Zelo

For Church Slavonic letter zelo, see Dze.
This is a Korean name; the family name is Choi.
Choi Junhong
최준홍

Background information
Birth name Choi Jun-hong
Born (1996-10-15) October 15, 1996
Mokpo, South Korea
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active 2011–present
Labels TS Entertainment
Associated acts
Website official site
Korean name
Hangul 최준홍
Hanja 崔俊洪
Revised Romanization Choe Jun-hong
McCune–Reischauer Ch'oe Chun-hong
Stage name
Hangul 젤로
Revised Romanization Jello
McCune–Reischauer Chello

Choi Jun-hong (Hangul: 최준홍; born October 15, 1996) better known by his stage name Zelo, is a South Korean rapper, dancer, singer and beatboxer. He is best known as a member of the South Korean boy group B.A.P. He made his recording debut with the single "Never Give Up" under B.A.P's sub-unit Bang&Zelo in November 2011. He is currently signed under TS Entertainment.

Biography

1996–2013: Early life and career beginnings

Zelo was born on October 15, 1996 in Mokpo, South Korea.[1][2] He has one older brother.[3] He aspired to be a soccer player when he was young, but then changed his dreams to becoming a singer as he chanced upon music and grew interested in it.[4] He started practising beatboxing and dancing at home.[4] In 5th grade, Zelo was introduced by an acquaintance who recognized his talent to Joy Dance - Plug In Music Academy located in Gwangju, which is a well-known music academy as Big Bang's Seungri had attended it. He is a former YG Entertainment trainee. He auditioned for several recording companies but did not succeed generally because he was too young. He was finally accepted as a trainee at TS Entertainment.[3] He graduated from Seoul School of Performing Arts in 2015.[5]

2011–Present: "Never Give Up" and B.A.P debut

Main article: B.A.P (band)

Zelo serves as the lead rapper, dancer, as well as being the youngest member of the group.[6]

Artistry and influences

Zelo is the lead rapper of the group.[7] Zelo cites will.i.am and Kanye West as his role models.[8] He also named 50 Cent and other rappers as his musical influences.[9]

Discography

For Zelo's work with B.A.P, see B.A.P's discography.

Bang Yongguk & Zelo

Digital Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
KOR
Gaon

[10]

2011 "Never Give Up" 65 Digital single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Special Feature with Song Jieun

Zelo was featured in a track on labelmate Song Jieun's 2013 digital single album, Hope Torture. Zelo and Jieun performed their collaborative track, "Vintage" during a showcase for the album on September 30, 2013.[11]

Collaborative Single with DPR Crew's V-Hawk

On March 9, 2015, V-Hawk of DPR Crew released "R(x)PLAY", a free single featuring Zelo. "R(x)PLAY" was Zelo's first independently-produced track and arguably the first track of his professional career that could solely be categorized as belonging to the rap genre.

Solo Track "No-Title"

Not long after the release of "R(x)PLAY", Zelo announced via Twitter on March 26, 2015 that he would soon release an independently-produced solo track that he had worked on while on hiatus in Canada earlier in the year.[12] Zelo had previously alluded to solo work via his Instagram account at the end of 2014, when he posted a photo of himself and members of the Toronto-based production company Soundsmith Productions.[13] His solo track, entitled "No-Title", was released by Zelo via a SoundCloud account on May 21, 2015. "No-Title" was Zelo's first self-composed track, for which he wrote both the melody and lyrics.[14] It was produced by Soundsmith Productions and mixed by Sunny Diamonds as credited on Zelo's SoundCloud.

Filmography

Television series

Year Network Show Role Notes
2012 SBS MTV Ta-dah It's B.A.P Robot Zelo Regular cast
Mnet B.A.P's Killing Camp Himself Regular cast

Music shows

Year Network Title Role Notes
2012 Mnet M! Countdown Guest MC With B.A.P, RT M! Countdown (2012-02-23)

References

  1. ↑ "INFO (B.A.P Hot Debut Story) Zelo ① & ② the 'country boy from Mokpo' who wanted to become a soccer player!". DKPOPNEWS. Daily K-pop News. November 23, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  2. ↑ Bak Geon-Uk (2012-05-29). "B.A.P 핫데뷔일기, "젤로① "B.A.P 안됐다면? 축구선수 됐을 것"". Herald M News (in Korean). Herald Corporation. Retrieved 2012-11-25.
  3. 1 2 Hwang Yo-Jin (2012-03-09). "(INTERVIEW) B.A.P Zelo, Jong-up". 10asia. 10아시아. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  4. 1 2 박, 건욱 (29 May 2012). "[B.A.P 핫데뷔일기]젤로① "B.A.P 안됐다면? 축구선수 됐을 것"" [[B.A.P Hot Debut Story] Zelo ① “If I didn’t become a member of B.A.P? Then I think I would have become a soccer player”] (in Korean). Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Lee, Ji Sook (11 February 2015). "A Pink′s Ha Young, Red Velvet′s Joy, B.A.P′s Zelo and More Graduate from High School". Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Zelo's Profile". it's bap. 22 January 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Artist Search - B.A.P, Profile". KBS World. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  8. ↑ Hwang Hyo-Jin (2012-03-07). "B.A.P - My name is 젤로, 종업". 10asia News (in Korean). 10asiae. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  9. ↑ "Exclusive interview with Bang & Zelo!". Daily Kpop News. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Gaon chart search". Gaon. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  11. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCdymhbwt48
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/ZELO96/status/581169863550357504
  13. ↑ https://instagram.com/p/xRux18OX2U/
  14. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/zelo96-4/no-title
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