About Kangta
An Chil-hyun (Korean: 안칠현; born October 10, 1979), known professionally as Kangta (강타), is a South Korean singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, actor and radio personality. Known for his work as a member of boy band H.O.T., he is currently an executive at his longtime agency SM Entertainment since 2005. He is also the chief producer of Smashhit from SM's label Kreation Music Rights since 2023 and the general producer of SM's music label SMArt since 2025. == Career == === 1996–2001: H.O.T. === Kangta was discovered at Lotte World, a theme park, when he was 13 years old. He made his debut on-screen appearance as a backup dancer together with future bandmate Moon Hee-joon for labelmate singer Yoo Young-jin. Kangta eventually decided to become a singer with Moon and three others, Jang Woo-hyuk, Tony An, and Lee Jae-won to form H.O.T. in 1996. The group disbanded in 2001 when the group's contract expired and the members decided not to renew it. === 2001–2002: Solo debut, Polaris and Pine Tree === Kangta released his first studio album Polaris on August 16, 2001, and began his solo career with the title track "Polaris". On this album, he wrote, composed and arranged seven songs and produced the album. Even at the beginning of the recession in the music market, it sold 300,000 copies within a week of its release, ranking first in record sales, and was a great success with sales close to 500,000 copies.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.