Jang Hyun-seung

Jang Hyun-seung (Hangul: 장현승; born September 3, 1989)^[1] most often credited as Hyunseung, is a South Korean idol singer, dancer and musical actor. He is best known as a former member of the boy band Beast, under the label Cube Entertainment. With Beast, he has released singles and albums in both Korean and Japanese. Beast won the Artist of the Year (Daesang) award at the Melon Music Awards in 2011.^[2]

Hyunseung is also one half of the duo Trouble Maker with Cube labelmate HyunA. In December 2011, the duo released their debut mini-album with the lead single, "Trouble Maker."^[3]

Family and personal life

Jang Hyunseung was raised in Seoul, South Korea. He has a younger sister named Jang Geurim.^[4] His father died in the early morning of September 20, 2012 from a sudden heart attack.^[5][6]

Hyunseung currently attends Dongshin University under a full scholarship, along with four other members of Beast. He is majoring in Applied Music.^[7][8]

Career

Pre-debut

In 2004, at the age of 15, Hyunseung took part in auditions for YG Entertainment. He was eliminated in the second round, but went to see CEO Yang Hyun Suk afterwards out of frustration at being eliminated and was accepted as a trainee.^[9]

For a year and four months Hyunseung was a trainee for the boy band Big Bang. During this time, he used the stage name "So-1," a homonym for the Korean word for wish. He first gained media attention when he appeared in the group's predebut "Big Bang Documentary," along with members G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri. He appeared in 10 out of 11 episodes, but was cut from the group in a final elimination round with Seungri. Yang Hyunsuk felt that Hyunseung's expressiveness and stage presence were underdeveloped at the time. Fellow Beast member, Yoon Doo-joon decided to become a singer after watching the Big Bang documentary featuring Hyunseung.^[10] Hyunseung refers to his experiences at YG as important to his development as an artist.^[9]

Hyunseung later met future fellow band member Yang Yo-seob while they were working as dancers for a show performance team. Yoseob convinced Hyunseung to join Cube Entertainment, leading to him debuting with Beast.^[9]

Beast

The group has released 2 Korean albums, 8 Korean mini-albums and various singles. In December 2010, Hyunseung teamed up with fellow member Lee Gi-kwang in a sub-unit to write and compose an R&B track as part of the band's digital album, My Story.

Solo Activities

On May 7, 2015, Hyunseung released his debut solo mini-album, "My".^[11] Other than BEAST's tracks, Hyunseung's album had more influences on hiphop culture and pop culture in his preference. The title track "Ma First" (feat Giriboy), and "Break Up With Him" (feat. Dok2).

Trouble Maker

In December 2011, Hyun-seung formed a unit with labelmate 4Minute's HyunA called Trouble Maker. Trouble Maker debuted with their self-named lead single and mini album Trouble Maker.^[12] On October 28, 2013, the group released the single "There Is No Tomorrow" from their EP Chemistry.

Musical career

Hyunseung made his acting debut in the musical Mozart!. He performed as the main character from late July 2012 to early August 2012 at the Sejong Center.^[13]

In April 2014, Hyunseung was cast in the musical Bonnie & Clyde. He performed as the lead character, Clyde, from April 15 to June 29, 2014 at the BBC Art Center along with other artists, including SHINee‘s Key, ZE:A‘s Park Hyung Sik, Kahi, and Oh So Yeon.^[14]

In April 2016, Hyunseung was nominated and won "Best Male Artist (South Korea)" at the 4th Annual V-Chart Music Awards in China.^[15]

Departure from BEAST

On April 19, 2016, Cube Entertainment announced he officially left Beast to continue as a soloist.^[16][17]

Discography

Extended Plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Features & OST

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jang Hyun-seung.

• Jang Hyun-seung on Instagram