Biography
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Born
3 May 1981
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Born In
Incheon, Korea, Republic of
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Died
21 January 2007 (aged 25)
U;Nee, (Hangul: 유니, born Heo Yoon (허윤, 許允) May 3, 1981 - January 21, 2007) was a K-Pop South Korean female singer and actress. She was also known as Lee Hye-Ryeon (이혜련, 李慧蓮). She committed suicide by hanging herself; she had reportedly been suffering from depression.
Music career
Heo was known for her sexually provocative image throughout her short music career. Early in her music career, she attempted to create a sexier appearance through plastic surgery, in order to appeal to a larger fan base. Although successful in achieving a sexy image, the changes were quite drastic in comparison to her previous appearance, and did not contribute to increased album sales. Instead of being known as a talented singer, she became more famous for her unusually large chest, as a result of breast implants. Due to declining music industry in Korea, her record label decided that album sales alone was not enough to produce profit, and chose to market her as a sexy singer. Fans of her music decreased while fans of her new sexy look increased, who often urged the singer to reveal herself in Korean edition of Playboy as well as other adult entertainment publications. Heo, who was soft-spoken and reserved in real life, found this difficult to bear.
Suicide
U;Nee died at her home in Seo-gu, Incheon, South Korea on January 21, 2007 after hanging herself.
U;Nee was supposed to begin filming her first music video of her 3rd album on the 22nd of January which was to be released on February 1, 2007, the same time as her comeback.
In the morning of January 21, 2007, U;Nee's mother, grandmother, and uncle left for church at 10 am. During that time, U;Nee had hung herself in her room 2 meters high from the door frame. Her grandmother found her around 12:50pm and immediately dialed emergency help.
Despite her death, U;Nee's management company has stated that they will release her 3rd album as planned on February 1st.
Several stars and friends came to the prayer service held for U;Nee including Maya, Lee Seung Hwan, Kim Jin Pyo, Lee Hwa Sun, Lee Ki Chan, So Yoo Jin, and Park Ye Jin. Maya stated in a short interview that the day before her death, she had received a text message from U;Nee saying hello so the news of her death came as quite a shock.
Rumor across many Korean sites as far as reason for her death was her bout with depression over her lackluster sales for her albums as well as criticism about her image. After her death, her body was transported to World Hospital. The family has planned to have her body cremated.
Soon after her death, her mother held a press conference at the hospital in order to squash any rumors. She confirmed that U;Nee dealt with bouts of depression and was on medication for her condition. U;Nee was apparently very introverted and suffered from all the pressure she received even as a young child.
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