Byun Baek-hyun

South Korean singer

Byun Baek-hyun (Hangul: 변백현; Hanja:卞白贤; born May 6, 1992) is a South Korean singer, dancer, actor, and TV presenter. He is best known solely by his first name Baekhyun. As a member of the boy band Exo, his role is to dance and sing the most important parts of the songs.

Byun Baek-hyun
Baekhyun in 2017
Baekhyun in 2017
Background information
Also known asBaekhyun
Born (1992-05-06) May 6, 1992 (age 31)
Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Genres
Occupation(s)
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2012–present
LabelsSM Entertainment
WebsiteInstagram
Korean name
Hangul
변백현
Hanja
Revised RomanizationByeon Baek-hyeon
McCune–ReischauerPyŏn Paekhyŏn

Biography

Byun Baek-hyun was born in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province on May 6, 1992. He has an older brother named Baek-beom. Baek-beom is seven years older than Baek-hyun.

Byun began training to be a singer at age 11. He had been influenced by Rain—another K-pop idol who was most popular in the 2000s.[1] He attended Jungwon High School in Bucheon. He was the lead singer of a band called Coma (상태 상태) there. Coma once won at a local music festival. Kim Hyun-woo (from a rock band called DickPunks) eventually gave the young Byun piano lessons.[2]

Byun also had interests outside music. He was a martial artist as a teenager and obtained a black belt in Hapkido.[3]

Baekhyun was discovered by an agent of S.M. Entertainment when he was practicing his admission exams for the Seoul Institute of Arts. He then joined the company under the S.M. Casting System in 2011.[4]

He and his bandmates Chanyeol and Suho attended Kyung Hee Cyber University. Byun took online classes at the Culture and Arts Department of Business Administration.[5]

Career

2012–2015: Debut and early career

Baekhyun was the last member to join Exo. He was the ninth member of the group to be revealed on January 30, 2012.[6]

In February 2014, Baekhyun and Suho became regular hosts for Inkigayo — a music show that airs on SBS TV.[7] They left the program in November to focus on Exo's comeback.[8] In July, Baekhyun ventured into musical theater. He was cast the lead role of Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain. The South Korean production that he was in was done by SM C&C.[9]

In April 2015, Baekhyun released its first song solo since its debut titled "Beautiful" like the soundtrack of the drama EXO Next Door. The song became the first soundtrack of a web drama that was within the best positions of several musical lists.[10] In May 2015, Baekhyun was announced that it would be the protagonist of the action film Dokgo alongside actor Yeo Jin-goo.[11] However, the film's production was announced to be canceled in January 2016.[12] In December 2015, Baekhyun paid a tribute to the late South Korean singer Kim Hyun-sik performing his song "Like Rain Like Music" on SBS Gayo Daejeon's end-of-year music program. The recording of a song performed by Baekhyun was digitally published.[13]

2016–present: Acting roles and Exo-CBX

In January 2016, Baekhyun and Suzy of Miss A performed a duet entitled "Dream". The song quickly reached the best position in the music charts[14] after it positioned itself in the first place of Gaon Digital Chart.[15] "Dream" also won five times the first place in Music Bank and Inkigayo. In April 2016, Baekhyun received a YinYueTai V-Chart award for being the Most Popular Singer in South Korea. In May 2016, Baekhyun and South Korean singer K.Will released a duet titled "The Day" as part of SM Station.[16]

In August 2016, Baekhyun made his acting debut on the small screen in the historical drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, a South Korean adaptation of the Chinese novel Bu Bu Jing Xin. For his performance in the drama, received a prize like New Star in 2016 SBS Drama Awards.[17] He also collaborated with his labelmates Chen and Xiumin on a soundtrack titled "For You" for the drama.[18] In October 2016, along with Chen and Xiumin, Baekhyun became a member of the first official EXO unit, EXO-CBX. His debut was on October 31 with the release of the extended play Hey Mama!.[19] In November 2016, Baekhyun began to participate S.M. Entertainment's League of Legends tournament "2016 S.M. Super Celeb League", where he and his labelmate, Heechul, played with professional players and fans from China and South Korea.[20]

In February 2017, Baekhyun and Soyou of Sistar released a duet titled "Rain" The song peaked at number one on several music charts and achieved an achievement known as "all-kill", making it the first artist of S.M. to achieve an "all-kill" in 2016 and 2017 with "Dream" and "Rain", respectively. In April 2017, Baekhyun released a single titled "Take You Home" for the second season of SM Station.[21] The song was positioned in the twelve position of Gaon Digital Chart.

Discography

Singles

TitleYearPeak chart
positions
Sales
(DL)
Album
KOR
Gaon
[22]
US
World

[23]
As lead artist
"My Turn to Cry"2014Exology Chapter 1: The Lost Planet
"Like Rain, Like Music"2015402015 Gayo Daejun Limited Edition
"Take You Home"2017125Non-album single
Collaborations
"The Day We Met" (as a part of I Am Korea)2015Charity singles
"One Dream One Korea" (with various artists)
"Dream" (with Suzy)201613Non-album single
"The Day" (with K.Will)821S.M. Station Season 1
"Rain" (with Soyou)20172Non-album single
Soundtrack appearances
"Dear My Family" (as part of SM Town)2012I AM. OST
"Beautiful"2015710Exo Next Door OST
"For You" (with Chen & Xiumin)201659Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo OST
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Notes

Filmography

Dramas

TitleYearNetworkRoleNotes
To the Beautiful You2012SBSHimselfCameo; episode 2
Exo Next Door2015Naver TV CastBaekhyunMain role
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo2016SBSWang EunSupporting role

Television shows

TitleYearNetworkRole
Inkigayo2014KBSCo-host

Music videos

TitleYearRef.
"Dear My Family" (as part of SM Town)2012[33]
"Beautiful"2015[34]
"Dream" (with Suzy)2016[35]
"The Day" (with K.Will)[36]
"Take You Home"2017[37]
Guest appearances
"Twinkle" (Girls' Generation-TTS)2012[38]
"Dance with D.O.C" (remake; DJ DOC)2014[39]
"Sound of Your Heart" (SM Town and Steve Barakatt)2016[40]

Theatre

TitleYearRoleNotes
Singin' in the Rain2014Don LockwoodMain role

Awards and nominations

YearAwardsCategoryNominated workResult
20164th YinYueTai V-Chart AwardsMost Popular Singer (South Korea)Won
1st Asia Artist AwardsPopularity Award (Actor)Won
Best Rookie AwardMoon Lovers: Scarlet Heart RyeoNominated[41]
8th Melon Music AwardsBest R&B/Soul with Suzy
Dream
Won
Song of the Year with SuzyNominated
18th Mnet Asian Music AwardsBest Collaboration with SuzyWon
HotelsCombined – Song of the Year with SuzyNominated
SBS Drama AwardsNew Star Award
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
Won
201731st Golden Disk AwardsDigital Bonsang with Suzy
Dream
Won
Asian Choice Popularity Award with SuzyNominated
6th Gaon Chart K-Pop AwardsArtist of the Year (Digital) – January with SuzyNominated
201753rd Baeksang Arts AwardsMost Popular Actor (TV)Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart RyeoNominated

Music programs

Music Bank
YearDateSong
2016January 15Dream (with Suzy)
January 22
Inkigayo
YearDateSong
2016January 17Dream (with Suzy)
January 24
January 30

References

Other websites