Super Junior (Korean: 슈퍼주니어), often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a popular boy band from South Korea formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2005. The group debuted with 12 members: Leeteuk (Leader), Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum and later added a 13th member named Kyuhyun; they are one of the largest boy bands in the world. As of 2010, 10 members are active, due to Han Geng's lawsuit with SM Entertainment which led to him leaving the group (now pursuing his own singing career in the Mandarin-Pop entertainment industry), Kangin's temporary leave of absence for mandatory military service and Kibum's pursuit of an acting career. However, the other members have insisted that the three (Kangin, Kibum and Han Geng) are still part of the group, the group also mentioned that they are saddened by Han Geng's departure from the group.
Super Junior has released and contributed in 20 different kinds of records with varying degrees of success.Over the years, they have been divided into smaller sub groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups in other areas of entertainment, such as acting and hosting.In addition to their commercial success, Super Junior has earned seven music awards from the M.net Asian Music Awards, eleven from the Golden Disk Awards, and is the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after JTL in 2003.
In 2001, the company held their first overseas casting auditions and discovered Han Geng in Beijing, China, who was chosen from among three thousand applicants.That same year, Yesung was discovered under Seoul's casting system. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning the first place in Best Outward Appearance in an SM-sponsored contest. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles. Siwon was recruited in 2003 after being scouted at 16 in front of his high school, and Ryeowook in 2004, in which the latter was discovered through the Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition.In 2005, Shindong was selected. The last member, Cho Kyuhyun, was then discovered after winning third place at the Chin Chin Singing Competition in 2005.
Super Junior 05 debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)." A digital single with "TWINS (Knock Out)", "You are the one", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8. A physical CD single was scheduled to be released the following week but a more complete album, SuperJunior05 (TWINS), was released on December 6, 2005 instead. Their debut album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at #3 in the monthly chart of December 2005.[c] In that same month, they released "Show Me Your Love," a collaboration single with TVXQ. "Show Me Your Love" became the best-selling record of December 2005, selling 49,945 copies that month.
Their dance styles are widely termed as street dancing, with a majority of their choreography containing hip hop dance moves such as popping, waving, floating, and liquid dancing. Dances in the form of martial arts are widely used in their dance routines as Han Geng and Sungmin are professionally trained in that area.Shindong was the main choreographer for "U" and for a majority of the group's other dance sequences. Eunhyuk choreographed the dance for "Boom, Boom" (Fourth Album) and also worked with the other members to create the dance choreography for "Don't Don" and "Marry U", both promotional singles for the group's second album. The dance for their hit single "Sorry, Sorry" was choreographed by Nick Bass and Trent Dickens, who has also worked with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. Nick Bass also choreographed the dance for "BONAMANA". The dance for "No Other" was choreographed by THE GEMINIZ, Rino Nakasone and Maryss From Paris. Super Junior M "Perfection" was choreographed by Misha Gabriel who had worked with other well known acts and choreographed Justin Timberlake's "Future Love Sex Show," Pussycat Dolls' "Doll Domination World Tour," "Dancing with the Stars" and more.
On 24 February, Super Junior released a 3D movie from their third Asia tour, "Super Show 3 3D" in all CGV and Primus movie theaters ."Super Show 3 3D" was ranked 6th in box office weekly chart and is the most watched 3D movie in Korea.Super Junior will show off their first Japanese single album with the release of Japanese version of Bonamana, titled Bijin (BONAMANA) on June 8. Starting May 16, the song will be shown on major Japanese TV channels as the commercial song for Japanese convenience store chain Circle K Sunkus.
Super Junior's first Japanese single, "Bijin (Bonamana)" was released on June 8, 2011 and debuted at the #2 spot in the Oricon Daily Singles Chart, selling 27,168 copies on its release date. In addition, the 美人 (BONAMANA) music video which is made of videos from ‘SUPER JUNIOR 3rd ASIA TOUR SUPER SHOW 3 in JAPAN’ held at Yokohama Arena in February, received over 300,000 views on the Japanese UCC website, Nikoniko in a day. On June 14,Super Junior's "Bijin (Bonamana)" ranked at #2 spot in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, selling 59,262 copies. Also, they broke the record for having the highest single album sales for a Korean idol group when their single albums that were released in Japan sold combined total of over 100,000 copies.This is so far, the highest record for singles released set upon by a Korean group considering Super Junior didn't have any promotion in Japan at all.Recently, they took part in 'SMTown World Tour Live in Paris' with fellow label mates, which was held in Zénith de Paris, Paris, France.
