Kim Jong-minLeader
김종민- Name
- Kim Jong-min
- Born
- Not confirmed yet
Joined as a stand-in in 2000 and became a full member by the fourth album. Shin Ji calls him the leader.
Their story
A trio that kept changing
Koyote started on 9 December 1998 as Cha Seung-min, Shin Ji and the rapper Kim Goo, with the Choi Jun-young song "Pure Love" from their first album. "Heartbreak" followed in 1999. After two albums Cha Seung-min left, and Kim Jong-min came in as a stand-in in 2000. He stayed, and by the fourth album he was a full member. Kim Goo left in 2002, and for two years a series of temporary rappers filled the third spot.
The early 2000s run
The albums came quickly in those years: Passion with "Blue", then "Sad Dream", "Emergency" and, in 2004, "Disco King". On the sixth album Bbaekga, who had started as yet another stand-in, became a regular. That gave Koyote the line-up it still has, with Shin Ji as the only member left from 1998. "1, 2, 3, 4" and Feel Up came in 2005, and the group kept releasing through Jumping in 2009.
Dance songs with sad words
Shin Ji described their 2023 single "Wish" as a powerful dance song with quite sad words. She also called Koyote never a storm in the industry, more of a gentle breeze. In 2012, the year they worked with the producer Brave Brothers, Kim Jong-min put the long run down to constant trial and error. By then he was also in the cast of the variety show 2 Days & 1 Night.
Where they are now
Koyote marked 20 years with a remake of "Ae-won" and, in 2019, their first solo concert. In August 2025 "Call Me" brought back Choi Jun-young, who wrote "Pure Love" and "Heartbreak", and went to No. 1 on Kakao Music's real-time chart. A tour from Sydney to Changwon followed. In 2026, their 28th year, the three are planning a tour of North America, with a San Jose date on 8 November.
