Although Taeyong has faced some damaging controversies as a result of some of his past mistakes, the South Korean rapper has continued to overcome all odds to achieve record success in his music career. He wears many hats as a pop star, lyricist, rapper, dancer, as well as MC and is currently pitching his tent with boy band NCT. His foray into music started very early and he was in a different band before joining his current band. Find all the interesting facts about him in this piece.
Taeyong’s Bio (Age)
Whose musical artist is Lee TaeYong was born on July 1, 1995. He was born in the Gwanak district of Seoul, South Korea, where he was also raised. For his studies, Taeyond first went to Nam-Seoul Middle School, then to Namgang High School. To hone his skills in the performing arts, he transferred to the School of Performing Arts in Seoul. He graduated from the latter in the early 2010s.
He showed interest in music quite early and his parents helped him by sending him to music school when he was six years old. At age eleven, he learned to play the guitar by participating in cultural events at his school at the time. These acts made him popular in school, both by students and teachers, thus forming a group of fans around him.
Career
SM Entertainment took him under the 2012 stable, introducing him on December 3 of the next year as a member of SM Rookies, alongside Seulgi and Jeno. In July 2014, he released the music video for a song he composed titled Open the Door. He was very busy in 2014 with his feature film in the reality series EXO 90:2014, appearances in music videos for Yo! and I miss you, and collaboration with the band Red Velvet on Be Natural, released on October 13, 2014.
In 2016, NCT’s first unit, NCT U, was formed and Taeyong became one of the first six members, including Taeil, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark. The group released two singles the following week after their formation. The first song titled The Seventh Sense was released on April 9, featuring Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Mark, and Ten, while another hit dubbed Without You dropped the following day – April 10, as did Taeil, Jaehyun and Doyoung.
NCT’s second unit, NCT 127, premiered in July 2016 and made its first television appearance on July 7, performing on Mnet’s music program. M! Countdown. They sang Fire Truck and Again, derived from their NCT #127 extended play . A few days after appearing on the TV show, they released their EP on July 10, 2016, and it joined the rest of the Korean music charts.
A second EP titled Unlimited was released on January 6, 2017. The song performed well on both Korean and American charts, with thousands of copies sold in South Korea. Taeyong co-wrote some of the songs in the collection and they include – One Good Thing, Back 2 U, Baby Don’t Like It, and Angel. Another extended game was released by NCT 127 on May 23, 2018 and is simply titled Chain
Most recently, the group released their debut studio album on March 14, 2018. Titled NCT 2018 Empathy, some of the songs had Taeyong as a co-writer while The Seventh Sense joined the collection. The album peaked at number two on the Korean music charts, selling over 300,000 copies in the country.
family, sister
The Seoul native values his family a lot and if he hates everything about his career it’s because it keeps him away from his compatriots. He has a younger sister to whom he is very close. They spent their youth playing and comforting each other when times were tough. His sister called Hayun Ryu reportedly got married in 2015 and Taeyong was present with one of his cousins. Hayun is a Black Belt in Taekwondo Caste 2 / Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Height and other facts
1. He is among the shortest members of the NCT at a height of 175cm.
2. He is a distant cousin of popular actor and TV personality Hong Seok-cheon.
3. Lyricist, he co-wrote many songs for his band.
4. In March 2018, he made an appearance on the variety show Food Diary.