Deuce member the late Kim Seong-jae passed away 30 years ago leaving questions behind.
Kim Seong-jae died on Nov. 20, 1995. He was 24 at the time. At that time Kim Seong-jae was enjoying peak popularity as a member of Deuce. Amid that, he was found dead in a hotel, and the sudden sad news shocked many.
The late artist debuted in 1993 as a member of the duo group Deuce with Lee Hyun-do. Deuce was loved for many hit songs including "Summer Inside," "Look Back at Me," and "We." They especially enjoyed phenomenon-level popularity for their unrivaled dance skills and fashion sense.
Deuce disbanded after their third studio album, "FORCE DEUX," in 1995. Afterwards Kim Seong-jae debuted as a solo artist on Nov. 19 of the same year. He first performed his solo song "If I May Say" on the SBS music program Live TV Gayo 20. However, he suddenly died one day after the solo performance was first shown.
At the time, police said Kim Seong-jae's cause of death was the veterinary anesthetic Zoletil. Twenty-eight injection marks were found on his body, raising various suspicions. However, the "mysterious death" was never resolved, and the mystery has only grown even now, on the 30th anniversary of his death. As a result, the late artist's girlfriend at the time, a person surnamed A, was once named as a suspect. However, after a first-instance guilty verdict, she was acquitted on appeal and the acquittal was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Regarding the suspicions surrounding Kim Seong-jae's death, SBS's Unanswered Questions production team announced in 2019 that it would cover the death mystery. But Ms. A's side filed an injunction to bar the broadcast, and the court accepted it, preventing the broadcast. Afterwards the Unanswered Questions production team attempted to air the program again after additional reporting, but a second broadcast injunction was also accepted.
Longing for Kim Seong-jae is still continually recalled. Accordingly, in 2022 on the TV CHOSUN variety show A-VA Dream the late artist was reborn as a virtual avatar and performed on stage.
Meanwhile Lee Hyun-do is reportedly preparing Deuce's fourth studio album by reviving Kim Seong-jae's voice with AI technology. According to this, Lee Hyun-do obtained the bereaved family's consent and is expected to release a new song at the end of this year, the 30th anniversary of the late artist's death.
[Photo] Source: Kim Seong-jae album.
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