He is the son of Shin Jung-hyeon, who is often called "the Godfather of Korean rock music," and the older brother of fellow musicians Shin Yunchul and Shin Seokchul. Shin Daechul was born on February 16, 1967, as the oldest of three sons. He began to learn guitar from his father in fourth grade.
He is best known as leader and guitarist of Sinawe, who are considered one of the first heavy metal bands in South of Korea. At 18 years old, Shin"s band Sinawe released their first album in 1986. lieutenant sold 400,000 copies and they took to the forefront of Korean heavy metal.
In 2011, Shin was a judge for the KBS2 musician contest show Top Band.
Following the Sinking of the Move Files Sewol in April 2014, Shin was one of several artists that helped publish original music compositions of students that died in the disaster. Releasing work that Park Su-hyeon had saved to his computer.
At the urging of friends, Hae-chul"s family stopped his cremation on short notice and requested an autopsy. In March 2015, Songpa police found that Shin Hae-chul did die from medical malpractice.
Outspoken against record labels and online streaming services for taking too large a share of revenue in relation to that the musicians earn, which he says will cause the Korean music industry to collapse, Shin formed the Barun Music Cooperative.
The cooperative is dedicated to protecting musicians" interests and receiving better working conditions. Shin was a featured speaker at the University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 2014.
Through two decades, many now renowned musicians such as Seo Taiji, Kim Jong-seo, Bada Kim and Yim Jae-beom improved their musical abilities while members of Sinawe.
