative weapon is a pair of scissors.
- Her representative drink is Blue Crush.
- Her designated chess position is being a bishop.
- She used to share a room with Seulgi, but she now has her own room. Her room is the smallest in the new dorm.
- She knew she wanted to become a singer since 5.
- Her habit is moving her eyebrows around a lot.
- Her zodiac sign is a Pisces, her Chinese zodiac sign is a Dog.
- She was born the same year as Seulgi.
- Everyone says she's one of the kindest person they know, and was given the nickname of Wenresa, a play on Wendy and Mother Teresa, on Level Up Project.
- She used to post/upload videos on Youtube, but had to delete her account after joining SM, but some videos of her singing have been re-uploaded by fans.
- She said that the members helped her a lot when she was training and that they are her family.
- She is close friend's with Gugudan's Sejeong.
- Had she not pursued a career in entertainment or got scouted by SM, Wendy would like to be a dentist.
Gallery
To view the Wendy gallery, click here.
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References
Wendy | ||
---|---|---|
Red Velvet • GOT the beat | ||
Mini-albums | Like Water • Stamp on It • Wish You Hell | |
OSTs | Because I Love You • Don't Push Me • I Can Only See You • Goodbye • What If Love • My Day is Full of You • Two Words | |
Collaborations | Spring Love • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas • Sound of Your Heart • The Little Match Girl • One Summer • Written In The Stars • Be Your Enemy • This Is Your Day • Miracle | |
Radio | Wendy's Youngstreet | |
Theater | Rebecca |