I. Introduction
Born Son Yeon-ok, on November 13th, 1982. Now going by Geumbi Yeon-ok (금비) formerly known by the stage names Geum B, Golden Rain and Sua, is a South Korean trot singer.
II. Career History
She originally debuted for the first time, in co-ed group Lexa in November 2001 at the age of 17, just a few days shy of her 18th birthday. Despite carrying the title of the visual of the group and being loved to this day for her natural beauty, female staffers at her label would tell her when she was freshly 18 years old, that she was at risk at being considered obese and would take food from her. Then telling her she needed to not eat, leading to the young idol collapsing many times on the way to schedules and music show performances. She would eventually have to be hospitalized frequently until the dissolvement of the group.
In 2003, after being released from legal obligations to her old management, and Lexa having officially disbanded in mid 2002, she would replace Subin in the group Turtles, and become an essential part of the most famous line up of the group. Prior to being offered the position by Lim Seonghoon aka the Turtleman himself, she would audition to many entertainment companies and be rejected relentlessly.
She received a lot of love and kindness from the public for her singing ability, pretty appearance, and maknae position. The title track songs from their 2nd to 5th albums were very successful, especially the Turtles 4th album, Airplane, which was their first No. 1 after debut. However, on April 2, 2008, while promoting her 5th album follow-up song 'My Name', the leader Turtleman died suddenly.
Geumbi took the loss extremely hard, so much that she stopped all her broadcasts and moved away. During this time, severe depression came and she didn't want to sing ever again. Geumbi states "I tried to live a normal life by writing my resume several times to find another job, but I accidentally found Insooni. While watching their concert, I was thinking that I wanted to sing again, and I received encouragement from Insooni that I would do well if I trot. " Isooni was an 1970s disco pop queen who transitioned to R&B then Korean trot music and is currently an member of JYP Entertainment group the Golden Girls, whom Geumbi looks up to.
In 2010, Geumbi started her solo career with the semi-trot song 'Kongdak Kongdak'. Following deliberation with Turtleman Lim Seonghoon's family and fellow member G.I., at Geumbi's request, Turtles would reform in his honor with a new member, Kang Lee. He was not completely new to the industry or the Turtles group. He had worked with Turtles on production of some of their OSTs in 2007, and was a former trainee who was set to originally be in the lineup for g.o.d., alongside his childhood friend Taewoo Kim. He would appear on their song "Faster" under the stage name Yubi in 2009. After recruiting Lee Kang, the group was successfully reorganized as a three-member group in April 2011, and resumed group activities with the title song 'Heroine'. However, the short reunion of 5 months came to an end due to economic problems and members' personal circumstances as the members were funding the reunion with no help from their label. After that, both Geumbi and Lee Kang, left the entertainment industry and worked 9-5 careers, but in April 2019, Geumbi released a solo sound sample and made a comeback to the entertainment industry after 8 years.
On July 30th, 2019, Geumbi would be named the public relations ambassador for Danyang-gun, South Korea.
On October 22nd, 2019, Geumbi co-founded GB Entertainment, which bears a reference to her name. She is focusing on her acting activities and is expanding her field of activity as an MC for an economy educational channel. Geumbi still to this day holds pride in the fact that she performed all music broadcasts and stages live, and has never lip-synced even when not healthy. She would also become very open around this time about having received a rhinoplasty to increase her confidence and that she had to tan extensively during her past years in the spot light as she is naturally porcelain not tan. She also sees no shame in admitting to having cosplayed characters in the past, including at one point two characters from the show that inspired her original debut group.
In 2022, she would appear on an Korean Newlyweds program, showing her new home in the Haeundae Doosan Zenith with her husband. She would give birth to their first daughter shortly after.
III. Solo Discography
IIII. Studio Albums
The Rebirth [2010.03.19]
IIIII. Singles
Kongdak Kongdak [2010.03.19]
Remember the Time [2019.04.22]
Kongdak Kongdak (2023 Remix) [2023.09.05]
IV. Filmography
IVI. Variety Shows
Turtle Geumbi's 'Popular' Real Estate [2019-present on Seoul Economy TV]
The Masked Singer [2019]
20th Century Hitsong [2020]
AI Music Project “Once More Time” [2020]
IVII. Dramas
MBC's Second Husband [2021]
