"Lee Soo Man resisted the title at first. "King of K-pop" sounded too brash, too nightclub-esque - like something you'd see on a neon sign in Itaewon, a nightlife neighborhood in the South Korean capital Seoul once popular with U.S. soldiers and foreign visitors. "I asked them, 'Couldn't it be Father of K-pop?'" the 73-year-old recalled during a recent interview with The Associated Press. He was discussing the title of Amazon Prime's documentary about his career."
"The compromise speaks to Lee's pragmatic approach to breaking South Korean acts into the American mainstream - a three-decade quest that often required him to bend but never break his vision. Now, as the founder of SM Entertainment and widely credited as the architect of K-pop's global expansion, Lee will be inducted into the Asian Hall of Fame on Saturday alongside basketball legend Yao Ming, Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, and rock icon Yoshiki, among others."
Lee Soo Man initially resisted the title "King of K-pop" and suggested "Father of K-pop" before relenting to producers' preference for a bolder moniker. He pursued a three-decade effort to break South Korean acts into the American mainstream, adapting tactics while maintaining his vision. He founded SM Entertainment and is widely credited with architecting K-pop's global expansion. His label pioneered intensive training systems recruiting performers as young as elementary school age, prompting contract disputes and debates over industry practices. He departed SM after a contentious management battle and has since debuted a new band, A2O MAY, and invested in Chinese production technologies. He was born in South Korea and studied computer engineering in the U.S. for his master's degree.
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