Dana

Dana debuted in 2001 as SM Entertainment's second solo artist. Personally chosen by founder and CEO Lee SooMan, Dana was expected to rise as the "next BoA". Prior to debut, she received promotion as an actress in popular boy band H.O.T's Age of Peace movie and in Kangta's "Polaris" music video. In 2001, DANA released her fairly successful first single "Seh Sang Kkeut Kka Ji" (Until The End of The World), composed by European songwriter Stefan Aberg. The song was originally titled "Tell Me No More Lies". That same year, she released an album with the same name along with other singles, such as the popular "Diamond", a pop/dance track featuring Jung Yunho (U-Know Yunho, who eventually became a member and leader of TSZX's famous counterpart,TVXQ, in 2003). Her career blossomed and continued with promotions, by appearing on variety shows such as X-MAN, as well as playing a main role in the sitcom, Nonstop 3. Her second album release (Maybe) in 2003, however, was not very popular and sold poorly. From that point on, Dana disappeared from the music industry (aside from SMTOWN collaborations) until the debut of The Grace in 2005. For the group's fourth Japanese single, she composed the music and lyrics to her own solo song "Sayonara No Mukou Ni" (Beyond the Goodbye). Due to her earlier debut in the Korean music industry, Dana is seen as the leader of CSJH The Grace, although she has denied this in an interview, stating that each member has an equal status in the group.