Shannon

Biography

Shannon Arrum Williams (born 26 May 1998), known mononymously as Shannon, is a British streamer, former singer and voice of Jett from Valorant. In South Korea, she is known for being a contestant of K-pop Star 6: The Last Chance. Prior to debut, Shannon has released two singles: "Day and Night" with T-ara's Areum and Gavy NJ's Gun-ji in September 2012 and then "Remember You" featuring Speed's Jongkook in January 2014 before making her official debuted in December 2014 with digital single "Daybreak Rain". Since her debut, she has released two extended plays, six singles and three soundtrack appearances. In 2016, Shannon also made her debut as an actress with cast in drama Moorim School: Saga of the Brave. In 2019, Shannon left MBK Entertainment after the expiration of her contract. She has since retired as a singer and currently resides in London, now works as a Twitch streamer.

Early life and pre-debut

Shannon Arrum Williams was born on 26 May 1998 in England to a Welsh father, Lees, and to a Korean mother, Kim Jung-mi. Shannon (Korean name: Kim Arrum, Korean: 김아름; RR: Gim Areum) is the youngest child in her family. She has two older paternal twin half-brothers, Christian and Jonah Lees. She attended Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and—at the age of 7—she was given the role of Cosette in the musical Les Misérables. Shannon studied at Dwight School Seoul but dropped out before completion.
Early in her career, Shannon's original training was focused on performing as the main vocalist for an all-girl band. Later, her agency announced that, at her own request, she would be trained as a solo artist instead. She revealed this personally in a magazine interview stating, "I was preparing for a debut as the main vocalist of a girl group, but I had a lot of greed towards singing. I asked my agency to let me debut as a solo artist. I'm grateful that they decided to listen to me and I was able to go solo."

2010–2014: Debut and career beginnings

Shannon first appeared in South Korean media on SBS's Star King in 2010 and gained attention after she displayed her singing in 2011. Core Contents Media recruited Shannon after seeing it that year.
In 2012, Shannon released a collaboration single, "Day and Night" with Areum (former member of T-ara) and Gun-ji (Gavy NJ) and was also featured in singer Yangpa's song "Together." On 23 November, Shannon appeared an episode of JTBC's Hidden Singer 2 as one of the impersonators of singer IU.
On 8 January 2014, Shannon appeared on JTBC's Hidden Singer 2 for the King of Kings finale round and performed IU's "Good Day" and Beyoncé's "Listen", but was eliminated before the final round. On 29 January, her pre-debut single "Remember You" featuring Speed's Jongkook was released to commemorate the end of her three-year training for her debut. On 12 February, Shannon made an appearance on her labelmate showcase, Speed Day, which aired on SBS MTV. She performed "Let It Go", a song from the film Frozen, and Rihanna's "Diamonds" with Dani. On 1 December, Shannon made her official debut with released digital single titled "Daybreak Rain". The single charted at number 32 on the Gaon digital chart. On 26 December, she, Vasco, and Giriboy released a collaboration single titled "Breath".

2015–2018: Acting debut and K-pop Star 6

On 6 March 2015, Shannon released her EP Eighteen×Eighteen2011 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracks1왜요 왜요3:212I Know3:223Gossip Girl3:40420inch3:335Hate you3:496숨3:587새벽비3:27, which consists of seven tracks with the lead single "Why Why×Why Why6 March 2015 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracks1Why Why3:212I Know3:213Gossip Girl3:39420Inch3:335Hate You3:496Breath3:577Daybreak Rain3:26". On 10 July 2015, Shannon collaborated with rapper Yuk Ji-dam and released the digital single "Love X Get Off". In September 2015, Shannon was confirmed to star in the KBS drama Moorim School.
On 3 March 2016, Shannon released a single called "Lachrymal Gland", featuring Soheechan as part of the 2gether project.
From 20 November 2016 to 9 April 2017, she took part in the TV reality show K-pop Star 6: The Last Chance. The prize was a contract that would grant the winner promotions from YG, JYP and Antenna Music. Shannon received high praise for her technical singing ability but was critiqued for her lack of emotion. She was selected into YG's group and sang songs such as "Man in the Mirror", "Who's Your Mama", "Happy", and "Ain't No Other Man". She advanced to the top 4 (semi-finals) before she was eliminated.
Shannon released her digital single "Love Don't Hurt×Love Don't Hurt27 June 2017 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1눈물이 흘러3:342Love Don't Hurt3:34" on 26 June 2017. The single contains two versions: a Korean version (featuring Lil' Boi) and an English version featuring f(x)'s Amber.
Her second EP, Hello×HELLO28 July 2017 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1HELLO3:212가도 돼3:473눈물이 흘러3:324Love Don’t Hurt3:325HELLO (Inst.)3:21, released on 28 July with five tracks, including the accompanying title track of the same name and the previously released single "Love Don't Hurt". Shannon held her comeback showcase at the Yes24 Muv Hall on 27 July, one day before the album's release;
she performed on Music Bank the next day. The music video for "Hello" was released on 31 July.
On 24 June 2018, Shannon released her third digital single "Hatred Farewell".

2019–present: Departure from MBK

In the first half of 2019, Shannon announced she would leave MBK following the expiration of her contract in the same year.
In October 2019, Shannon was confirmed to cast in the musical We Will Rock You, as Scaramouche, which was held in December 2019.