Jung Joon young

Early life

Jung Joon-young was born on February 21, 1989 in Jakarta. He grew up in Indonesia, China, Japan, France and Philippines. He is the youngest son of Jung Hak-chun and Choi Jong-sook. His father was an international businessman who travelled to many countries for his business. Jung had a lonely childhood in many different countries but he learned to speak five different languages such as English, Mandarin, Korean, conversational Japanese, and Tagalog. He couldn't enroll in a regular school due to frequent moves. He took private lessons for regular subjects such as Math, English, violin, and piano. He also got his fourth degree black belt in Taekwondo.

When Jung turned 17, he decided to go to the Philippines to do missionary work. He taught Taekwondo and music to the local children. He was a member of the choir which performed in front of the former president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He stated that he got inspired by Kurt Cobain and was determined to become a rock star after he watched Nirvana's MTV Unplugged Show when he was a teenager.

2008–2012: Beginnings

He moved to South Korea the next year to start his musical career and soon signed to an entertainment agency (supposed to be Danal Entertainment which released Jung Joon-young's solo EP titled "Rock Trip" in 2010 as well as Digital Single "환상Fantasy" in 2012).

In 2008, Starkim Entertainment selected Jung Joon-young as a vocalist of LEDApple. As one of the original members, he went through the training process and even finished recording the debut album with the band, however, right before Led Apple's debut in 2010, Starkim Entertainment discovered that Jung was already under contract with the previous agency which refused to release him and, thus, he was dropped from the idol rock band.

In 2010, Jung Joon Young dove into the Hongdae, Seoul indie music scene and formed various bands such as "Flower Mist" which busked in Japan and "Switch On" which performed for amateur club theaters.

As a struggling musician, he modeled for several online shopping malls. He was also on an advertisement for "BGF retail" (franchise retail) and participated in other artists' music-videos such as "Liquor Bottle" (술병 by Haha). Jung Joon-young appeared on a TV show "Ulzzang Generation 얼짱시대 Season 5" (Ep.1~Ep.8) and referring to this show, he said, "People don't like this program because they think this is just about good looking boys and girls chatting on a TV show, but it was a good opportunity for me to make money."

Since his band, "Switch On" was little known to the public, Jung Joon-young tried to take part in Superstar K4 with "Switch On" members to gain more popularity as a band, but they couldn't continue the audition together due to some foreign members' visa problems. Thus, he decided to carry on the audition as a solo artist.

During the Superweek (which was the selection round), his low husky voice, appearance, and unpredictable character trait appealed to the viewers as well as the judges, especially one of the judges, PSY who is famous for "Gangnam Style" (he left Superstar K4 after 1st final for the world tour). Moreover, his collaboration with Roy Kim covering "먼지가 되어 (Becoming Dust)" by (Kim Kwang-Suk), which Jung Joon-young changed the ballad to the rock version, became a big hit and the best duet audition song ever. After releasing, it achieved an "all-kill" on real-time charts and won the Mnet 20's Choice Hot Cover as well as 2013's Most Popular Karaoke Song of the Year at the 3rd Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards. Even though he was at risk of dropping out several times, he passed through into the finals by Psy's choice in the judge's final decision.

Throughout the final stages, he stuck to rock style as his only musical style. He was repeatedly suggested to that he needed to try a different genre of music, such as ballad, by the judges. However, on the other hand, his persistence about rock music impressed a lot of viewers, and, as a result, it help him to establish a strong fandom. He was able to survive the third stage through a large number of phone votes. His covers that represented his rock style were "매일매일 기다려 Waiting Everyday"(TeeSams), "Bed of Roses"(Bon Jovi), and "Outsider" "(Bom-Yeoreum-Gaeul-Gyeoul 봄여름가을겨울) which performance received a positive response from the judges and audience. On the fifth stage, he was urged to sing a rock ballad "응급실 Emergency Room" (IZI) which had been chosen by the viewers regardless of his musical taste. Unexpectedly, it highly ranked and topped on various online charts and also earned favorable reactions from the public.

Though he was eliminated in the six stage of the semi-final as Top 3, Superstar K4 allowed the public to recognize his musical style. He even mentioned that "Superstar K4 was the turning point in my music career. Before I tried out for Superstar K4, only those who liked rock music listened to my songs. However, now a more variety of people listen to my music and acknowledge me. I'm glad I got to make myself known through Superstar K4" through his farewell interview."

2013: Official debut and 1st Mini Album

After Superstar K4, he has been doing concerts, TV and radio programs(as a guest or a host), and modeling for cars, clothes, games, N-screen, and beer. From May 6, 2013, he worked as a DJ for MBC FM4U "Close Friend" until September 1, 2013. He has appeared in several TV shows including KBS2's "Immortal Song-Singing the Legend 불후의 명곡", "Happy Together", MBC's "Radio Star", and "We Got Married (Season 4)". He has been featured on KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night Season 3" since Dec 1, 2013.

On May 21, 2013, Jung Joon-young finally contracted with CJ E&M after receiving many offers from numerous entertainment companies.

After signing with CJ E&M, Jung Joon-young released his debut single "Spotless Mind (병이에요)" with two versions of Music Video(N version and S version) on Oct 01, 2013. It immediately made an impact on the country's charts. Just an hour after release, "Spotless Mind" nabbed the top spot on Mnet, Bugs, and Soribada etc.

On October 10, 2013, Jung Joon-Young officially made his debut by releasing his first mini album that consists of six songs containing the title track, "The Sense of an Ending (이별 10분 전)", and two songs that he participated in writing and composing: "Missed Call (아는 번호)" and "Take off Mask". His 1st mini album was a moderate success. The album ranked the top spot both on the daily and weekly chart of Synnara Record during its first week. In addition, "Spotless Mind (병이에요)" landed at the third place and "The Sense of an Ending (이별 10분전)" also took the second place on the chart of MBC's music show "Music Core".

Jung Joon-young‘s popularity has been gradually expanding abroad. He visited Taiwan in order to promote his 1st mini album on December 8, 2013. He held a successful fan meeting with 1,000 Taiwanese fans and had an autograph signing event with his song performances for those who had purchased a special limited edition of his album and he gave them a good impression by communicating in Chinese fluently.

Jung Joon-young earned New Male Solo Artist for "이별 10분전 (The Sense of an Ending)" and Most Popular Karaoke Song of the Year for "먼지가 되어 (Becoming Dust)" at the 3rd Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards. Plus, he earned Star of the Year at the MBC Entertainment Awards.

2014: Teenager and 2 Days & 1 Night season 3

On January 2, 2014 he released an OST for Pretty Man called "하루만 (I'm Nobody)" written and composed by himself that contains two versions such as an American rock style version and a British pop style drama version. The rock ballad "I'm Nobody (하루만)" has topped Bugs Chart and Mnet Chart within its first five days of release.

On Feb 16, 2014, Jung Joon-young's 1st fan meeting was held at Yonsei University in seoul where approximately 1000 fans celebrated his 25th birthday together.

On March 12, 2014, Jung Joon-young released an official cheer song, "Always Reds", which was collaborated with the hip hop group Soul Dive, a track on the Red Devils' official cheer album "We are the Reds" for 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Jung Joon-young joined hands with Younha for the duet song, "달리함께 (Just the way you are)" which encourages people to gain confidence. This healing song contains both the rock spirit and ballad. As soon as it was released on May 29, 2014, it ranked top on several music charts such as Mnet, Bugs, and Olleh Music etc.

Jung Joon-young made a guest appearance at Samsung's Passion Talk Concert 2014 OUTREACH which was held in Peking University, in Beijing, China on June 10, 2014.

Jung Joon-young returned with his second mini album, Teenager on June 26, 2014. All the tracks in the album were composed and produced by Jung Joon Young himself and he also participated in the design and production of the album's concept, cover picture, and all other minor details regarding the album. The theme of the album is "the adult who dreams" and containing his wish for people who are exhausted by the world to start dreaming again. It ranked third on Gaon Album Chart in its first week of releasing.

In Jung Joon-young's rise to fame, it is announced that he has plans in expanding his music career throughout Asia. On July 19, Jung Joon-young joined the cast of Pretty Man such as Jang Keun-suk, IU and Lee Jang-woo as a guest performer for the drama concert in Japan. Jung Joon-young appeared at KCON Los Angeles, California as one of hosts as well as a guest performer from Aug. 9 to Aug. 10 and made his American concert debut by performing his singles including self-created rock single "Teenager". He also entertained the audience by covering his own version of Michael Jackson's "Black or White". After having a showcase in Taiwan, he held a concert tour, titled, "2014 Demo Live Tour with Jung Joon-young," in China. Beginning on November 14 in Beijing, followed by Shenzhen on November 15 and Shanghai on November 16.

On August 1 Jung Joon Young's rep stated, Jung Joon Young will be taking on the challenge of a movie through Love Forecast starring alongside Lee Seung-gi and Moon Chae-won in which Jung Joon Young's character has a one-sided love towards Moon Chae-won's character.

Jung Joon Young participated in the OST for SBS’ Modern Farmer, singing the song "Same Place" which is a rock ballad that tells a heart-breaking love story. Shortly after "Same Place" was released on Dec. 5, the sound track of Blade & Soul "Show Time" has been released on Dec. 17.

Due to his appearances on KBS 2TV's 2 Days & 1 Night Season 3, he won the Best Entertainer Award for Variety Shows at the KBS Entertainment Awards 2014.

2015: JJY Band and Escape to Hangover

Jung Joon-young made his big screen debut through a light-hearted romantic comedy film Love Forecast, which opened in theaters on Jan. 15, 2015. Jung next starred in The Lover, a 19+ drama aired by Mnet, playing an unknown musician who is both living with and dating a woman 12 years his senior. Later, he had a cameo in the 10th episode of the drama The Producers, with Roy Kim as an anti-fan.

Later, Jung debuted a rock band named 'Jung Joon Young Band' (JJY Band) consisting of himself and three musicians, guitarist DammIt, bassist Seok Won, and drummer Drok.Q. JJY Band released their first album Escape to Hangover which consists of eight tracks including the title track "OMG" on May 27, 2015. Brian Howes, a producer who had worked with American rock band Bon Jovi, produced the title song OMG, which was composed by Jung Joon Young and Vanilla Unity's Lee Seung Joo. Lee was also the executive producer for the album. Their debut album received positive reviews from music fans and critics. JJY Band held their very first solo concert in December 2015 with the name "JJY Band's Live & Talk 2015 'Attention'". Their first show was held in tokyo on December 13. They continued to perform in Shanghai on December 26 and Seoul on December 30–31.

Jung next joined a new variety show called "Old House, New House" aired by JTBC as a cast member. The show features celebrities paired up with professional designers to provide home decoration and improvement, where each week, two groups will compete with each other to see which home makeover is the best.

2016: Sympathy and Mistake

A representative from CJ E&M announced that their contract with Jung Joon Young expired in November 2015. Jung decided to not renew his contract with CJ E&M. On January 5, 2016, C9 Entertainment announced that Jung and his band officially signed an exclusive contract with their label, REALIVE. Under the new label, JJY Band announced that they will hold their first nationwide tour. Their first show kicked off in Daejeon on February 5 and Busan on February 6, then continued to Seoul on February 20 and 21.

On February 19, Jung announced his comeback with the solo album, 공감 (Sympathy). On the same day, he released a music video teaser of his new single. He picked soft rock as the main sound for his new solo album. 공감 (Sympathy), the title track, is a duet song recorded with Korean singer, Seo Young-eun. It was written, composed, and produced by Jung Joon-young. He also wrote, composed, and produced another track in the album and included his broad musical abilities in the album. Jung unveiled his new songs for the first time during JJY Band's concert on February 20 and 21 at the Art Hall of Lottecard Art Center in Seoul. 공감 (Sympathy) was officially released on February 24 along with the music video of the title track. On February 26, Jung released the music video for the second track in the album, Amy.

tvN announced on March 7 that Jung will join their cooking show, 집밥 백선생 2 (Mr. Baek The Homemade Food Master Season 2), as one of the casts where he will learn from Baek Jong-won, a popular Korean chef, about the art of home cooking. On March 30, JTBC announced that Jung will team up with Kangin, Jeong Jinwoon, and Lee Chul Woo for a new reality show, Hitmaker, in which they’ll be travelling overseas to try other countries' sports.

C9 Entertainment announced on May 20 that JJY Band will officially change their name to Drug Restaurant. They decided to change the band's name because they want to go with a name that focuses on the band altogether rather than centering it around the front-man vocalist, Jung Joon Young. The name "Drug Restaurant" means that through their music the band hopes to become a source of medicine, healing, or escape for their listeners, by prescribing medicine better than a pharmacy.

Drug Restaurant released their second album, Mistake, on May 27 through digital download and on June 9 through physical album (CD). Their new album consists of five tracks including the title track Mistake. All songs in the album were written, composed, and arranged by the band members themselves. Drug Restaurant released the music video for Mistake on June 8.

2017: The First Person & Pomade

On January 31, Jung Joon Young announced through his Instagram account that he will release his first full album which is titled 1인칭 (The First Person). Along with the announcement, he posted the first image teaser for his new album. On February 1, C9 Entertainment announced that 나와 너 (Me and You) will be the title track for Jung's new album. 나와 너 (Me and You) is a ballad song featuring a senior Korean singer, Jang Hye-jin. Two days later, Jung's agency revealed the tracklist of the album through their Twitter account. The album consists of nine tracks including intro, outro, five new songs and two songs from his previous single album, 공감 (Sympathy). All songs in the album were written, composed and arranged by Jung Joon Young. The producer of this album are Jung Joon Young and Lee Jihyun. Jung’s new album is released digitally on online sites on February 7 at midnight KST. The music video for his title track 나와 너 (Me and You) was also shared at that time on Jung's official Youtube channel. On February 18, Jung's agency announced that the Chinese version of his first full album, The First Person, was released digitally on iTunes and KKBox that day in 4 countries, Taiwan, Hongkong, Singapore and Malaysia. While the physical CD will be released on March 17. The Chinese version consists of 12 tracks, which included 9 songs from the Korean version of the album and 3 Chinese translated songs, Sympathy, Amy, and Me and You.

On July 22, C9 Entertainment released a teaser image and announced that Jung's band, Drug Restaurant, will be making a comeback with their third album, Pomade. The photo shows all four members but only the back side of their head. On August 1st, C9 released the tracklist for the album which consist of six songs plus one bonus track that will only available on physical album. Pomade was released through digital download on August 4th, while the physical album will be released on August 8th. The title track, Drink O2 in The Water, was released through digital download on August 3th along with the music video.

Jung announced on his personal instagram that Drug Restaurant will take their tour to Europe in September. The band will bring their show to ten cities, starting with Moscow on September 3rd and finishing with Prague on September 24th.

Artistry

Jung Joon-young's music is rooted in alternative rock. Jung Joon-young stated that he was inspired to be rock musician after watching Nirvana's performance in MTV Unplugged when he was a teenager. Since then, he listened to many rock musicians from western rock bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, to Japanese rock bands like L'Arc-en-Ciel and Vamps.

The influences of Japanese rock and soft rock were particularly apparent on his solo albums. Jung's vocal delivery, with his distinctive low-husky voice gives a strong vibe of Japanese rock. For Drug Restaurant's debut album, Escape to Hangover, Jung explored garage rock and post-punk revival. During the making of his band's debut album, he listened to many garage rock bands to find inspiration.

Discography

Concert tour & Live performances