Draft:Bang Chan

Christopher Chahn Bahng was born on 3 October 1997 in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Sydney, Australia.^[2][6] He has a younger sister named Hannah Bahng, who is a singer-songwriter and content creator, and a younger brother named Lucas.^[2][7][8][9] He attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts where he trained in ballet and modern dance,^[2] and also swam competitively.^[5][10] At the age of 13, he passed the 2010 JYP Entertainment Global Audition held in Australia and moved to South Korea to become a trainee.^[2][5] He graduated from Chungdam High School.^[11][12]

In 2016, Bang Chan formed a hip hop group called 3Racha with fellow JYP Entertainment trainees Seo Chang-bin and Han Ji-sung under the pseudonym CB97. They uploaded their first mixtape, J:/2017/mixtape consisting of seven tracks onto SoundCloud.^[13]

In mid 2017, a JYP survival show was announced to launch a male idol group debut project headed by him.^[14] He was tasked with selecting trainees for forming his group.^[5][10] All of the trainees he picked are currently in the group except Woojin, who later left the group in 2019 due to personal reasons. The members themselves came up with their own group name Stray Kids, fandom name (Stay), and slogan ("Stray Kids Everywhere All Around the World" and "You Make Stray Kids Stay").^[15][16] Bang Chan officially debuted as the leader of Stray Kids on March 25, 2018, with the stage name Bang Chan.^[17]

Along with band mates Han and Changbin, Bang Chan writes and produces the group's music.^[10]In addition this, Bang Chan writes music for other artists as well. He has written or produced for artists and groups including NiziU^[18], JO1^[19], Sky-Hi^[20], and Show Lo^[21]. As of December 2023, the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) has 180 songs listed under his name as Bang Chan, Bang Chan (3RACHA), and CB97 for his mixtape, which is the 3rd most of any artist in that organization.^[22]

In 2023, Bang Chan along with members Han and Changbin were three of the 25 artists of the year to be promoted to regular members of the KOMCA. Every year, based on the amount of royalties earned in the past three years as of December 31, the KOMCA promotes its top 25 junior members to regular members.^[23]

In May 2024, he made his Met Gala debut with Stray Kids as the guest of Tommy Hilfiger.^[24]

• Stray Kids Official Website
• Bang Chan at JYP Publishing
• Media related to Bang Chan at Wikimedia Commons