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Singer-song writer Luke McQueen

The boy was adopted by an American family in 1977, around the age of five. He has no memories of South Korea. His name is Luke McQueen, and his birthday is Sept. 1, the day he was adopted.

McQueen liked music.

At the age of ten, he won first place in a junior talent show in Colorado by performing a song he had written. Even after entering the electronic engineering department at Colorado State University, he kept making music. He joined an ensemble for the music “West Side Story,” and when famous jazz pianist Dave Grusin performed at his alma mater, McQueen sang on stage alongside him.

But music was always just a hobby for McQueen. After graduating from college, he opted for financial stability by taking a job in IT. He got a job at a well-known company in the industry, started his own company and then sold it after it got big. More than a decade passed by like that. His marriage and successful career made him think he was happy, but for some reason he always felt empty inside. He couldn’t help feeling he wasn’t really happy. He spent more and more time thinking about why that might be.

who was adopted by an American family in 1977

In 2013, McQueen founded himself visiting Korea as part of an event with Korean adoptees. This visit marked the beginning of McQueen’s journey to find himself. He was curious to learn more about Korea. After settling his affairs in the US, he moved permanently to Korea, at the age of 41.

“It wasn’t an easy decision. But I thought, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never be able to,” McQueen said.

McQueen got a house in Jecheon, in North Chungcheong Province, where he had reportedly been found as a child. He hung up a banner about his birth parents and even appeared on the KBS program “Human Theater: Around the World in Search of His Mother” to tell his story. After the show was broadcast, he received more than 200 phone calls, but none of them were his birth parents.

After over a year had passed, McQueen figured he had done all he could, and he returned to his passion of music. He took online lectures at the Berklee College of Music and performed on the street. He even worked on the soundtrack for “My Umma [Mother],” a documentary that depicted his life in Korea. This documentary was screened at the Jecheon International Music and Film Festival last year.

Recently, McQueen released his first single, called “Longing (Someday).”

“I want you to know, that I turned out OK / I want you to know, I think of you every day,” he sings while accompanying himself on the piano. He also made a music video for the song, which begins by displaying the following text: “Since 1955, about 250,000 Korean children have been sent abroad for adoption. About 26,000 of them are stateless.”

McQueen’s four original songs can be heard on his YouTube channel (youtube.com/lukemcqueen). Next month, he will be releasing an English-language version of “Around Thirty,” a song by Kim Kwang-seok, which will be followed by a number of songs he has been composing.

“I haven’t achieved success as a musician yet. Maybe I’ll only be able to focus on music this year and I’ll have to do something else next year. But I’m going to keep doing music. Coming to Korea, finding myself and playing music has made me so happy. That alone is enough,” McQueen said.

Luke McQueen before he was adopted by an American family

By Suh Jung-min, music correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]