Andy Lee was raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States and had been a student at John F. Kennedy High School before moving to Seoul.

He would continue with Shinhwa until the group's fourth album when he took some time out to study in the U.S. (he later confessed that it actually was due to his care for seriously sick mother).

In 2007, Lee left his group's management to set up his own company, ND (New Dream) Entertainment, concentrating on his solo career.

After finishing performances for the musical, Lee released his very first digital single, titled "Irrelevant [or Extraordinary] Imagination" on November 30, 2007, a cover from the group Rollercoaster's song.

In March 2008, Andy joined MBC's reality show We Got Married where he was a couple with singer Solbi to act out the lives of newlyweds.

In November 2009, Lee commenced an Asia tour with stops in Taipei, Tokyo and Shanghai and concluded it just after Christmas[1] and held a fan meeting, Andy Farewell Party-Bye for now a week before his enlistment.

[2] He enlisted for his mandatory military service on 11 January 2010 for 21 months of active duty at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

[5] The group released their tenth studio album The Return on 23 March 2012,[6][7] launched their comeback concerts 2012 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Return throughout Asia[8][9] and their first exclusive variety program Shinhwa Broadcast premiered on 17 March 2012 on cable channel JTBC.

[10] In September, under TOP Media, he launched a new seven-member boy band 100% which debuted with the hit single "Bad Guy".

[11][12] In November 2013, Lee was indicted with illegally gambling on soccer matches, resulting in a fine of 5 million KRW.