Heejun Han

Early life

Hee-jun Han was born on April 20, 1989, to Jae Chun and Sun Ae Han of Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea. He has an older brother name HeeSeung Han (Aiden). Hee-jun and his family migrated to Flushing, New York, when he was 12 years old. He attended Francis Lewis High School.

Before he auditioned for American Idol, he was a non-profit organizer from Milal Mission in New York, a faith-based non-profit in Flushing, working with children with special needs. He has spoken of suffering from emotional depression and credited the children that he worked with for helping him to recover from his illness. He has also said that the children motivated him to audition for American Idol.

Acting career

Han portrayed Danny in the film West 32nd.

2012: American Idol, post-Idol and future projects

Han auditioned for the eleventh season of American Idol in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a performance of Michael Bolton's version of the song, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You". His audition brought Jennifer Lopez to tears, and Steven Tyler stated "I think you are really great. I think you could be an American Idol". He received a golden ticket and advanced to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Han performed the same song, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You", for his first solo performance in Hollywood and was put through to the next round. He then formed a group with Phillip Phillips, Richie Law and Jairon Jackson for the Hollywood group performance, under the name, "M.I.T." ("Most International Team"). The group had issues during the preparation of their performance, as Law insisted that the performance would "do it in his own way" and refused to accept the suggestions given by the other group members. They performed "Broken Strings" by James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado and despite the judges not being satisfied with their performance, they were put through to the next round as the judges believed they deserved a second chance. Han was put through to the next round once again after his second solo performance in Hollywood.

Han went to Las Vegas and performed "I Only Have Eyes for You" by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, with Phillip Phillips, Neco Starr and Jairon Jackson. He was put through to the final Las Vegas round as one of the Top 42 contestants. During the final Las Vegas performance, he performed "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel and was put through to the semi-final as one of the Top 25 contestants of the season. During the semi-finals, he performed "Angels" by Robbie Williams and was one of the five highest male vote getters in the semi-final round to advance to the Top 13 thus becoming the first ever male contestant of East Asian descent to do so. He was the first Korean American to make the finals of American Idol. Previously Paul Kim (season 6) and John Park (season 9) had become semifinalists.

During the Top 13 week, he performed "All in Love Is Fair" by Stevie Wonder. His performance received generally positive feedback from the judges, with Randy Jackson stated "It wasn't perfect, but it was really good". During the Top 11 week, the remaining contestants had to perform songs that were released during their birth year. Han chose the song "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx. Jackson stated that it was not a great performance for him, but Lopez rebutted and said that she loved the performance by the end of it though she commented about his vocal issues. Being one of the Top 10 contestants of the season, he will perform in a summer concert tour after the season of the competition has ended. During the Top 10 week, he performed "My Life" by Billy Joel. The performance was not well received by the judges, with Lopez and Jackson mentioning that the performance was entertaining, despite the vocal issues. Steven Tyler told Han that at some point he would have to start taking the show seriously. Han landed in the Bottom 3 for that week and was declared safe after Erika Van Pelt was eliminated. During the Top 9 week, he performed Leon Russell's song, "A Song for You". He received a standing ovation from all the judges after the performance and Lopez commented "That was the most beautiful tone and the most beautiful vibrato" and Jackson added "Finally the Hee-jun we selected came back to us tonight". However, it was announced during the results show on the following night that Han received the lowest number of votes and the judges did not use their save on him and he was eliminated in ninth place.

Performances/results

Post-Idol

After Idol, Han was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live! with Kelly and The Wendy Williams Show for interviews and performances with other contestants. In April 2012, he performed live on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. He later went on to sing "God Bless America" at a New York Mets. In May 2012 he performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Awards Gala.

Han took part in the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2012, which began July 6, 2012 and ran till September 21, 2012. He was featured and was on the cover of the July 2012 issue of Mom and I Family Magazine, a magazine for Korean-American families.

In August 2012, Colton Dixon and Han appeared on The 700 Club and Soulcheck TV, during which they both were interviewed about their Christian faith.

Han performed and appeared as a judge in a K-pop competition at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in September 2012. In September 2012, he performed as the opening act for Kim Kyung Ho The concert was at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

Later that fall, Han performed at the New Jersey Korean Thanksgiving Festival, and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to a New York Mets game. In November 2012, he served as a guest judge for the Kollaboration finale in Glendale, California. Han's debut single, "Bring the Love Back", featuring rapper Pusha T, was released on September 17, 2013.

In 2013, he tried out for the third season of K-pop Star and passed the audition. He reached the Top 6 of K-pop Star 3. Since then he has concentrated on his K-pop career and released the single "Q&A" feat. Tiffany from Girls' Generation.