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"Do everything to your best ability with a positive mindset." —Wendy

Shon Seung-wan (Hangul:손승완; born February 21, 1994), better known as Wendy (Hangul: 웬디), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and actress. She is the main vocalist of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet.

Biography

Wendy was born as Shon Seung-wan in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, South Korea. Her family consists of her parents, an affluent couple whose names haven't been revealed to the public, and her sister, Son Seung-hee, who is three years Wendy's senior. Wendy spent most of her childhood years in Cheongju, South Korea.

Wendy aspired to become a singer from the age of six and throughout her life trained to fulfill this goal. She also learned to play the saxophone, piano, flute, and guitar.

At the age of 12, Wendy and her sister moved to live in Canada, and later the USA. Whilst living in North America, Wendy began using the name Wendy Shon and learned to speak English, as well as some French and Spanish. For her education in these countries, she attended Shattuck St Mary's School in Minnesota, USA, and Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, Canada.

After graduating high school in 2012, she moved to South Korea to establish a professional singing career. Prior to this in 2010, she auditioned for the "Koreaboo: Cube Entertainment Global Auditions 2011" with an online audition and was picked from over 5,000 videos by Koreaboo and Cube Entertainment to continue to the final round in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. G.NA personally picked the 15 finalists with Koreaboo to open for her first solo showcase, held in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In 2012, she auditioned at the SM Global Audition in Canada and was recognized for her musicality, being able to play several instruments, as well as having strong vocal skills.

Career

2014: Pre-debut activities

She trained for less than two years before she was introduced as a member of SM Entertainment's pre-debut trainees team SM Rookies on March 14, 2014

As part of SM Rookies, Wendy released the song "Because I Love You" for the soundtrack of the Mnet drama Mimi, which was one of the soundtracks of the Mnet drama series, Mimi, which labelmate Changmin starred in, appearing in the music video as well. A clip of Wendy singing a cover of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" was released on SM Entertainment's official YouTube channel.

2014–2019: Debut with Red Velvet, stage accident

In late-July 2014, Wendy was assigned to represent the color blue and chosen to be the main vocalist of Red Velvet, which debuted on August 1, 2014 with the single "Happiness".

Wendy collaborated with rapper Yuk Ji-dam for the song "Return", one of the OSTs of KBS2's drama Who Are You: School 2015. The song was released on June 8, 2015 and debuted at #31 on the Gaon Singles Chart. She released another song "Let You Know" for the soundtrack of the JTBC drama D-Day on October 16. On January 9, 2016, she became a panelist on We Got Married. On King of Mask Singer (episode 43 aired on January 24, 2016), she participated as a contestant with the stage name "Space Beauty Maetel". Wendy released a collaboration single with Eric Nam titled "Spring Love" on March 4, 2016, as part of SM Entertainment's SM Station project.

On December 25, 2019, Wendy fell from a raised stage while rehearsing for a performance on the year-end show SBS Gayo Daejeon. She fell approximately 2.5 meters (8.2ft) and received multiple injuries, including a broken wrist, fractured pelvis, a cracked cheekbone, and other unspecified facial and bodily injuries. Wendy was subsequently on hiatus for over a year while she recovered.

2021: Return to activities, Wendy's Youngstreet, GOT the beat

On January 1, 2021, Wendy's health hiatus official ended and she returned to idol activities.

On July 12, 2021, Wendy became the DJ host for SBS Power FM's radio show Wendy's Youngstreet, adopting the DJ name "WanD". The show ran for almost two years, until July 2, 2023.

On December 27, 2021, Wendy was revealed alongside Seulgi as one of the members of GOT the beat, the first unit of the project group Girls On Top.[2] The unit debuted on January 3, 2022 with the digital single "Step Back".

2023: First musical role

On June 19, 2023, Wendy confirmed that she had been cast in the role of "I" in the musical Rebecca. She performed from August 19–November 19, 2023.

Filmography

Since her debut, Wendy has appeared on the variety shows, We Got Married, King of Masked Singer, Trick and True, Raid the Convenience Store and Battle Trip. She made a cameo in the series, Descendants of the Sun and made an appearance in the documentary, SMTown: The Stage.

Discography

Mini albums

Collaborations

Year Album Song Note
2016 SM Station

Season 1

"Spring Love" with Eric Nam
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" with Moon Jung Jae and Nile Lee
"Sound of Your Heart" with Lee Dong Woo, Yesung,

Sunny, Luna, Taeil and Doyoung

2017 SM Station

Season 2

"Doll" with Kangta and Seulgi
"The Little Match Girl" with Baek A Yeon
2018 "One Summer" with Yang Da II
SM Station X 0 "Written In The Stars" with John Legend
2019 SM Station X "This Is Your Day (for every child, UNICEF)" with BoA, J-min, Siwon, Sunny,

Taemin, Doyung, and Suho

2022 2022 Winter SMTOWN :

SMCU PALACE

"Time After Time" with BoA and Ningning

Featuring

Year Album Artist Song Note
2016 Ricky Martin Vente Pa' Ca (English Version)
2020 Never Gonna Dance Again: Act 2 Taemin Be Your Enemy
2023 SHALALA - The 1st Mini Album Taeyong Move Mood Mode

OST

Year Album Song Note
2014 Mimi OST Because I Love You Solo
2015 Who Are You - School 2015 OST Return With Yuk Ji Dam
D-Day OST Let You Know Solo
2016 Uncontrollably Fond OST Don't Push Me With Seulgi
2017 Hwarang OST I Can Only See You
Elena of Avalor OST My Time (Korean Version) Solo
2018 The Beauty Inside OST Goodbye
2019 Touch Your Heart OST What If Love
2020 The King: Eternal Monarch OST My Day is Full of You with Zico
Start-Up OST Two Words

Credits

= Participates as writing/composer/arrange

✖ = Not participated as writing/composer/arrange

Album Song Artist With Writing Composer Arrange Ref.
N/A Close To Me (Red Velvet Remix) Ellie Goulding, Diplo & Red Velvet Yeri & Lee Seuran [3]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2015 SMTown: The Stage Herself Documentary Film of SM Town
2020 Trolls World Tour Wani Animated Film
Queen Poppy Voice-over of Queen Poppy for the Korean-dubbed version

Variety Shows

Year Title Network Role Note
2015 100 People, 100 Songs JTBC Contestant with Seulgi
2015–2016 We Got Married MBC Panelist
2016 Duet Song Festival Contestant Paired with Kim Jaegoo, Episode 6
Descendants of the Sun KBS2 Herself Cameo, Episode 16
King of Masked Singer MBC Contestant as "Space Beauty Maetel" (Ep.43)
2016–2017 Trick & True KBS Fixed panelist Since Episode 1
2017 Raid the Convenience Store tvN Host Trial Programming
K-Rush KBS Episodes 1-4
2018 Battle Trip Contestant with Seulgi (Ep.100–103)
2019 King of Masked Singer MBC Contestant as "Green Witch" (Ep. 225-226)
2021 Mysterious Record Shop JTBC Host

Radio DJ

Year Radio Channel Role Note
2015 Kiss the Radio KBS Cool FM Special DJ October 13 with Seulgi
2018 NCT's Night Night! SBS Power FM January 15-18
Young Street

Endorsements

Year Brand Notes
2018 Dongwon Yangban Rice Porridge with Irene

Awards and Nominations

Year Award Show Category Nominated Work Result
2016 18th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Collaboration (with Eric Nam) Spring Love Nominated
2019 Annual Fresh Asia Music Awards Top 10 Asia-Pacific Gold Song of the Year What If Love Won

Trivia

  • Prior to joining SM Entertainment, Wendy used to upload music videos of her singing on YouTube.
  • She can play four musical instruments - piano, flute, saxophone and guitar.
  • Being raised in Canada and Minnesota for 7 years, she is the only member who can speak fluent English.
    • For that same reason, she can withstand the cold the best, which is the opposite of Irene.
    • She is reluctant to speak English in a Korean accent.
  • Her sister is a pharmacologist.
  • She is known as a "reaction queen".
  • She is also known as a chatterbox because once she starts talking, she won't stop. She also writes the longest letters and posts on Instagram.
  • The other members picked her as the healthiest member.
  • She loves Boba Milk Tea.
  • She has also been chosen as the most forgetful member.
  • She possesses a 4-octave vocal range that spans from Eb3-Eb7.
  • She tried out for Cube Entertainment before making it as a trainee at SM Entertainment in 2012.
  • In 2012, she got 2nd in a Fantastic Baby cover song contest.
  • She was a member of the Richmond Hill HS Show Choir and participated as a soprano.
  • She trained for 1.5 years under SM Entertainment, being cast in 2012.
  • She can imitate Christina Confalonieri, Louis Armstrong and Lil' Wayne.
  • Her favorite number is 77, which is also her representative number.
  • She represents the color of blue.
  • Her designated animal is squirrel since Summer Magic era. Prior to that, it would be deer since her debut.
  • Her representative fruit is blue-flesh orange.
  • Her representative weapon is a pair of scissors.
  • Her representative drink is Blue Crush.
  • Her designated chess position is being a bishop.
  • She used to share a room with Seulgi, but she now has her own room. Her room is the smallest in the new dorm.
  • She knew she wanted to become a singer since 5.
  • Her habit is moving her eyebrows around a lot.
  • Her zodiac sign is a Pisces, her Chinese zodiac sign is a Dog.
  • She was born the same year as Seulgi.
  • Everyone says she's one of the kindest person they know, and was given the nickname of Wenresa, a play on Wendy+ Mother Teresa, on Level Up Project.
  • She used to post/upload videos on Youtube, but had to delete her account after joining SM, but some videos of her singing have been re-uploaded by fans.
  • She said that the members helped her a lot when she was training and that they are her family.
  • She is close friend's with Gugudan's Sejeong.
  • Had she not pursued a career in entertainment or got scouted by SM, Wendy would like to be a dentist.

Gallery

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References

Navigation

RED VELVET
IreneSeulgiWendyJoyYeri
Discography
Mini-albums Ice Cream CakeThe VelvetRussian RouletteRookieThe Red SummerSummer MagicRBB'The ReVe Festival' Day 1'The ReVe Festival' Day 2MonsterQueendomThe ReVe Festival 2022 - Feel My RhythmThe ReVe Festival 2022 - Birthday
Albums The RedPerfect VelvetChill Kill
Repackage albums The Perfect Red Velvet'The ReVe Festival' Finale
Japanese mini-albums #Cookie JarSAPPY
Japanese albums Bloom
Singles HappinessBe NaturalWish TreeWould URebirthOur Beloved BoA #4
Solos Like WaterHello28 ReasonsWish You Hell
OSTs YossismSee the starsFuture
Events
Concerts Red Room (2017) • Red Room Japan (2018) • REDMARE (2018) • REDMARE Arena Tour in Japan (2019) • La Rouge (2019) • La Rouge Arena Tour in Japan (2020) • R to V (2023)
Filmography
Dramas The Female Employees of a Game CompanyThe Liar and His LoverIdol Drama Operation TeamLet's Only Walk The Flower RoadTemptedBlue Birthday
Reality Level Up Project!
Wendy
Red VelvetGOT the beat
Discography
Mini-albums Like WaterStamp on ItWish You Hell
OSTs Because I Love YouDon't Push MeI Can Only See YouGoodbyeWhat If LoveMy Day is Full of YouTwo Words
Collaborations Spring LoveHave Yourself A Merry Little ChristmasSound of Your HeartThe Little Match GirlOne SummerWritten In The StarsBe Your EnemyThis Is Your DayMiracle
Other
Radio Wendy's Youngstreet
Theater Rebecca
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