Park Chun-seok, the 80-year-old Korean Trot composer of around 2700 songs, died in his home on March 14, according to the Korean Herald. He was at the end of a 16 year battle with a stroke he had in 1994. His brother, Park Geum-suk, also a pianist and songwriter, cared for Park until he passed.
Encouraged by veterans Gil Ok-yoon and Benny Kim, Park started his career as a pianist at the famed Gold Club in Seoul's Myeong-dong district. The scene was the exciting post-war 1950s, and our young musician was only out of high school. He attended the prestigious Seoul National Univeristy, to study piano for a year, then dropped out.
The pioneer of Korea trot penned his first hit in 1954 with 'Elegy for a Sunset.' Then followed a flood of hits including trot classics, 'Arirang Mokdog,' 'Rain Down on the Honam Ferry' and 'Spring on the 38th Parallel.' He is known for his 40-year musical partnership with trot artist Lee Mi-ja who sang over 500 songs of Park's songs. A fourth of her own hits is owed to the prolific songwriter.
Park, the first Korean songwriter to work overseas, broke into the Japanese market in 1978. He created songs for Columbia Records No. 1 recording artist in Japan, Hibari Misora. The 60s and 70s were the height of his career, establishing Park as a trot icon, as he wrote hits for legends Patty Kim, Nam Jin and Na Hoon-aah. Park also holds the highest record with Korea Music Copyright Association for registering 1,152 songs.
Born in Seoul in May 8, 1930, the lifelong bachelor once remarked that he was "married to music."
Encouraged by veterans Gil Ok-yoon and Benny Kim, Park started his career as a pianist at the famed Gold Club in Seoul's Myeong-dong district. The scene was the exciting post-war 1950s, and our young musician was only out of high school. He attended the prestigious Seoul National Univeristy, to study piano for a year, then dropped out.
The pioneer of Korea trot penned his first hit in 1954 with 'Elegy for a Sunset.' Then followed a flood of hits including trot classics, 'Arirang Mokdog,' 'Rain Down on the Honam Ferry' and 'Spring on the 38th Parallel.' He is known for his 40-year musical partnership with trot artist Lee Mi-ja who sang over 500 songs of Park's songs. A fourth of her own hits is owed to the prolific songwriter.
Park, the first Korean songwriter to work overseas, broke into the Japanese market in 1978. He created songs for Columbia Records No. 1 recording artist in Japan, Hibari Misora. The 60s and 70s were the height of his career, establishing Park as a trot icon, as he wrote hits for legends Patty Kim, Nam Jin and Na Hoon-aah. Park also holds the highest record with Korea Music Copyright Association for registering 1,152 songs.
Born in Seoul in May 8, 1930, the lifelong bachelor once remarked that he was "married to music."
J. Tune Entertainment told 
