Drummer the late Jeon Tae-gwan, who was active with the band Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, has already been gone for seven years.
Today (27th) marks the seventh anniversary of Jeon Tae-gwan's passing. The late Jeon died on Dec. 27, 2018, after battling kidney cancer. He was 56. Kim Jong-jin of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter said, "He succumbed to a long illness and quietly passed away last night while his family watched over him."
The late Jeon Tae-gwan had been fighting kidney cancer for six years. News of his cancer battle emerged in 2021, and although he underwent surgery to remove one kidney because of the cancer, cancer cells later metastasized to his shoulder blade, brain, scalp, spine and pelvis, forcing him to stop performing.
Kim Jong-jin, a colleague and longtime friend who performed with the late Jeon Tae-gwan in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, posted several photos on his social media that day and wrote, "The great drummer of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, my friend Tae-gwan, has been gone to heaven for seven years already. As I flipped through the photo album, I realized that on stage he was always looking at me and playing with the same expression as mine. Now I want to look back at him, but my friend is not by my side," The photos showed Kim Jong-jin and the late Jeon Tae-gwan performing together.
Kim Jong-jin had earlier, after seeing his friend go first, expressed his condolences, saying, "The honorific that used to be attached to Jeon Tae-gwan's name was 'the pride of Korean popular music,' and there was no exaggeration in that. He was a drummer who received great respect and love from both musicians and the public in the history of Korean music."
He also missed the late Jeon Tae-gwan for a long time after his passing. In 2021 he posted a photo of himself with the late Jeon Tae-gwan on his social media along with a long message, writing, "Today marks three years since Tae-gwan went on his journey first. I miss Tae-gwan's thunderous drumming, so I put on our first album. Even now the drums on 'People who are always joyful' were striking. It's a recording from 33 years ago so the tone is somewhat old, but that makes it more heartfelt and nostalgic."
He added, "I can't believe time passes this quickly. The two of us went to so many places together, laughed and enjoyed ourselves, sometimes worried together and pushed and pulled each other… When vivid memories grow hazy like fog, I take out his music and listen," expressing his longing for his friend the late Jeon Tae-gwan.
Earlier, on the second anniversary he commemorated the late Jeon Tae-gwan by releasing "A friend I miss." "A friend I miss" carried added meaning because it was a track included on the debut album released in 1988 by the two of them, Kim Jong-jin and Jeon Tae-gwan.
The late Jeon Tae-gwan began his musical career in 1986 with Kim Hyun-sik as part of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and after the band dissolved in 1987 he worked as a guest session musician with Cho Yong-pil on The great birth. A year later, in 1988, he debuted with Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter's first album People seem to all change, and left hit songs such as People seem to all change, Someone's dream, Taking out a diary from 10 years ago, Outsider and Bravo my life.
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