Home > Histories > Turbo

Turbo's History
From Yesasia.com's Artist of the Week 9/26/00

In August of 1995, a remarkable male duo dance group emerged. Vocalist Kim Jong Kook paired up with rapper Kim Jeong Nam, and the dynamic sound of Turbo was born!

After the release of their second album, rapper Kim Jeong Nam left the group to explore his own material, and Turbo gained the much-loved Mikey (also a hip rapper) to replace him. Mikey, who is Korean-American and draws talent from many musical spheres, went through a really tough audition process before being inducted into Turbo as its newest member. Out of 3500 hopefuls, Mikey ranked the best!

Though some fans feared Turbo wouldn't be the same without Kim Jeong Nam, Kim Jong Kook and Mikey showed off all their talent and passion for dance music in their third Turbo album —proving that they were even better than before! The title track off that album, "Born Again" was a top-notch hit!

Turbo's music is characterized by vocalist Kim Jong Kook's high-pitched vocal style (that borders on shouting) and Mikey's Euro-techno style rap.

Turbo's albums sold more than a million copies each time, and their songs are well-loved by everyone because their tunes are fresh, easy-to-follow, and great for clubs. The majority of Turbo tunes are fast-beat dance music and hard-hitting blockbusters, but they're also pretty smooth with ballads and love songs!

Turbo received many musical awards from 1995 to 1998, including the Best Singer of the Year given by Korea's major TV stations ( KBS, MBC, and SBS).