Cho Duk-bae
The songs he sang from a chair onstage were sung again, thirty years later, in the voices of a younger generation.
At a glance 🔭💭
Some coordinates adapted from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) · Pleiades (CC BY 3.0)
People around him ⏳🌊
- FamilyCho Bong-gu
His uncle, who led the Samho Group. The group's dissolution was what set his nephew Cho Duk-bae on the path to becoming a singer.
- FriendshipJo Sung-mo
On his 2005 remake album he sang “If You Come Into My Heart” together with its original singer, Cho Duk-bae, and made it the title track.
- InfluenceIU
In 2014 she included “My Old Story” on “A Flower Bookmark,” carrying his songs over to the streaming generation.
I. A boy in Seoul · 1959–1977
(Birth) He was born on August 21, 1959, in Seoul, South Korea. His family seat was the Hanyang Cho clan. His family belonged to the Samho Group, which until the early 1980s controlled thirteen affiliated companies, and his uncle was the group's chairman, Cho Bong-gu. In a Seoul not yet ten years past the war, he grew up as the son of a household that wanted for nothing. (Polio) As a child he contracted polio, which left him without free use of his lower body. This would later define how he appeared onstage. He sang seated all his life, and that image of him singing became the image of Cho Duk-bae himself. Little has been made public about his parents and siblings. (Painting) He is known to have graduated from the Hanheung Art School (today's Seoul Art High School). How a boy who studied art came to write songs is not recorded in detail. Still, in the way his songs unfold their stories as if painting a scene, one can glimpse the training of someone who learned to draw. (Unrequited love) The lyrics of his signature song, “In a Dream,” are said to have begun as something he wrote in middle school. He had only ever gazed through the window at a girl next door, never managing to call out to her, and he is said to have written it upon hearing she had moved away. A teenager's shy sense of loss became, a decade or so later, his most famous song.
II. A fallen house, a first record · 1978–1985
(Business) Before becoming a singer, he is said to have served as head of Samho Camu, one of the group's affiliates. Singing was still a hobby, and his future seemed to lie in the family business. (Dissolution) In 1984, during the Fifth Republic under the new military regime, the Samho Group was dissolved. On MBC's “Come to Play” in 2011, he said in his own words that in the Fifth Republic years the company was broken up overnight, and that after it went bankrupt he officially released his first album and went after his dream. It is also said that he funded the production of his first record by cashing in promissory notes left over after the group's collapse. (Debut) He debuted in 1985 with his first studio album. Its track “My Old Story” won the love of young listeners. In this song, which looks back calmly on days gone by, lay the circumstances of a man who had just lost a great house. Yet he never laid those circumstances bare, unfolding them instead like one person's memories. (The era) 1985 was the year Deulgukhwa released their debut album, and the year that those who wrote and sang their own songs began moving to the center of Korean popular music. Music spread on LPs and cassette tapes, and through late-night music programs on the radio.
A track from the 1st album he released just after his family's fortunes collapsed. It was a song that looked back on days gone by, yet instead of resentment or lament it chose a tone of calm remembrance.
- A modest analog band recording built around acoustic guitar and keyboards. It sounds like something poised between folk and ballad in the mid-1980s.
- Cho Duk-bae's voice never forces or shouts; it flows low, almost as if speaking. That composure is what gives this song of remembrance its feeling.
- It is worth hearing alongside the version IU sang in 2014 on “A Flower Bookmark.” The difference is striking: the same melody turns from a man's monologue into a young woman's reminiscence.
- The melody lodges so easily in the ear that in 2007 it was caught up in a dispute over its resemblance to a commercial jingle. The progression of the refrain (chorus) is especially memorable.
III. In a Dream · 1986–1988
(In a Dream) In 1986 “In a Dream,” the title track of his 2nd album, made his name widely known. The lyrics, which began as something he wrote in middle school, were refined into the monologue of a narrator who can meet a longed-for person only in a dream. Its way of speaking, tender but never clinging, matched the mood of the young people of that era. (Piano) The piano on this song is said to have been played by keyboardist Lee Ho-joon, composer of Cho Yong-pil's “Friend.” A piano accompaniment close to classical music, rare in the pop songs of the time, carried the whole piece. Thanks to it, Cho Duk-bae's voice came through clearly without any grand arrangement. (Seated) He sang sitting on a chair on stage, cradling his guitar. At a time when stages for standing and dancing were beginning to multiply, his was a quiet one. Even so, many people remembered that quietness for a long time. From around then, critics began to say that his voice was steeped in han (恨). (Paralympics) He took the stage at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Summer Paralympics. It was the final day of the games for athletes with disabilities, held after the Olympics. That a singer who had lived and sung with polio stood in that place carried a social meaning beyond his personal career. He later received the Korea Disability Culture and Arts Award.
The title track of his 2nd album, said to have grown out of something he wrote in middle school while nursing a crush on a girl next door. It fixed his name in the public mind.
- The piano that carries the song is said to have been played by keyboardist Lee Ho-joon, composer of Cho Yong-pil's “Friend.” It is an accompaniment close to classical music, rare in pop songs of the time.
- It is the monologue of a narrator who meets a longed-for person in a dream. The voice never swells, continuing almost in a whisper, and opens up only slightly in the refrain (chorus).
- His seated singing mixes in more breath than the power pushed up from the belly. That breathiness deepens the song's tenderness.
- In 2016 it was sung again by Solar of Mamamoo, and by Jung Yup on “I Am a Singer,” among others, reaching a generation that had never known the original.
IV. Sad songs and love songs · 1988–1993
(3rd album) Around 1988 he released his 3rd album. It was followed by a record collecting earlier songs and new ones under the name of album 3.5. The records of this period are hard to sort out, and release years differ from source to source: 1988, 1991, 1993. Music streaming sites list it as a 1991 release. (Sorrow) “I Won't Sing Sad Songs,” the signature song of album 3.5, is a kind of vow from its title on. It sounds like a man who has mostly sung of parting and longing now saying he will walk out of sorrow. That is why it reads like a turning point in his catalogue. (His wife) “If You Come into My Heart,” released in the same period, is a song he wrote and composed himself. It is said to have been written for his wife. The arrangement is said to have been by Byun Sung-yong. Some sources date the original release to 1989 and others to 1991. Its way of confession, approaching with care someone who has entered one's heart, became the ground on which singers of many later generations would sing it again and again. (Ballads) Around 1990 was the age of the ballad, led by Byun Jin-sub · Lee Seung-chul · Shin Seung-hun. The medium, too, was moving from LP to cassette tape, and then on to CD. At a time when dazzling high notes and big arrangements were in fashion, Cho Duk-bae held to his way of singing in a low voice, as if speaking, over guitar and piano. That way set him apart from other ballad singers.
The signature song of album 3.5. A song close to a vow, in which a man who has sung of parting and longing says he will now walk out of sorrow.
- The title itself is the narrator's resolution. The paradox of singing, in a sorrowful voice, that he will shake off sorrow is the song's particular flavor.
- A spare arrangement that lays the voice over guitar and keyboards. It shows a path different from the ballads around 1990, when the competition for dazzling high notes was at its height.
- A song whose release year differs by source, between 1988 and 1991. Streaming sites list it as a track on the 1991 album 3.5.
A song of his own, said to have been written for his wife. Sung again and again by Jo Sung-mo, MBLAQ, Cho Kwan-woo and others, it became the most often sung of all his songs.
- Lyrics·music by Cho Duk-bae, arrangement by Byun Sung-yong. In a short song of under 3 and a half minutes, the feeling of a confession is compressed.
- Its way of speaking approaches, unhurried, someone who has entered one's heart. The cautious tone of confession suits the low range of his voice.
- It is worth comparing with the version sung together with the original artist on Jo Sung-mo's 2005 remake album. Two generations of ballad singing meet within one song.
- Some sources date its release to 1989. Streaming sites carry it as a track on the 1991 album 3.5 and on the later 5th album.
V. Life · 1993–2008
(Persistence) In the 1990s, too, he kept releasing studio albums. His 6th album came out, and in the late 1990s he released his 8th, bearing the Hanja title “人生.” Meanwhile the center of Korean pop had shifted to dance music and idol groups. His name appeared more often on radio playlists and karaoke song lists than on broadcast chart shows. (Passing it on) In 2005 Jo Sung-mo released the remake album “Jo Sung-mo Classic 1+1 Grand Featuring,” arranging and singing each song together with its original artist. “If You Come into My Heart,” sung with Cho Duk-bae, was the album's title track. That same year Cho PD is said to have recorded a rap version of “My Old Story.” It was a time when songs of the 1980s began to be sung again in the voices of 2000s singers. (9th album) In 2007, after 9 years, he released his 9th album. It was an album of four new songs and ten old hits newly arranged and recorded. The new song “There Is None” was praised as capturing his state of mind at the time better than any other. In interviews he looked back on his younger self as immature, arrogant and pessimistic. He also said that his family's love made him happy. (Commercial jingle) That same year it was pointed out that the song in a certain advertisement resembled “My Old Story.” He settled the matter amicably. In doing so, he noted that anyone who writes songs ought to check for themselves, before releasing a piece, whether a similar one already exists.
A new song on his 9th album, released after 9 years. It was praised as capturing his state of mind, as he neared fifty, better than any other.
- One of the few new songs on a 9th album that re-recorded ten old hits. Heard against the album's re-recordings, it lets you hear how his voice changed with the years.
- The longing of his 1980s songs seems, in this one, to have shifted into a feeling of resignation and settling, an acceptance of the days gone by.
- An album released in 2007, as CDs were giving way to digital downloads. It came out at a time when a veteran singer releasing a studio album at all was becoming rare.
VI. Songs sung again · 2009–2026
(Illness) In 2009 he collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage, then returned to the stage. Appearing on a singer-songwriter special of MBC's “Come to Play” in 2011, he said calmly that because of his illness his songs no longer came out as they used to. That day he sang brief versions of “In a Dream” and “If You Come into My Heart” with veteran players such as Shim Sung-rak on accordion and Shin Hyun-kwon on bass. (Tribute) In 2010 a 25th-anniversary album, “The Artist,” was planned. In February of that year MBLAQ sang “If You Come into My Heart” anew, releasing it first as part of the anniversary album. In 2011~2012, on the stage of MBC's “I Am a Singer,” Cho Kwan-woo sang “If You Come into My Heart” and Jung Yup sang “In a Dream.” Sung Si-kyung, Lee Soo-young and others are also said to have brought his songs to the stage. (A Flower Bookmark) In 2014 IU included “My Old Story” on her remake album “A Flower Bookmark.” Through this record, which captured the atmosphere of 1980s Korean pop, a song from 1985 reached teenagers · twentysomethings of the streaming era. In 2016 Solar of Mamamoo sang “In a Dream” again. A generation that had never known the originals came to know his name by way of the remakes. (Now) In 2023 he released the singles “The Moonlit Night We Danced” and “It Was a Love Not of This World,” and in 2024 “You, Beautiful One,” with producer dxp taking part. In 2024, nearly forty years after his debut, he was still releasing new songs.
Lesser-known stories
Cho Duk-bae is remembered as a lyrical ballad singer, but before his debut he was a member of a family that ran one of the country's leading business groups. On a 2011 broadcast he said himself that his family's Samho Group was dismantled in the early 1980s, under the new military regime, and that only afterward did he formally release his 1st album. Because the longing in his songs was heard only as stories of love, the fact that his debut was bound up with a chapter of history, the fall of a conglomerate, has remained comparatively little known. The story that the piano on “In a Dream” was played by keyboardist Lee Ho-joon, composer of Cho Yong-pil's “Friend,” circulates mostly among those who read credits closely. Korean pop records of the 1980s often listed their players poorly. And so the share of the session musicians stayed hidden for a long time. His appearance at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Summer Paralympics, overshadowed by the Olympics, is also rarely talked about. Yet that he, who had lived with polio and sung seated, stood on the final stage of the games for athletes with disabilities is a symbolic scene in his career. He later received the Korea Disability Culture and Arts Award. In 2007, when a commercial jingle resembling “My Old Story” became an issue, he brought the matter to an amicable close. In doing so, he stressed the principle that those who write songs must check for themselves before releasing them. If anything, the episode confirmed that a single song had stayed in people's ears for more than twenty years.
Glossary notes 📚🔎
Singer-songwriter
(Meaning of the word) A word joining the English singer (a person who sings) and songwriter (a person who writes songs). It refers to someone who both makes and sings their own songs. (In Korean popular music) Unlike a singer who takes songs written by a composer, it means a musician who sings their own story in their own songs. In the mid-1980s, figures such as Cho Duk-bae · Deulgukhwa grew this current. Think of the difference between reading aloud a letter a friend wrote for you and reading aloud a diary you wrote yourself. The singer-songwriter is always the one reading their own diary.
Title track
(Meaning) The English word title joined to gok (曲, 'song'): the song that serves as the album's face. (In Korean popular music) Of the many songs on an album, the title track is the one put forward for broadcasts and promotion. The album is often named after it, too. It is a bit like choosing a class representative to send to the student council: the title track is the one person who steps up on behalf of the whole class.
Session
(Meaning) The English word session originally means a fixed meeting or sitting. In music it refers to a gathering of players brought together for a while to record or perform, and also to the people who play at it. (In Korean popular music) A professional instrumentalist called into the studio to back a singer's voice is known as a session man. Lee Ho-joon, said to have played the piano on "In a Dream," is one such example. Think of the supporting cast and lighting crew in a play: they are not the leads, but they complete the stage. (Elsewhere) At meetings and conferences, a block of time filled with consecutive presentations is called a session, and on the internet the period during which one stays connected is called a session.
Album 3.5
(In Korean popular music) A Korean way of labeling an album released between a third and a fourth album. It often bundles a few new songs with earlier hits or alternate versions. The label is used when a release is too small, or too different in character, to earn an official album number. Like a minor patch between major game updates, it serves as a bridge to the next full-length album. In Cho Duk-bae's case, his records from this period are variously labeled album 3, album 3.5, album 5, and so on. As a result, the same song's release year is given differently from one source to another.
Remake
(Meaning) The English word remake means to make (make) again (re). (In Korean popular music) The re-recording and release of an already published song by another singer, with a new arrangement and a new voice. The melody and lyrics of the original are left as they are, while the mood changes. IU's "My Old Story" and Jo Sung-mo's "If You Come into My Heart" are examples. It is like making the kimchi stew your grandmother used to make, with the same ingredients, but seasoning it to your own taste. (Elsewhere) In film, reshooting an earlier movie with new actors and a new director is called a remake.
Featuring
(Meaning) The English word featuring comes from feature, meaning to give special prominence to. The idea is that another singer is specially invited to stand beside the song's lead. (In Korean popular music) Another singer or rapper sings or plays part of a singer's song alongside them. This is marked after the title with feat. Jo Sung-mo's 2005 remake album brought in the original singers as featured artists to sing with him. It is like a school recital where a friend from another class comes in to take the solo part in your class's choral piece.
Ballad
(Meaning) The English word ballad originally meant a song or poem that tells a story. It is said to derive from an old word for a dance song. (In Korean popular music) A slow-tempo song that lyrically unfolds emotions such as love and parting. From the late 1980s through the 1990s it was the central genre of Korean pop. If a dance track is a sprint in gym class, a ballad is an evening stroll, a song for walking slowly and putting your heart in order. (Elsewhere) In literature, it refers to narrative poems handed down among the common people.