Wendy
Wendy
General Information
Birth Name
Son Seung-wan
Hangul
손승완
Nickname(s)
Olaf
Birth Date
February 21, 1994 (age 28)
Birth Place
Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, South Korea
Height
161.3cm
Weight
47 kg
Blood Type
O
Occupation
Job
Singer
Songwriter
Voice Actress
Position
Main Vocalist
Years Active
2014–present
Agency
SM Entertainment
Associated Acts
Red Velvet
SM Rookies
SM Rookies
“Do everything to your best ability with a positive mindset.” —Wendy
Son Seung-wan (born February 21, 1994 in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul. South Korea), better known as Wendy, is a Korean singer and voice actress. She is the main vocalist of the South-Korean girl group Red Velvet.
Biography
Wendy was born as Son Seung-wan. Her family consists of her parents, an affluent couple, whose names haven’t been revealed to the public and her sister, named Son Seung-hee who is three years her senior. Wendy spent most of her childhood years in Cheongju, South Korea.
Wendy aspired to become a singer from the age of only six and throughout her life trained to fulfill this goal, as well as learning to play the saxophone, piano, flute and guitar.
At the age of 12, Wendy and her sister, moved to live in the USA and later Canada. Whilst living in the North American continent, Wendy began using the name, Wendy Son and learnt to speak English, French and Spanish, alongside her native Korean. For her education in these countries, she attended Shattuck St Mary’s School and Richmond Hill High School.
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-present: Red Velvet
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 “Hapiness”.
Solo and Collaboration singing
Wendy has also 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.
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
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
OST
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
✓
✖
✖
[1]
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 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
To view the Wendy gallery, click here.
References