B1A4

Pre-debut

Baro, the rapper of the group, was first discovered by a company representative who came across his photo posted on his friend's homepage on social network service Cyworld. At his audition, Baro sang Sumi Jo's "Once I Leave" and Sung Si-kyung's "The Road to Me", in addition to rapping and beatboxing. Similarly, leader Jinyoung was discovered from a photo posted on Cyworld. He received training for composing, singing, and acting. Gongchan was also discovered on Cyworld as a result of his winning of an "Eoljjang Challenge" when he was in middle school. He was also a runner-up of a cross-dressing contest while, where he danced to a song by soloist Ivy. Main vocalist Sandeul, who competed in numerous singing contests, was approached by a company agent after performing a song by Kim Yeon-woo in a talent show. Prior to their debut, the group underwent a training period of two years.

2011: Let's Fly and It B1A4

On April 11, the members of B1A4 were introduced through a webtoon. Initially, it was believed that B1A4 would be a mixed gender group due to the presence of a female character named Anna in the webtoon; this was later proven false. That same day, WM Entertainment revealed a photo of the first member of the group, leader Jinyoung. The remaining members Baro, Gongchan, Sandeul, and CNU were revealed on a daily basis between April 12–15. A music video teaser for B1A4's promotional single "O.K" was uploaded on April 19. The full music video, as well as their debut EP Let's Fly, was released on April 21. The group made their debut performance on the April 23 episode of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation's (MBC) Show! Music Core. They had their subsequent debut stages on Mnet's M! Countdown, Korean Broadcasting System's (KBS) Music Bank, and Seoul Broadcasting System's (SBS) The Music Trend on April 28, April 29, and May 1, respectively. B1A4 began promoting "Only Learned the Bad Things" on June 18, 2011. The group, alongside Block B, starred on SBS MTV's reality show Match Up. It began to air on June 22. The music video for the second promotional single "Only Learned the Bad Things" was aired on the first episode.

On August 31, it was announced that B1A4 would release a second EP the following month. Photo teasers of Jinyoung, Baro, CNU, Sandeul, and Gongchan were revealed daily from September 5–9, respectively; The music video teaser for "Beautiful Target" was released on September 10. It B1A4 and the full music video for "Beautiful Target" were released on September 15. The group began promoting the album by performing on KBS' Music Bank, MBC's Show! Music Core, SBS' The Music Trend, and Mnet's M! Countdown. B1A4 began promoting "My Love" on November 18, 2011.

In October 2011, it was announced that B1A4 would debut in Japan under the record label Pony Canyon in January 2012. Prior to their debut there, the group held their B1A4 – Japan Showcase Live 2011 at the Sinagawa Stellar Ball in Tokyo on December 9, 2011; the tickets for the event sold-out within one minute, an unprecedented feat for newly debuted groups. B1A4 performed nine songs at the event, which was attended by 1,000 people. At the end of the year, B1A4 won the Rookie of the Year Award at Tower Records' K-Pop Lovers! Awards 2011.

2012: Debut in Japan, Ignition, In the Wind and BABA B1A4

Prior to embarking into the Japanese music industry, B1A4 released a compilation album on January 25, 2012, which consists of all the tracks previously included on Let's Fly and It B1A4 in Japan.

On March 5, B1A4 released the digital single "This Time Is Over" ahead of the release of their first studio album, as well as a photo teaser of Baro. Photo teasers of Gongchan, Jinyoung, CNU, and Sandeul were released in the following days. B1A4 released Ignition and the promotional single "Baby I'm Sorry" on March 14, and they began promoting the song on M! Countdown the following the day, followed by performances on Music Bank, Show! Music Core, and The Music Trend. A repackaged edition of the album entitled Ignition: Special Edition, as well as the promotional single "Baby Good Night", was released on May 23.

B1A4 released their first Japanese-language single "Beautiful Target" on June 27, 2012. The song debuted at number four on the Oricon weekly singles chart, selling 32,665 in its first week. On July 25, B1A4 took part in season six of the reality show Hello Baby, where the group learns to care for children. On August 29, B1A4 released their second Japanese-language single "Oyasumi Good Night", which also debuted at number four on the Oricon weekly singles chart, selling 35,779 in its first week. They released their debut Japanese-language studio album 1 on October 24, 2012; it debuted at number five on the Oricon weekly albums chart, selling 20,547 in its first week.

On November 5, a video teaser was released that featured no music or any of the members, but of a blowing wind throughout a field. Individual video teasers for Jinyoung and Baro were released on November 7, followed by Gongchan, CNU, and Sanduel on November 9. In the Wind was released on November 12, 2012; they began performing the promotional single "Tried to Walk" on M! Countdown on November 15, as well as on Music Bank, Show! Music Core, and The Music Trend the following days.

It had been announced on October 12 by WM Entertainment that B1A4 would hold their first solo concert, BABA B1A4. This concert was said to be co-produced WM Entertainment and CJ E&M's global concert brand, M-Live and that ticket sales would begin a week later on October 18, 2012. The announcement garnered many interests bringing B1A4's official page to 25,000 views. Before ticket sales began, 75,000 people were on the server waiting to buy the tickets resulting in 8,000 tickets to be sold out in 5 minutes once ticket sales opened. From December 8–9, 2012, B1A4 held their first solo concert BABA B1A4 at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium.

2013: What's Happening? and Amazing Store

On January 7, 2013, the Recording Industry Association of Japan released the list of winners for the 2013 Japan Gold Disc Awards where the group won two awards. The same month BABA B1A4 in Japan was held in two cities starting on January 27 until January 30 consisting of 4 shows.

On April 20, the group's official site was updated with a mysterious photo teaser with the words "이게 무슨 일이야? 2013.04.23" (rom: ige musuniriya ;trans: What's Happening?) . Fans speculated several things out of the teaser such as an upcoming comeback, something about their 2nd fanclub inauguration and their second anniversary (which is the same day indicated on the teaser). On April 23, teaser photos for member Jinyoung were released confirming that the teaser was indeed for a comeback and that the group would be back on May 6 with their yet-to-be titled 4th EP.

The song What's Going On? grabbed the top spot in MBC Show! Music Core chart on May 18. It also happens to be the first music show award that B1A4 received since debut.

On June 19, 2013, WM Entertainment announced B1A4's 2nd solo concert, Amazing Store. The concert was said to present a new story telling concept as well as B1A4 directly performing with a live band. The announcement had been made on their 'b1a4.interest.me' page bringing over 30,000 visitors to the page. After tickets went on sale on June 26, the concert sold out its 10,000 seats in under 5 minutes. The concert took place from August 7 to 11 at the "Uniqlo AX", having 2,000 fans each day.

2014: Who Am I, The Class, Solo Day, 2014 Road Trip Tour

On December 5, 2013, WM Entertainment announced that B1A4 would be having their third exclusive concert entitled 2014 B1A4 Concert The Class that would be held on February 15 and 16 at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium at Olympic Park. Subsequent teasers of the members were then released.

B1A4 made their comeback in early January with Who Am I and the title song Lonely, marking it as their second studio album. The album and the music video were released on January 13, 2014 and the first comeback stage on January 17 on Music Bank.

B1A4 released their 5th mini album with the title track "Solo Day". The music video was released on July 14 and their first performance for "Solo Day" on July 17 on M! Countdown. It was officially announced that B1A4 would be appearing at 'The 12th Korea Times Music Festival' and KCON 2014 in Los Angeles, California. WM Entertainment also announced B1A4's first world tour 'Road Trip'. Their first concert took place in Taiwan on August 23, 2014 and Shanghai on August 30, 2014, then the boys headed on over to Manila on September 6, 2014, Melbourne on September 18, 2014, and Sydney on September 20, 2014. The boys also performed in New York on October 3, 2014, Chicago on October 5, 2014, Dallas on October 8, 2014, and San Francisco on October 11, 2014.

2015: Individual Activities, Sweet Girl and B1A4 Adventure World Tour

Earlier this year, B1A4 was focusing on their individual activities. Jinyoung was cast on MNET's Perseverance Goo Hae Ra alongside Min Hyo-rin, Henry and others. He also cast for MBC's Warm and Cozy alongside Yoo Yeon-seok and Kang So-ra. On the other hand, CNU was cast in a musical named Chess with 2AM's Jo Kwon, VIXX's Ken and SHINee's Key. Sandeul was revealed to be one of the current panelist for MBC's King of Mask Singer. He also appeared on KBS2's Immortal Song 2. Baro was cast for drama as Hong Song Tae for MBC's Angry Mom. Baro and Sandeul both acted in the web drama Loss:Time:Life, cast with their real life stage names. Meanwhile, Gongchan is one of the new MCs for the fourth season of KBS' A Song for You alongside f(x)'s Amber and Super Junior's Kangin.

On July 26, 2015, a poster of B1A4's comeback photo was seen outside the WM Entertainment building. Jinyoung tweeted on the same day that a story behind the poster will be released at 12 AM KST. Sweet Girl released on August 10, 2015 as B1A4's 6th Mini Album, four days after they debuted a few songs during a Guerrilla Concert.

WM Entertainment also released the poster for the "B1A4 Adventure" Concert starting in Seoul on September 12 and 13, 2015, continuing on to Dallas, Texas on November 8, 2015, Mexico on November 11, 2015, Puerto Rico on November 13, 2015, Hong Kong on November 29, 2015, Helsinki on December 9, 2015, Berlin on December 11, 2015, Madrid on December 13, 2015, Bogota on February 12, 2016, Santiago on February 14, 2016, and Lima on February 17, 2016.

On December 10, 2015, B1A4 released their first Christmas single "It's Christmas", marking their first holiday release since debut.

2016–present: Continued Individual Activities and Good Timing

In early 2016, B1A4 continued to focus on individual activities. Jinyoung was cast in KBS's drama Love in the Moonlight alongside Park Bo-gum and Kim Yoo-jung. Jinyoung also produced a track for the drama titled "Foggy Road," which was sung by Ben. Jinyoung continued his producing activities by contributing multitple songs to Produce 101. CNU sang an OST for tvN's Cinderella and the Four Knights titled "The Way To Find Love". Baro was cast in KBS's Master: God of Noodles. Sandeul once again appeared on Immortal Song 2, and competed on the special Idol Cooking King and made it into the top 8. He also performed a duet with Vixx's Ken on Duet Song Festival's November 11 episode. Sandeul also made his solo debut with the release of his mini-album Stay as You Are on October 4th. Gongchan appeared on MBC's Celebrity Bromance with VIXX's Hongbin. Jinyoung and CNU both competed on King of Masked Singer. Additionally, CNU and Sandeul were both cast as D'artagnan in the musical "Three Musketeers".

B1A4 also made group appearances throughout 2016. On June 4 the group performed at the 2016 Dream Concert as members of the first lineup alongside EXO, SHINee's Taemin, VIXX, T-ara, Red Velvet, Oh My Girl, G-Friend, Seventeen, and HALO. On June 11, they held a concert with label-mates Oh My Girl in Beijing. B1A4 performed at the 2016 Busan One Asia Festival in October. They were in the event's first lineup alongside CNBLUE, A Pink, Girl's Day, and B.A.P.

On November 20 B1A4 released teaser images for their 3rd studio album, Good Timing. The album and the music video for title track "A Lie" both released on November 28. On the 28th they also held their first showcase since debut, performing songs from their new album as well as previous hits. Their first comeback stage was on Show Champion on November 30.

After their comeback, B1A4 competed as a group for the first time on Immortal Song 2.

A "B1A4 Four Nights in The U.S. 2017" tour has been announced, with concerts in New York on February 15, 2017; Chicago on February 17th, 2017; San Francisco on February 19, 2017; and Los Angeles on February 20, 2017.

Public image

The group has been dubbed several nicknames, one of which was "countryside-dols" (countryside idols). The Korean media often uses this nickname due to the fact that all of the members of B1A4 are from the countryside: Jinyoung is from Chungju, North Chungcheong Province; CNU from Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province; Sandeul from Busan; Baro from Gwangju, South Jeolla Province; and Gongchan from Suncheon, South Jeolla Province. They were also referred to as "blood-dols" (blood idols) in reference to the origins of their name, as well as "paper-dols" (paper idols) because of the paper classification A4. In an effort to distinguish themselves, B1A4 had also promoted a nickname "saessakdol" (새싹돌, "sprout-dol") and created a so-called "saessakchum" (새싹춤, "sprout dance"), which was showcased in various shows including Quiz to Change the World.

Philanthropy

Throughout B1A4's career, B1A4 participated in many goodwill campaigns and donations.

On May 31, 2012, a B1A4 fan posted a post titled 'B1A4 Proves Their Love For Fans' which shared a story of how the B1A4 members visited her home and helped take care of her ill mother. The members took part in this act during theirs days of promoting "Beautiful Target." While B1A4 were over at the fan's home, the members prepared a meal for the family and even volunteered to clean up after the meal and wash the dishes. The members then spent quality time with the family taking photos and other activities.

On August 31, 2012, B1A4 donated 140 kg Nanum Store rice garlands to Seoul SOS Youth Camp, located in Yang-Cheon. The rice garlands were donated by fans to support Sandeul's musical "The Brothers Were Brave" and "B1A4's Hello Baby." B1A4 decided to donate the garlands to Seoul SOS Youth Camp which was used to feed 1,300 poorly-fed children on a meal. This act of charity brought gratitude to B1A4 and their fans by the head of the youth camp.

On September 1, 2012, B1A4 held a mini concert at the Wonju Market to help raise awareness for traditional markets. This event was created as a celebrity marketing to help traditional markets stay strong in the wave of chain and supermarkets and local convenience stores.

As B1A4 hosted their first solo concert, BABA B1A4, fans from all over the world sent gifts and donations to B1A4, measuring up to approximately 2 tons of rice, 2,356 coal briquettes, 300 eggs, 300 kg of pet food, and 10 mango trees. The group then decided to donate all that were given to them. The 2 tons of rice were donated to a charity of B1A4's choice. The 2356 coal briquettes were donated to provide energy during the winter for those facing energy poverty. The 300 eggs were donated to the Food Bank and the 300 kg of pet food were donated to an animal rescue center. Lastly, the mango trees were donated to Tonj in Southern Sudan through World Vision to help relieve child famine and desertion of the area.

On July 19, 2013, as B1A4 prepared for their second solo concert, AMAZING STORE, B1A4 asked fans for school supplies rather than flower wreaths. As B1A4 is working with CJ’s charity foundation “Donor’s Camp” to support the education of children who are in need, B1A4 asked fans to donate school supplies to help students who are growing up in difficult situations that may hinder their education and learning environment.

B1A4 members using part of their 3rd solo concert proceeds and donating them to the Seoul Arts College’s matriculation ceremony taking place on February 27, 2014 at Olympic Park’s Olympic Hall. Seoul Arts College will be using the donation from B1A4 to purchase bags of rice to be given out to the child welfare center Gangnam Start Center, and after-school study room for students from needy families, Gangnam Vision Center

B1A4 continued their efforts in community service in December 2014. They participated in a charity event that raises funds to provide those in need with coal briquettes for heating. Other stars including Yoo Jae-suk, A Pink, GOT7, Sunmi, Kim Tae Woo, Hello Venus, Jo Se Ho, K.Will, and Kim So-eun have participated in the event.

Members

Korean Tours

Japanese Tours

World Tour