Turtles

(Not to be confused with the 60's American rock band The Turtles. If you're here due to the 60's American rock band, do last.fm and yourself a favor, Fix your artist tags.)

Turtles is a Korean pop group, who have had songs featured in the dance game series 'Pump It Up'.


Frontman Im Seong Hoon (Turtleman) was found dead in his apartment on April 2, 2008. He died of a heart attack in his sleep due to the same myocardial infaraction that had put him in the hospital in 2005. He was advised to remain hospitalized, and stated in his final interview, "I don't know when I will collapse but I want to sing. Although it might be strange, I make each album hoping it won't be my last."

"If I followed all that the hospital asked me to do, I would be laying down not moving, but even if this is more dangerous than spending my life waiting for a meaningless disease to pass, I want to go out and do music."

He also revealed that he thought of "Airplane (비행기)," from their 4th album, while in bed atfter his initla surgery. He thought of the melody there and wrote it down as soon as he returned home after his release. Post-operation, he contined to make happy music in spite of his circumstances. "Sing La La La" from Turtles' final album creates the feel of a life lived happily, and the group's music will be loved for years to come.

Remaining members Geumbi and JiAh announced the official dissolution of the group on September 4.

"The name Turtles started out with oppa’s name ‘Turtleman‘. Now with oppa gone, there is no more meaning to Turtles anymore. [...] Our previous songs are composed by oppa. Even if we are to sing new songs in the future as Turtles, there will no longer be the Turtles’s feel anyway. [...] We hope that everyone will not forget the smiles that Turtles‘ music brought to them. We will work hard and live well in the future. We cannot be together with Im Seong Hoon (Turtleman) but we will be together with him in our hearts”.