Yoon Bok-hee (; born March 9, 1946) is a South Korean singer, musical actress, and songwriter. Her father is Yoon Bu-gil, a popular comedian and her mother is Sung Kyung-ja, a well known classical ballerina.
Career
She debuted in 1951 at age five with the
Nak-Rang Music Troupe in the Joong-Ang Theatre.
Her first performances overseas took place in Manila and Guam in the early sixties.
Stage performances
She performed on stage in musical theatre and was an Ambassador for the Musical Festival.
In 2006, she starred in
Maria, Maria which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival on September 22 through October 15,
and was one of the original twenty-five member Korean musical cast which won four awards including the Best Musical, the Best Actress, the Best Book & Lyrics and the Best Composing awards at the Korean Musical Awards in 2004.
The popular musical, a story about religious fanatics trying to kill Jesus and a local prostitute Maria, continued its run for over twelve years, showing at the (KIFT) in 2014,
and included performances by actress Lee So-jung, the first Korean actress to debut on
Broadway theatre in the 1990s.
Concerts
On May 3, 2014, she performed with many other popular Korean entertainers at the 12th Korea Times Music Festival in the United States, just weeks after the national tragedy, the Sinking of MV Sewol, and thousands of yellow commemorative ribbons were passed out to the audience.
Korean Kittens
Yoon Bok-hee was the leader of the
Korean Kittens that toured with
Bob Hope and the
USO to American Army
Vietnam War bases in 1966. The Korean Kittens went international in 1964 after being on the
BBC television's
Tonight programme in
Great Britain, singing
Can't Buy Me Love by the
Beatles. On January 6, 1967 they arrived in the
United States to tour. Many compared them to The Kim Sisters, another Korean girl group.
[ No No Boy, Music, Korean Kittens] Korean Kittens' US shows included
Reg Varney in 1972,
The Mike Douglas Show in 1967,
The Bob Hope Vietnam Christmas Show in 1966 and The Wahlparty 65 TV Special in 1965.
[ imdb.com, Korean Kittens][ imdb.com The Wahlparty 65][ londonkoreanlinks.net Yoon Bok-hee: a Korean Kitten in Kingston, by Philip Gowman, 17 Jun 2009]
