Singer, Songwriter. Considered a pioneer of the modern era of Korean ballads, Yoo Jae Ha forever changed South Korea's music scene, despite only making just one album and one television appearance. Yoo Jae Ha was born in Andong, South Korea, and showed musical potential from early on. During his university years, he was a member of legendary Korean singer Cho Yong Pil's band, and Yoo developed an interest in songwriting. He wrote a song for Cho Yong Pil, entitled "Because I Love You", however Yoo was disappointed with the recording of the song, since it wasn't executed the way he envisioned it. Yoo would later record his own version of "Because I Love You" for his debut album of the same name. Yoo Jae Ha had to leave the band due to his studies, but later joined another well-known band, Kim HyunSik and Spring Summer Autumn Winter. Yoo had wrote ten songs for the band, but the band ended up choosing only one of the songs from the selection, leaving Yoo disappointed again and prompting him to embark on a solo career. In 1987, with only a budget of 8 million won ($6,500US), Yoo Jae Ha wrote, composed and arranged his debut album and was released the same year. "Because I Love You" is the first album in Korean music history to have been completely self produced. The album was not well-received critically at the time since the Korean music scene was mostly dominated by trot-style songs and critics thought the use of classical music elements mixed with pop was odd. Pop was considered entertainment, and classical music was seen as art, having a higher artistic value. Many classical musicians in Korea criticized Yoo at the time, saying he was "taking the low road to fame". He had hired his friends from his classical studies school to play their instruments on his album, not disclosing that it was going to be a pop album. When this was found out, they worried they'd be kicked out of school. Yoo Jae Ha and his songs had a minor cult following through song requests on radio stations, but was rejected from television performances due to his lack of vocal skills, making him relatively unknown in the Korean music scene. Yoo Jae Ha died in a car accident at the age of 25, just 3 months after releasing his debut album, "Because I Love You". After his death, his songs and album became popular, and received more attention than he ever did while he was alive. Radio stations began to play "Because I Love You", leading to more exposure and realizing how ground-breaking he was as a singer/songwriter. His music was then re-evaluated, and soon began to heavily influence the Korean ballad genre and singers as a whole from then on. Even to this day, the majority of Korean ballads use elements from classical music, which Yoo Jae Ha spearheaded. There is a songwriting competition in South Korea named in Yoo's honour, producing well-known names in the Korean music industry.