Yang Joon-il

Yang Joon-il, also known as John Yang, Yang Joon Il, Joon-il Yang, JIY and V2, is a Korean-American singer-songwriter. Yang made his debut in 1991 with a song titled "Rebecca". He was active in South Korea from 1991 to 1993 before he had issues renewing his visa. In 2001, he made a brief comeback as JIY, a member of project group V2. The song was a hit, but, at the time, agency issues prevented him from working in the entertainment industry. He got back to America disappearing away from the public scene. He recently gained attention through JTBC's Two Yoo Project Sugar Man, a program dedicated to finding and rediscovering old singers from the past. As of 2020, he is active in various fields such as fan meeting, book writing, public appearances, lectures, commercials, beauty and fashion related activities.

Personal life

Yang was born in Ho [Chi Minh City|Saigon], whose current name is Ho Chi Minh City today, of Vietnam during the war on August 19, 1969. His father used to work for an American travel agency and his mother was a reporter. He spent his childhood in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. Yang emigrated to the United States with his family at age nine and grew up in Los Angeles. He released three albums in Korea between 1991 and 2001. After one year of dating Yang married a woman with whom he fell in love at first sight in 2006 and the first son was born in 2015.

Career

Beginning

When he was in Glendale High School in LA, he was persuaded to make a debut as an entertainer by the late Hollywood actor Soon-tek Oh, who was a member to the same church. Yang was a soloist in his high school choir. He took classes at a modeling school to prepare for his debut.
He entered University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. During his studies, he was selected by Lee Bum Hee, who was the famous composer of the day in Korea. Yang dropped out of school to debut as a singer in Korea in 1990. He entered Korea in the same year and studied Korean at the .

1991-1993 - First and Second Album

Yang debuted in March 1991 at the age of 21 with the album, "Winter Wonderer". He debuted on the "Rookie Stage" of the MBC's music program "Saturday Night Music Show" performing "Rebecca". The second single was "Help Me Cupid". A few months later, he returned to Los Angeles to work on his 2nd album. His 2nd full-length album was released in 1992. He released other hit songs like "Dance with Me Miss" and "GaNaDaRaMaBaSa". Yang also composed most of the songs including "Love Strutter" of Chul Y and Mi Ae's second album.
In '" in Chul Y and Mi Ae'''s 2nd album dance pop and Korean traditional music were combined, which was very innovative attempt at the time.
Active in South Korea from 1991 to 1993, he suddenly disappeared from the public scene and returned to the U.S. In a 2019 interview with The Korea Times, he revealed that "he was hated by many for his unusual looks and songs." Some also threw rocks during his performance at an open-air stage. Once, Yang recalled, an audience member faked a handshake to pull him violently down to the ground from the stage, telling him: "You need a beating." While a 10-year visa he held in Korea as a U.S. national had to be recertified every six months, but he was denied an extension to his visa. His nationality as an American also made it hard for him to gain acceptance in South Korea.

2001 - Third Album, Promoting as JIY of V2

On April 17, 2001, he made another debut as JIY, a member of a music band V2, with a third album "Fantasy". V2 meant his "Version 2". He was in active under the name of JIY instead of his real name, Yang Joon-il. He lied about his age and made a big change in his look. His new song "Fantasy", composed by Valery Gaina of Cruise, enjoyed a brief popularity before he finally put an end to his music career. Due to the agency's circumstances, it became impossible to work as a musician and after that he worked as an English teacher for 14 years. In 2015, he returned to the United States. Because of his age, he had a hard time finding work. He worked as a warehouse worker, office cleaner, and restaurant server.

2019 - Comeback with "Sugar Man"

In 2019, he gained attention through JTBC's Two Yoo Project Sugar Man, a program dedicated to finding and rediscovering old singers from the past. He sang "", , and "Fantasy". Still slim in figure and soulful in his performance, he dazzled the audience and show hosts. When asked his next plans amid this viral syndrome, he simply said: "I don't make any plans; I just focus on fully living every moment. If there's any plans, I hope to live as a humble husband and dad." When the show hosts asked him to give a message to 20-year-old himself living 30 years ago, Yang said: "I know nothing will happen how you want. But don't worry, everything will come out perfectly in the end." After his fame skyrocketed again after his appearance on the show, he quit his job at the restaurant to focus on his entertainment career.
On December 25, Christmas Day, he appeared on JTBC Newsroom. He said "It's like a dream every day", "I've been trying to get rid of my prejudice against myself, which is full of my mind as if I had to abandon my unhappiness before I was happy." "There are no more tears" Yang said, adding that his powerful fandom, which claims to be a support group, is also a big boost to Yang.
On December 31, Yang met with fans through two official fan meeting events. "Are you really here to see me?"he said, tearing up with joy. "This is my first time. I didn't imagine any of this. I'm so grateful."
Just a few days before the fan meeting he shot a commercial with Lotte Home Shopping for the first time in his life. He spent that money to rent an apartment in Korea.
On January 3, 2020, Yang created his account on Instagram. On the 4th, he performed his debut song "Rebecca" on MBC's "Show! Music Core" after 28 years after his debut. Yang appeared himself a , a parody of his own 90's fashion style. JTBC's special feature aired on the 16th and 23rd. The title of the program is meant to commemorate his debut year, 1991 and 2019 when he was recovered.
On February 3, his photo essay started a pre-sale. On the first day, over 15,000 copies were pre-sold and it became bestseller. A series of the interviews with the behind-the-scenes of photo shooting for his book was released also. On the 9th, Yang opened his official YouTube channel, . The number of subscribers has spiked up to over 15K in a single day. On Valentine's Day, on February 14, was officially released.
On March 14, the 100th day anniversary of his re-debut, Yang and choreographer Lia Kim appeared on MBC "Show! Music Core" of the via a collaboration stage. Two of them went on stage with his song "Dance with Me" released in 1992. On the 16th, Yang was shown as a lecturer on "Sebasi Talk". The title of the lecture was . It hit 1 million view mark in 2 days.
On April 28, Yang held a Drive-through Fansign Event in Paju Premium Outlet.
On May 12, his KaKaoTalk emoticons, has been launched. On the 15th, has been released. On the 19th, Yang Joon Il Maybe: Password of You and I Audiobook narrated by Yang Joon Il himself has been released.
Yang signed a contract with . According to Production Lee Whang, the agency has formed with Yang's one-man agency XBe and will be in charge of promoting his songs and managing his schedule.
The remastered first and second album on vinyl LP are pre-sold from August 5 to 19 and released in October. Yang and Shinsegae International's collaboration goods are sold in limited quantities starting August 17. His new song "Rocking Roll Again" teaser was released on the 13th.
On August 19, which is also his 51st birthday, was published. It is re-edited with over 40 illustrations by Yulla and a new message by Yang is added. "Rocking Roll Again" was released.
On August 28, and Yang launched their women's 2020 F/W collection and opened pop-up retail.
A solo concert "The First Dance" was scheduled for September 19. Yang was scheduled to appear at the "Blue Spring Festival" held from September 26 to 27. "The First Dance" concert scheduled to be held in Seoul September was cancelled due to COVID-19. The "Blue Spting Festival" was also cancelled. The JTN Concert, which was scheduled to be held in May but was cancelled due to COVID-19, was announced to be held on December 5.

Discography

Album

title	written by	composed by	arranged by	length
Your Backside That Caught My Attention	Yang Joon-il	P.B. Floyd,Jay Mitchel,Michael Johnson/Yang Joon-il	Jay Mitchell	3:24
Dance with me, 아가씨	Yang Joon-il	P.B. Floyd, Jay Mitchell/Yang Joon-il	Jay Mitchell	3:33
Party Invitation	Yang Joon-il	P.B. Floyd, Rafael Cunville/Yang Joon-il	Jay Mitchell	4:39
가나다라마바사	Yang Joon-il	P.B. Floyd, Jay Mitchell/Yang Joon-il	Jay Mitchell	4:06
추억만의 사랑	이동현/Lee Se Gun	이세건/Lee Dong Hyun	Charlie S. Lee	4:44
J에게	Lee Se Gun	Lee Se Gun	Yang Joon-il, Jay Mitchell	3:43
그리움	Yang Joon-il	Lee Bum Hee	Charlie S. Lee	4:43

Single

Rocking Roll Again - Yang Joon Il/ Val Gaina - 4:10

Appearances

Year	Title	Media	Role	Ref.	Note
2019	Two Yoo Project Sugar Man Season 3 Ep.2	JTBC	Guest
2019	JTBC Newsroom Culture Invitation	JTBC	Guest
2020	The Sugar Man, Yang Joon Il, 91.19	JTBC	Himself
2020	Yang Hee-eun and Seo Kyung-seok's -Visible Radio	MBC표준FM
2020	Oh Eun's Huddle on Podcast-Visible Podcast	YouTube			Ep.122
2020	Lee Soo-young's Let's Meet at 12:00-Visible Radio	CBS음악FM	Guest
2020	Ep.3, Ep.4	MBC	Guest
2020	Happy Together Ep.631	KBS	Guest
2020	Park Myung-soo's	KBSCoolFM
2020			Lecturer		Ep.1152
2020	]	YouTube
2020	] with Yang-Visible Radio	EBS RADIO
2020	FaTalk by	YouTube
2020		YouTube	Himself
2020	Show! Music Core	MBC
2020	Video Star Ep.204	MBCevery1
2020	449tv Talk Show Yang Joon Il Diary	YouTube	Host
2020	Comeback Stage @ Show! Music Core "Rocking Roll Again"	MBC
2020	- Visible Radio	MBC표준FM	Guest
2020	Lim Baek-chun's - Visible Radio	KBSHappy
2020	Yoon Jung-soo and Nam Chang Hee's - Visible Radio	KBSCoolFM	Guest
2020	Behind The Scene: The Reader - JIY, , Eric Nam by x x COEX	Melon
2020	Problem Child in House	KBS World			# # # #

Concerts

Party Invitation '93 at Viva Art Hall, Seoul
A Gift of JIY at Daeyang Hall, Seoul
Other ventures

Endorsements

In 2019, Yang shot a commercial with Lotte Home Shopping for the first time in his life.
In 2020, Yang came in third place in brand reputation rankings for male advertisement models, as studied by The Korean Business Research Institute. Yang became an official model for Pizza Hut. He was selected as an endorsement model for Siwon School. He has been working as an ambassador for . It was also reported that Shinsegae International is planning to launch a collaborative product with Yang. He appeared in commercials for Berocca by . He was appointed as a new face of . Jenny House Cosmetics announced to release a new product in collaboration with Yang. Re;BAK Style Repair Shampoo and Treatment was officially launched in March and , their collaboration site, was opened on the same day. On August, Shinsegae International launched "449 Project Yang Joon Il Goods line" which was produced on the theme of '', Yang's values. S.I. and JIY's collaborative womenswear line was released on S.I. Village and at pop-up stores in Shinsegae Department Store.

Awards

2019 The Fact Music Awards—Special Prize
2020 Brand Customer Loyalty Award—Hot Icon