Park Gyu-ri (Hangul: 박규리; born on May 21, 1988 in Seoul) is a South Korean singer, known for being the leader of girl group Kara, formed by DSP Entertainment in 2007.
Biography
Prior to her singing career, she was a child actress. Her first appearance was on Today is a Nice Day in 1995 where she played the girlfriend of Kang Ho Dong's brother. She later appeared as the teenage version of Kim Jung Eun's character in Ladies of the Palace in 2001.
Career
Kara
Main article: Kara (band)
Kara debuted on March 29, 2007 with "Break It" on M! Countdown as a 4 membered group. Nicole was one of the four along with Park Gyuri, Han Seungyeon, and Kim Sunghee. Kara was often compared to Fin.K.L because of their concept and the fact that they are both from the same company(DSP Entertainment). Later on Sunghee left the group in March 2008 due to parental pressure, just when Kara intended their comeback. Sunghee failed her college exams and left the group. On July 24 of 2008, Kara came back with two new members, Goo Ha-ra and Kang Jiyoung. Their new concept was "cute" and "playful".
In December 4, 2008, Kara have their comeback starting on M! Countdown with "Pretty Girl".In February 2009, Kara released their second mini-album "Honey". "Honey" became the group's first #1 single when it topped the M! Countdown and The Music Trend.
In late July 2009, Kara revealed their second album named "Revolution" June 16, 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2009. Due to the popularity of the song, Wanna and Mister, Kara's overall popularity increased. Originally having auditioned as a rapper, she rapped for the first time in the song "Mabeob" (Korean: "마법", "Magic") with Nicole on Kara's 2nd album Revolution.
Kara started promotions with their third mini-album "Lupin"Lupin was a success, it won KBS Music Bank K-Chart on March 12, March 19, and March 26, 2010.
Solo activities
Upon Nicole's segment ending on Star Golden Bell, she was appointed as a permanent guest; she was planned to have her own segment on the show, but the producers did not follow through.
She featured in a duet titled "Day After" with Hong Kyung Min on his 10th album Special Edition, released on February 4, 2010.
On April 21, 2010, it was announced that Park would take over the position of DJ alongside Shindong on "ShimShimTapa" after Kim Shinyoung left. Their first broadcast is to air on May 6, 2010.[citation needed]
Gyuri was the voice of "Kate" in the Korean dubbed version of Alpha and Omega, released in February 2011
