Mixed-race Korean singer inspired by U.S. football star Hines Ward
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- After U.S. professional football player Hines Ward, whose mother is Korean, was named the most valuable player of this year's Super Bowl, South Korea's media gave wide coverage of the athlete, spotlighting his childhood struggles with poverty and discrimination.
For South Korean singer Insooni, the story mirrored her own testimony. She knew what the hard-earned success meant to Ward and his single Korean mother.
"I'm proud of him," Insooni, 50, whose real name is Kim In-soon but goes by the one name in public, said. "I want to send my congratulations to Ward who was brought up as well as his mother must have hoped."
The singer is now South Korea's acclaimed R&B; diva with a wide range of fans, even though nearly 30 years have passed since her debut. She is one of the few singers who performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and earned several top prizes at broadcasters' annual award ceremonies. She is distinguished by her fiery passion and rich, throaty voice on stage.
Like Ward, she was born to a Korean mother and an African American father, who served in the U.S. military in South Korea, and was brought up by her mother alone.
There was a time when television stations rejected her, and when she was on TV, some local viewers would even switch channels.
"When I was first invited for a television show, they rejected me because of my curly hair," she said.
A boyish, broad-brimmed hat became her trademark, covering her hair and diverting attention from her skin color. It was her way of adjustment to public rejection.
"I understood that, the fact that they were rejecting me," she said, "That hurt a little, but I consoled myself by saying I should understand that."
To sing in public was almost a miracle for her, a person who had been afraid of being in front of other Koreans because of their disdainful looks, she said.
As a mother of a 12-year-old daughter and with memories of her own mother's difficult life, Insooni feels she can particularly relate to Ward's mother, Kim Young-hee, who held three jobs to support her son.
"I could see right away that she did everything possible to protect her son from the prejudices and to raise him to be proud. Thinking of her and all of the burdens she must have shouldered alone, I felt something hot spring up inside me," she said.
Insooni sends her daughter to a foreign school in Seoul since she is reluctant to have her face the prejudice that still exists among some local children.
"It was heartbreaking to think my daughter that looks like me could be looked down on by her school friends. I didn't want to leave my country, but also I didn't want my daughter to go through that," she said.
Insooni is one of the few mixed-race stars here who is pursuing a singing career. Other once-popular singers like Yoon Soo-il and Park Il-jun have left the entertainment industry to try their hands at business.
The veteran singer hopes Ward's success inspires mixed-race Koreans to pursue their dreams. She makes regular donations and provides counseling services for mixed-race children through the Pearl S. Buck International in Seoul, a welfare center that supported her when she was a student. Insooni finds those children still face poverty and discrimination.
"What I used to do was just to share my stage income and do some counseling, but then I realized what they really need is a model for success," she said, "Like 'someone grew up in the same situation as me and became successful, and I will become like that person.'"
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