Cho Yong-pil to Return with New Album

Veteran crooner Cho Yong-pil will release his first new album in nearly a decade, his 20th, sometime later this year.

"Cho has started working on the album, aiming to showcase it in the latter half of this year," said a music industry insider working with him.

His previous 19th album, "Hello" where Cho tried to depart from his usual style, was hugely successful, sweeping the music charts at the time of release and generating an enthusiastic response not only from his old fans but also younger generations.

Cho relased many hit songs in the 1970s and 80s. In the course of his long career he has racked up an impressive catalogue of firsts, becoming the first singer in Korea to sell more than 10 million records, the first Korean singer to sell over 1 million records in Japan, and the first Korean singer to perform at the Carnegie Hall in 1980.