Hong Shin Bok, a singer from Sesam Trio who sang the 1970s hit song ‘If You Go to Naseong’, passed away on the 6th. He was 72 years old.

According to his bereaved family and the music industry on the 7th, Hong Shin Bok passed away this morning due to an illness.

Born in Daegu in 1953, Hong Shin Bok formed Sesam Trio with Kwon Sung-hee and Jeon Hang in 1977 and made ‘If You Go to Naseong’ a hit in 1978.

‘If You Go to Naseong’ was written and composed by star composer Gil Ok-yoon. The original title was ‘If You Go to LA’, but the title was changed in accordance with the government‘s policy of encouraging the use of Hangul at the time.

Hong Shin Bok joined Sesam Trio in 1979 to sing ‘Oh! Oh! He left the team after the second album, which included ‘Oh!’, ‘White Wings’. After that, in 1980, he formed the Rainbow Trio with Kim Young-soo and Ham Young-mi, and won an award at the TBC World Song Festival in the same year with ‘Road of Love’.

After leaving the Rainbow Trio, he mainly worked as a composer, and composed singer Kim Soo-hee’s hit songs ‘Lonely Lover’ and ‘Is This Okay?’.

It is said that he had been receiving dialysis for about 30 years due to poor kidney function. Even during his fight against the illness, he opened a YouTube channel in 2022 and uploaded videos of himself singing, showing his passion as a musician.

His older brothers Hong Shin-yoon and Hong Yoon-sik, and his older sister Hong Hwa-ja, were members of the Arirang Singers and also advanced into Europe. The group changed its name to Koreana after a change in members and sang the theme song of the 88 Seoul Olympics, ‘Hand in Hand’.

The deceased is survived by his wife and son.

The funeral is held in Room 1 of the Hanil Hospital Funeral Home in Dobong-gu, Seoul. The funeral will be held at 5:30 AM on the 8th.


Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.