Quick Facts
Biography
Kang Seung-yoon (born (1994-01-21)January 21, 1994), known as Seungyoon, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and leader of boy group Winner. In 2010, he participated in the reality television singing contest Superstar K2 and finished in fourth place. In January 2011, he became a trainee under YG Entertainment and went on to debut as a solo artist in July 2013 and as the leader of Winner in October 2013.
Life and career
Early life
Kang Seung-yoon was born in Busan, South Korea on January 21, 1994. He learned to play the guitar in the eighth grade. When he was in his last year of junior high, he took lessons in both classic guitar and billiards, going on to become the regional representative for billiards.
2010–2012: Career beginnings, Superstar K2, and High Kick
In 2010, Seungyoon was a contestant on Mnet reality TV singing contest Superstar K2. He finished in fourth place, having released two singles, "I'll Write You a Letter" and "Instinctively". "I'll Write You a Letter" peaked at number 24 on the Gaon Chart after its release on the Superstar K2: Top 6 (My Story) album, while "Instinctively" became a number one single in Korea and one of the top 100 songs of the year. It was released on its own as a digital single later in the Superstar K2 compilation album, Superstar K2 Up to 11. He also released "Life is Tab" along with three other contestants to promote the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
After initial success with Superstar K2, CEO Yang Hyun-suk signed Kang to YG Entertainment on January 12, 2011. Kang also released a single, "You Are Heaven", for the soundtrack of the Korean drama Midas.
Seungyoon graduated from Busan High School of Arts with a major in classic guitar in 2012. That year, he appeared on MBC's sitcom High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged. He plays as a young man with a heavy southern-Korean accent who arrives in Seoul dreaming to become the President. The series aired from 19 September 2011 to 29 March 2012.
2013–present: Solo debut, debut with Winner, and acting career
On June 20, 2013, Yang Hyun-suk announced on YG Life that Seungyoon would be debuting as a solo artist with the single "Wild and Young" composed by Teddy Park. On July 15, it was announced that Seungyoon's debut would be postponed and the following day, another single from his upcoming mini-album titled "It Rains" was released instead. "It Rains" achieved an all-kill by placing at number one on all nine major real-time charts in Korea. Seungyoon thanked the YG Family and his fans for their support. On July 31, "Wild and Young" was released with two more title tracks set to be promoted in August and September. Live promotions of the single commenced on August 4 on Inkigayo.
On August 14, Seungyoon's second single "Stealer" (Korean: 맘도둑) was released. The music video, starring rookie actress Yoon Jin-yi, was "filmed secretly" and released without promotions so as not to disrupt the promotions for "Wild and Young".
Seungyoon then participated in the survival reality program WIN: Who Is Next. The program would involve two teams of YG trainees (A and B) that would compete against each other for the chance to debut at the end of the series. In the seventh episode of WIN: Who Is Next, Seungyoon replaced bandmate Song Min-ho as the leader of "Team A". On October 25, it was announced that Team A had won the series and would debut as Winner. The group performed as the opening act of Big Bang's Japan Dome Tour which started on November 15, and made their own official debut on August 12, 2014.
In 2015, Seungyoon appeared as the male lead in the web drama We Broke Up, alongside label-mate Sandara Park. The 10-episode drama was aired from June 29 to July 17 via Naver TV Cast. He then made a cameo appearance in KBS's The Producers together with Sandara and label-mate Jisoo of Black Pink.
In November 2016, it was announced that Seungyoon will be starring in the web drama Love for a Thousand More alongside fellow member Kim Jin-woo. The web drama is a joint production of CJ E&M, YG Entertainment, and YGKPlus. The same month, he joined the cast of SBS' variety show Flower Crew as a regular host.
Discography
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR Gaon | ||||
| 2010 | "I'll Write You a Letter" | 24 |
| Top 6 (My Story) |
| "Instinctively" | 1 |
| Up to 11 | |
| 2011 | "You Are Heaven" | 10 |
| Midas OST |
| "Have You Ever Fallen in Love" | — |
| Non-album release | |
| 2012 | "Smile, My Love" (with Lee Juck) | — |
| High Kick 3 OST |
| 2013 | "It Rains" | 1 |
| Non-album releases |
| "Wild and Young" | 18 |
| ||
| "Stealer" | 9 |
| ||
| 2014 | "Wild Boy" (with Song Min-ho) | 25 |
| March 2014 Monthly Project by Yoon Jong Shin |
| 2015 | "0+1" | — | Unreleased | We Broke Up OST |
| "Two of Us" (with Sandara Park) | — | |||
| "We Broke Up" (with Sandara Park) | — | |||
| 2016 | "Don't Forget" | — | Unreleased | Half-Moon Friends OST |
| "You" | 89 |
| Love for a Thousand More OST | |
| "—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. | ||||
Production credits
| Year | Album | Song | Lyrics | Music | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credited | With | Credited | With | |||
| 2010 | Top 6 (My Story) | "I'll Write You a Letter" | Yes | No | ||
| 2013 | FINALE BATTLE (WHO IS NEXT:WIN) | "Just Another Boy" | No | Yes | Song Min-ho, Nam Tae-hyun, Teddy | |
| "Go Up" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | |||
| 2014 | 2014 S/S | "Color Ring" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | Ham Seung-chun, Kang Wook-jin, Jo Sung-hwak, Dee.P |
| "Love Is a Lie" | No | Yes | Song Min-ho, The Fliptones | |||
| "Different" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | Song Min-ho | ||
| "Smile Again" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | Song Min-ho, Dee.P | ||
| 2015 | We Broke Up OST | "0+1" | Yes | Yes | ||
| "Two of Us" | Yes | No | ||||
| "Today" | Yes | No | ||||
| "We Broke Up" | Yes | Yes | Ham Seung-chun, Kang Wook-jin | |||
| 2016 | Exit : E | "Immature" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | Kang Wook-jin |
| 2017 | Fate Number For | "Really Really" | Yes | Song Min-ho, Lee Seung-hoon | Yes | Kang Wook-jin, Song Min-ho |
| "Fool" | Yes | Yes | Airplay | |||
Filmography
Television
Drama
| Year | Title | Network(s) | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2012 | High Kick 3 | MBC | Himself | Supporting role |
| 2015 | We Broke Up | Naver TV Cast | Ji Won-young | Lead role; Web-drama |
| The Producers | KBS | Himself | Cameo (Episodes 4, 5, 10 and 12) | |
| 2016 | Love for a Thousand More | Naver TV Cast | Yoo Jun-woo | Lead role; Web-drama |
| OnStyle |
Reality
| Year | Title | Role | Network(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Superstar K2 | Contestant | Mnet | Placed 4th overall |
| 2013 | WIN: Who Is Next? | Survival show, Team A member | ||
| 2014 | Winner TV | Regular Cast | ||
| 2016 | Inkigayo | Special MC | SBS | Episode 850 |
| Two Yoo Project Sugar Man | Guest | JTBC | Episode 21 | |
| Fantastic Duo | Guest | SBS | Episodes 1–2 | |
| Half-Moon Friends | Regular Cast | JTBC | ||
| The Collaboration | Contestant | Tencent | Episodes 1–5 | |
| SBS MTV | ||||
| Blue Star | MC | SBS | Special Episode | |
| Flower Crew | Guest | Episodes 7–9 | ||
| Regular MC | Episode 13–29 | |||
| 2017 | King of Mask Singer | Contestant | MBC | Episode 109 |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Artist | Length | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | "Life Is Tab (Dance Ver.)" | Kang Seung-yoon | 2:04 | ||
| "Have You Ever Fallen in Love?" | Kang Seung-yoon | 3:47 | |||
| 2012 | "Fanta Idol Commercial" | Lee Kwang-soo with Kang Seung-yoon, Baek Jin-hee | 3:48 | ||
| 2013 | "Wild and Young" | Kang Seung-yoon | 3:52 | ||
| "Stealer" | Kang Seung-yoon | 3:48 | |||
| 2014 | "Ringa Linga" | Taeyang | 3:49 | Cameo | |
| "I'm Him" | Song Min-ho | 3:21 | Cameo |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Won | |||
| Won | ||||
| 2013 | Nominated | |||
| Nominated | ||||
| 2015 | Won |