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ARTIST BIO
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Name: Bi aka Rain
Real name: Jung Ji-hoon
Nickname: Puppy
Date of birth: June 25, 1982.
Physical stats: 184 cm in height, 74 kg in
weight
Blood Type: O
Favorite Color: White, Black
Education: Post modern music department, Kyung
Hee University
Favorite Actor: Charlie Chaplin, Hahn Suk-kyu
Favorite Genre: R&B, hip-hop, funk
Favorite Sport: Basketball, swimming
Favorite Artist: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson,
Usher
Hobby: Movies, music, collecting shoes and
clothes
Special skills: Sing, dancing, acting
Jung Ji Hoon, born on the 25th of June 1982 is a
well known actor and singer in South Korea.. He
uses his stage name, Bi (pronounced: “Bee” which
means Rain in Korean), when he performs as a
singer and dancer. His real name is Jung Ji
Hoon, which he uses when he performs as an
actor. His surname is Jung and his given name is
Ji Hoon (also spelled as Ji Hun)
He discovered his passion for dancing ever since
he was in the 6th grade. As a teenager, he was
part of the boyband group called “fanclub” and
years after the group ended, Park Jin Young
(Korean producer/singer who worked with American
singers Will Smith, Mase, Lil’ Kim, 3LW, Tyrese)
took Bi under his wings after he auditioned for
JYP entertainment and trained him for years in
dancing and singing. Bi was a back-dancer for a
famous Korean singer named Park Ji Yoon and Park
Jin Young himself. During those training years,
Bi was not at home much and would lie to his
parents telling them he was gonna study in the
library while in fact he went to the dance
studio. He struggled financially and at times
had to go without meals. Nevertheless, he
continued to focus on his dance and singing even
though he was anxiously waiting for his debut.
Finally in 2002 he debuted with the song “nappun
namja (bad guy)” charming fans with his singing
and powerful choreography. After the 1st album,
he starred in the drama “Sangdoo Hakyo Gaja
(sangdoo let’s go to school)”; many people were
impressed by his acting skills regardless that
it was his first time acting in a drama.
Following the success of his debut, he came back
with a new set of style in his 2nd album and hit
song “how to avoid the sun”.
In 2004, he starred in another successful drama
called “Full House” which has aired in other
Asian countries such as the Philippines,
Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China,
Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and was one
of the highest rating Korean drama which has won
the hearts of many fans across Asia. His
performance in Full House has won him the Best
Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards
His 3rd album “it’s raining” has been released
in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore,
Indonesia, Thailand and has top the foreign
music charts in those countries; the album has
sold more than 1 million in Asia and it is still
in the process of being released in other Asian
countries as well (soon to be in the
Philippines). His concert called “Rainy day”
which was held in Korea and Japan had concert
tickets sold out on the first day. Jung Ji Hoon
(Bi / Rain)
The American hip hop singer Lil’ Kim has offered
Bi to work with her on her new album, the group
3LW also collaborated with Bi on their album.
The Korean Pop sensation, Bi received the 2004
“KBS Daesang Award” in Korea (Daesang is the
highest Korean music award) and he has won the
MTV Asia Grand Slam; a series of awards in the
Asian countries that broadcast MTV Asia. He won
the “Favorite Artist of Korea” from the 2005 MTV
Asia Aid held in Bangkok and the “Popular Asian
Artist Award” from Channel [V] Thailand, he also
won the “Best Buzz Asia Award” during the MTV
Japan Video Music Award 2005 and in Beijing he
won the “Best Korean Singer” award in the
MTV-CCTV Mandarin Music Honors. He is invited to
perform in the American MTV Video Music Awards
2005 held in Miami and also at the MTV Latin
Video Music Awards 2005 in Mexico. Since his
debut in 2002, the 23 year old has been one of
the most popular Korean artists in Asia. The
success he achieved through his hard work is a
promise that he made to his late mother.
In 2005, Bi clinched the Best Buzz Asia from
Korea at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2005.
He also won the best Korean singer award 2005 at
the Mandarin Music Honors in Taiwan. Having been
voted as the best Asian singer by the Taiwanese
media, Bi is positioning himself as one of the
most admired Asian stars this year. Wherever he
goes, he generates huge public interest and
becomes a hot topic of conversation. His every
move is monitored by the media and draws keen
attention from music fans. Bi is currently on an
Asian music tour which started in Seoul and will
travel to Tokyo and Hong Kong. He is creating
and showcasing fresh new spectacles at every
single concert, and tickets are selling out
quickly as a result. His first solo concert in
Japan last summer, entitled "Rainy Day Japan"
and held at the Tokyo International Forum, was
so popular that all the tickets were sold out 30
seconds after going on sale. And the tickets for
another of his concerts in Taiwan were sold out
the moment they became available. Bi continues
to set records in Asia. Now planning to go
beyond Japan and Hong Kong, Bi will make a foray
into China by giving a concert in Beijing.
Rain Bi's personality and charm sweeping Asia
The Japanese pronounce Bi as "Pi," and they also
describe the singer with another term as well.
During one of his concerts in Japan, Bi
enthralled his fans with a powerful and
masculine performance onstage. But when he
chatted with fans after the concert, he
surprised his fans by displaying a boyish and
playful demeanor, earning him the label "Kawai,"
which means "cute" in Japanese. He is known as a
powerful man onstage and a "cute" persona
offstage. It is this characteristic that makes
his fans crazy about him. Bi is famous for
trying his best in whatever he does. He is
arguably the best dancer in the nation, because
he learned to dance onstage as a backup dancer
for an already-established singer before his own
debut. It is hard to define his dancing with
simple words because it is a mixture of so many
diverse elements. He has created a whole new
style of his own by integrating diverse genres
of dance over the course of his long dancing
career.
Singer Park Jin-young, who heads the entertainer
management company to which Bi belongs, once
told a radio show that "I was always wondering
whether [Bi] understood what I told him because
he never replied even when I scolded him. One
day I entered Bi's room, and ended up breaking
into tears." Bi, who was then an aspiring
singer, was poor at expressing his emotions
verbally to his older colleague. But what Park
discovered in Bi's room was a wall covered with
"post-it" stickers. Every single sticker was
filled with notes of what Park had told and
advised him. Bi had written down every single
piece of advice his older friend had given him,
and had been doing his utmost to correct his
mistakes and improve his skills.
It can be said that this latent passion for
excellence is what made Bi what he is today. And
Bi has great potential for further development
because he always tries his best to sharpen his
current skills through ceaseless practice. He is
truly a believer in the saying, "Opportunity
visits those who make great efforts." There is
no doubt that Bi will reach beyond Asia to
become a global star someday because of his
enormous talent and tireless work ethic. The
success he achieved through his hard work is a
promise that he made to his late mother.
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