Biography
Jang Na-ra (Korean: 장나라; born March 18, 1981) is a South Korean singer and actress who has been active in both the South Korean and Chinese entertainment industries since 2001. She rose to prominence with her hit studio album Sweet Dream in 2002, and starred in well-received television series Successful Story of a Bright Girl (2002), My Love Patzzi (2002), Wedding (2005), My Bratty Princess (2005), You Are My Destiny (2014), Confession Couple (2017), The Last Empress (2018–2019), and VIP (2019). Jang made her debut in the entertainment world as a singer in May 2001. She started her singing career by becoming a trainee and by signing a contract with SM Entertainment.
Jang released her debut album First Story with the title track Burying My Face In Tears. Initially, it was not well-received and only reached number 12 in Korean music charts. After starring in the popular sitcom New Nonstop, she became more well-known and released the other tracks in the album such as her pop ballad style song, Confession and the April Story, ranked at the top in various music charts. The album sold 300,000 copies. Jang then became a host for MBC's music show, Music Camp and KBS's talk show Love Story. By the end of 2001, she received several New Female Artist awards from year-end Music Awards ceremonies and New MC awards from Entertainment Awards ceremonies.
In October 2002, Jang released her second album, Jjang Nara Vol.2 Sweet Dream. The song Sweet Dream became immensely popular and reached number 1 in Korean music charts, instantly making Jang a household name. The album also became one of the top selling albums of that year in South Korea. Due to the success of Sweet Dream, Jang won several awards, including two Daesang awards or the Grand Prize (equivalent to Korean Top Artist of the Year) from MBC Music Festival and KBS Music Awards. She also received the Korean Singer of the Year from China's CCTV-MTV Awards in 2003.
In December 2003, Jang released her third album, aptly titled 3rd Story, which included top tracks I am a Woman Too and Is That True?.
Jang released a Best Hits Album in 2004 consisting of songs from her 3 previous albums. She followed it up with her fourth album titled My Story released in December 2004, consisting of hit songs such as I Love School and Winter Diary.
With her popularity in China, she also made a career in music overseas by releasing Chinese-language albums. Her first Chinese album was a huge success, making her the first foreign artist in China with over 1 million copies sold. This was followed by the release of two more Chinese albums, Kungfu (2005) and Flying High (2006).
She returned to the Korean music scene in 2007 with her fifth Korean album entitled She, which consists of medium tempo Masquerade and the dance piece, You & I.The following year, she released a multi-lingual album titled Dream of Asia, which includes 26 songs in 5 languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, and English. Jang held a mini concert in Beijing to promote the album. During the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Jang was the only singer from a non-Chinese-speaking country to appear in the 2008 Olympic song, Beijing Welcomes You.
In 2009, she released a duet with Jimmy Lin for the soundtrack of their film Flying with You. The track was produced by famed Singaporean musician JJ Lin. In 2012, four years after releasing Dream of Asia, Jang returned to the Korean music scene with the digital single I Only Think of You. The same year, she released her fourth Chinese album, Love Journey.
On May 20, 2018, Jang Na-Ra performed Sweet Dream, I am a Woman Too, April Story on Sugar Man season 2, which was the highest audience rating among all terrestrial and non-terrestrial programs broadcast at the same time. Sweet Dream by Jang Nara became the most-viewed performing video among all Sugar Man singers.
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