--- title: K-Pop Pioneers: The Kim Sisters Take America description: In the late 1950s, three young singers postwar Korea to seek their fortune in the West -- and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams canonical: https://time.com/3490883/k-pop-pioneers-the-kim-sisters-take-america/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-09T03:00:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:28.369Z og:title: K-Pop Pioneers: The Kim Sisters Take America og:description: In the late 1950s, three young singers postwar Korea to seek their fortune in the West -- and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams og:url: https://time.com/3490883/k-pop-pioneers-the-kim-sisters-take-america/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5199d2770bc0ef3b/6987600006f2c14c6a33148e/141010-kim-sisters-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2322 og:image:height: 1306 og:image:alt: The Kim Sisters 1960 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: K-Pop Pioneers: The Kim Sisters Take America twitter:description: In the late 1950s, three young singers postwar Korea to seek their fortune in the West -- and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5199d2770bc0ef3b/6987600006f2c14c6a33148e/141010-kim-sisters-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # K-Pop Pioneers: The Kim Sisters Take America > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 9, 2014 3:00 AM UTC  Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 9, 2014 3:00 AM UTC A few years ago, TIME.com designated K-pop [“South Korea’s greatest export.”](http://world.time.com/2012/03/07/south-koreas-greatest-export-how-k-pops-rocking-the-world/) While the folks at Hyundai, Samsung and a few other Korean corporations might have something to say about that assertion, there’s little doubt that over the past few decades, the treacly, hook-infused musical style has made itself felt, in one way or another, all over the globe. But few fans of the genre are aware that, more than 50 years ago, three talented young Korean women formed a kind of proto-K-pop group—an ensemble unlike any that American audiences, at least, had ever seen. Here is how LIFE introduced the trio to its readers in February 1960: --- > “” --- In fact, Min-ja, or Mia, was a first cousin to Sook-ja and Ai-ja \[the preferred Anglicized spelling of their names), but “Two Kims and Their Cousin” hardly had the ring of the eventual band name. So, in a time-honored entertainment ploy, when they began performing in Seoul in the 1950s, the three took a bit of license and, lo and behold, the Kim Sisters song-and-dance act was born. In their heyday, the women played nightclubs and other venues all over America and around the world. They were huge hits in Vegas. They appeared on the _Ed Sullivan Show_ more than 20 times. In short, for a number of years in the early to mid-1960s, the Kim Sisters were, without a doubt, the most famous Korean entertainers on the planet. By the late Sixties, though, all that changed. As [Mia Kim told the _Korea Times_](http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2011/09/178%5F95166.html) a few years back: --- > “” --- After that, the band played on, but without Mia. The real Kim sisters—and eventually, their brothers—played Vegas for years after the original trio broke up. Ai-ja died in the late 1980s of lung cancer, and the remaining “sisters,” Mia and Sook-ja, lost touch with one another. Still, for a while there, the three beautiful, accomplished young singers and musicians who left the hard times of postwar Korea to seek their fortune in the West had, in fact, found receptive audiences, and more than a little fame, far from their native Seoul. K-pop or no K-pop, it’s a tale worth telling, and remembering. Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at [@LizabethRonk](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk).  The Kim Sisters -- Mia, Ai-ja, Sook-ja -- in 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters backstage, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters backstage, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters backstage, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  One of the Kim Sisters, Mia, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ai-Ja Kim performs on stage, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Chicago, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "Split-sheathed singers, Min Ja (with guitar), Sook Ja (with clarinet) and Ai Ja (with saxophone) leap off the stage after performing 'Five Foot Two.' The trio plays 10 instruments, including a bass fiddle and a banjo." Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images !["On a sleigh, the three Kim sisters start off for a horse-drawn tour of \[their manager's mother's\] snow-covered Illinois farm. From the left are Sook Ja, Ai Ja, and Min Ja."](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90a3504dbfdbfe48/698760012dce01f6af9dad79/141010-kim-sisters-15.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) On a sleigh, the three Kim sisters start off for a horse-drawn tour of the snow-covered farm. From the left are Sook Ja, Ai Ja, and Min Ja. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters with their manager's family, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Min Ja, a.k.a., Mia, with one of Kim Sisters' manager's nephews, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters with their manager's family, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  In pony-tails, girls watch Queen for a Day at manager's mother's farm in Marengo, Ill. Girls were surprised to learn show's winner ruled nothing. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Sisters, Illinois, 1960. Robert W. 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