Jang Minho

Biography

Jang Ho-geun (Korean: 장호근, born 11 September 1977), known professionally as Jang Minho (장민호), is a South Korean singer. He competed in the TV Chosun audition show Mr. Trot, placing in the top sixth. He is also a model, dancer, and TV presenter.

Early life

Jang Ho-geun was born on 11 September 1977, in Busan and moved to Incheon while he was little. He is the youngest of three siblings. He has a brother and a sister. When he was a high school student, he went to acting school in Seoul from Incheon and did modeling for various TV commercials.

Singer debut as a leader of an idol group U-BeS (1997–1999)

Jang started his musical career as a leader of the Korean idol group U-BeS in 1997. At that time, he used his real name. He spent a year before debut as a trainee for practicing singing and dancing with his group members. The group released two regular albums but disbanded due to poor album sales and disagreements with the agency. He revealed in a 2020 interview that they were often physically beaten by the head of the agency. Those events gave Jang severe mental trauma, and he later contemplated about quitting the entertainment industry. U-BeS' official time of disbandment was never announced officially, however the 2011 interview with CJ E&M enewsWorld reported it was 1999.

K-Pop duo Baram (2004–2005)

After five years of hiatus, he formed a pop duo Baram (meaning 'wind' in Korean) with Seo Woo in 2004. Baram released the album Just like a wind. He used the stage name Jang-goon. Son Dam-bi before her debut appeared in their music video To Love (사랑하다). Baram wasn't successful in Korea though they received some attention in China.

Beginnings as a trot singer (2011–2019)

Jang was enlisted in 2007 and was released in 2009. He graduated from graduate school (Performing Arts Major in Dankook Graduate School of Cultural Arts and Design), and tried to get a job as a steward in a foreign airline with his Chinese skills. Jang met the CEO of his current agency (a manager back then) in grad school, and was persuaded into making a comeback. In 2011 after a year of preparation, he released his trot debut single, Love you, Nuna using his new stage name Jang Minho. His first trot single was a commercial failure. In 2012 he participated KBS's audition show 'Last Audition of My Life' and won the contest along with singer-songwriter, LEN as a duo. Despite Jang and LEN won the contest, KBS hasn't done any support as they promised for the show's final winners. Two months after the contest Jang released the EP The Man Says (남자는 말합니다). Although the album did not get much attention when released, the title song "The Man Says" began to gain popularity and became his signature song. The song earned him a nickname omtongnyong (a compound word of mom and president).

Mr. Trot and popularity (2020–present)

In 2020 he was a finalist on the Mr. Trot reality television show, placing sixth. Mr. Trot surpassed a 30 percent viewership rating, highest was 35.7 percent and over 7.7 million text message-based votes were cast during the two-hour program, a record for TV audition shows. Owing to his popularity after the competition, he won first place in a survey to "pick the best trot singer," with 294,730 votes. Also, he ranked fifteenth on a Singer Brand Reputation rank of July 2020. The same year he created his YouTube channel and gained over 20,000 subscribers in 2 hours. He is an advertising model and spokesperson. According to Ildong Foodis, they increased the product sales 7.8 billion KRW the first half of 2020 by hiring him as a model. In early 2022, Ildong Foodis announced Himmune, known as Jang Minho Protein, has accumulated 130 billion KRW in cumulative sales.
Beginning on 6 May 2022, Jang embarked on the joint concert tour 'Min-Won Satisfied' with Lee Chan-won. Tickets for the concert, performing in four cities, were sold out all 16,000 seats as soon as they opened.
Starting from Seoul at Olympic Hall, Olympic Park on 4 November 2022, Jang performs on his solo concert tour Ho-sijeol (Good old days) in seven cities, including Daegu and Busan. It's his second solo concert since the first solo concert Drama in 2021.

Personal life

Despite his birthday being on 11 September, he tends to celebrate by the lunar calendar (28 July). Fans often misunderstand and also get confused because the lunar calendar changes the date every year. He received a master's degree in Performing Arts from Dankook University Graduate School of Culture and Arts. Jang is fluent in Chinese.

Others

Jang has been sponsoring three children through Compassion Korea (한국컴패션) since 2009. Also he is active member of Compassion Band since 2006.
He writes lyrics and composes songs. He wrote the lyrics for his fellow singer Namgoong Moonjeong's song "Goodbye my youth" (잘있거라 내청춘) with the songwriter JMStyle. He wrote the lyrics and co-composed one of fans' favorite songs "You know my name" thinking of his late father.
On 21 March 2021, his fans celebrated the 10th anniversary of his trot debut. They posted congratulatory advertisements on the billboards of bus stops, subway stations, and shopping malls, etc. In particular, his overseas fans even sent congratulatory videos to Times Square in New York.
Gallup Korea has revealed the results of its annual survey of the most loved artists and songs of the year. Jang ranked the eighth as the most influential singer with 8.5 percent of the vote in the over-40 age bracket.

Other album appearances

Jang's performances on various television shows have been released on numerous compilation albums. These shows include Last Audition of My Life (2012–2013), Mr. Trot (2020), Romantic Call Centre (2020–2021), and Ppongsoonah School (2020–2021).

Writing credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database.

Audition show

Judge

2021 Miss Trot (season 2)
Contender

2012 KBS2 TV Last audition of my life (내 생애 마지막 오디션) – winner
2020 TV Chosun Mr. Trot – in which Jang came top sixth

Commercial film

1995 Nongshim – Lotte Ssalo Byeol Original Rice Cracker
1995 JCH System – Sound Blaster
1996 Lotte Confectionery – Brain Gum
2020 Ildong Foodis – Himmune Protein Balance
2020 Theraderm
2020 Dongmoon Construction – Good Morning Hill: Mom City
2020 Mr. Pizza with Young Tak, Lee Chan-Won
2020 Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance with Jeong Dong-won
2020 Daesung Celtic Enersys
2021 Aekyung Group – Home Vaccine

Concerts and tours

First national solo tour Drama (15 October – 5 December 2021)

15–17 Oct. 2021: Seoul – Olympic Hall
23–24 Oct. 2021: Busan – Busan KBS Hall
6–7 November 2021: Daegu – EXCO (Daegu Exhibition & Convention Center)
13–14 Nov. 2021: Incheon – Songdo Convensia
20–21 Nov. 2021: Ulsan – Ulsan KBS Hall
27–28 Nov. 2021: Seongnam – Seongnam Arts Center
4–5 December 2021: Changwon – Changwon KBS Hall
Mr. Trot concerts

7–16 August 2020: Seoul – KSPO Dome
30 Oct.–1 Nov. 2020: Busan – BEXCO
6–8 Nov. 2020: Gwangju – Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium
12–15 Nov. 2020: Seoul – KSPO Dome