Lee Junho

Lee Junho
Background information
Born	(1990-01-25) January 25, 1990 Ilsan, South Korea[1]
Occupations	Singer,[1] Dancer[1]Composer, Songwriter, Actor
Instruments	guitar, drums
Years active	2008–present
Associated acts	2PM 2AM Vanness Wu
Website	Junho Profile on 2PM Website

Lee Junho (Hangul: 이준호, Hanja: 李俊昊, born January 25, 1990), better known as Junho (준호), is a member of the Korean boy band 2PM (투피엠).^[2] Junho is from Ilsan, South Korea.

Pre-debut

Junho first gained public attention when he won Superstar Survival in 2006. The show started with twelve teenage competitors and as the weeks went on, they were eliminated one by one until three were left. The process followed a similar style to that of reality show Survivor. Junho signed a contract with JYP Entertainment after winning the contest, placing first out of 6,000 competitors. Future 2PM bandmates Taecyeon and Chansung had also competed.^{[citation needed]}

Music career

In 2008, he took part in Mnet's Hot Blood Men^[3] which follows the extreme training of 13 trainees in order to become a member of the boy band One Day. However One Day was split and spawned two boy bands, 2AM and 2PM, of which the latter one Junho became a member.

Six months after Hot Blood was aired on TV, 2PM debuted with their first single "10점 만점에 10점" ("10 Points out of 10 Points")^[4] from their first EP Hottest Time of the Day, but it wasn't until their second EP 2:00PM Time For Change which skyrocketed their success in the Korean music industry. So far, 2PM has released two studio albums and three EPs.

On September 4, 2009, articles surfaced on the internet regarding Jaebeom's posts from 2005 on his personal Myspace account, in which he expressed his dislike for Korea while still a trainee for JYP Entertainment. The incident resulted in all 2PM members withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows, including Junho. Although he was to supposed to be a regular member of the sports variety show Dream Team 2, Junho was only a part of the pilot episode. However, in March 2010 Junho returned as a permanent cast member of the show.

Additionally during this time, many rumors regarding who would replace Jay Park as the leader were saying Junho was being considered. JYPE has never confirmed nor denied this. Most say there is no leader due to the reality show titled "Wild Bunny" that starred 2PM. The airing of the final episode, which coincidentally featured the members engaged in a "Leader Olympics" game to select a new leader, was postponed indefinitely due to Jaebeom's internet controversy.^[5] Chansung recently reconfirmed that there is no leader in February 2012 on MBC Radio Star saying, “2PM does not have a leader right now... We are all well aware of each other’s shortcomings, and we are doing our best without a leader.”^[6]

On February 16, 2010, Junho was a guest on Strong Heart. He discussed the period before 2PM’s debut, when he was on the Superstar Survival show.

In August 2010, Mnet created a list of the top thirty talented idols who all have beautiful voices. Two members of 2PM were on the list. Jun. K took 5th place, and Junho took 19th place.^[7]

On the New Year’s special of MBC’s “Bouquet” in 2010, Junho made a special appearance on the show, performing on the guitar for the first time. The 2PM member performed “Ain’t No Sunshine” from the romance movie "Notting Hill."

Beginning in 2011, Junho took a more proactive role in music composition. He contributed to the song "Give It To Me". On July 21, 2PM released the song on their official YouTube channel.^[8] The song was used on the original sound track for the action thriller movie "Blind" starring by Kim Ha-Neul and Yoo Seung-Ho. The track is also available on the Hands Up album.

During 2PM’s ‘Hands Up Asia Tour’, Junho had performed his self-composed song, “Move On” as a special track with Wooyoung, which garnered widespread acclaim. The song has been included in 2PM’s ‘Best of Korea’ album, and has also been released as a ringtone on Japan’s biggest digital website, ‘Rechocku’. Moments into its release, the song ranked first on the service’s daily chart, demonstrating 2PM’s immense popularity in Japan.

JYP Entertainment expressed, “Following Junsu, Junho has ranked first on the ‘Recochoku’ chart. We’re always thankful for the fans that support 2PM. The Best of Korea album that was released on March 14 is receiving a reaction that exceeds our expectations. We’ll always work our hardest to come back with good news.”^[9]

Junho has been chosen to be the second couple on MBC’s Music and Lyrics program, alongside actress Kim So-eun. They composed a song (OST) called 'Sad Love', which So-eun was the composer and Junho was the musician.

Junho recently collaborated with Vanness Wu to sing the main OST track "Undefeated" for Taiwanese Drama Ti Amo Chocolate.

Junho also participated as a composer for fellow member, Jang Wooyoung's solo debut album in which he composed the song "Be With You".

He also composed the song "Forever" for 2PM's most recent Japanese album "Masquerade".

In May 2013, JYP Entertainment revealed that Junho would make his solo debut in Japan with his mini album "Kimi no Koe" and would be set to be released on July 24. He would also be holding his first solo tour soon after debuting.^[10]

On July 8, 2013, Junho debuted in Japan as a solo with "Kimi no Koe".^[11] The day after on July 9, Junho began his first solo tour which consists of 12 concerts and would be held in 5 cities. His solo tour began in Sapporo and then end with a finale concert on August 29 in Tokyo.^[12]

Personal

His specialties are singing, beatboxing, dancing.^[13] He enjoys listening to music, watching dancing videos, learning composing, and reading fashion magazines.^[13] He is an avid animal lover and loves cats the most. His ideal woman is someone who plans for a child. He graduated from the Howon University^[13] program in acting. Junho has type A blood.^[13]

Junho has several nicknames, but the most popular is "Hwang-jae"^[13] (황제, Emperor) due to his seriousness. He is also known as "Nuneo". The latter came from an incident when Junho wrote his name so quickly on a newly purchased StarCraft disc that it appeared wrongly as Ij Nuneo (잊누너).^[14] He is known as one of the "Jun Brothers" in conjunction with fellow member Jun. K.

As a result of his facial structure, Junho is often compared with Korean entertainer Rain.^[15] Nevertheless, on KBS2's Win Win show, Junho revealed that during his training years people frequently passed him over. He said, essentially, that “people never knew what my name was and always called me ‘that one kid’.”

Junho discussed on Strong Heart a time when he (without his knowledge) was about to be kicked out of JYP Entertainment because at that point of time he was falling behind the others and could not adapt. His mother had apparently found out about this and called JYP personally saying that her son hasn’t even been there for a year, asking for time for him to improve.

On the May 14 broadcast of MBC’s “We Got Married,” 2PM band mate Nichkhun revealed, “Junho’s cousin is a professional baseball player.” Junho's cousin is a pitcher for the Doosan Bears named Sun-Woo Kim.

Junho is also an animal activist. Singer Lee Hyori has recently praised Junho and his fans on their donation to the animal activist’s group. The singer wrote via her Twitter on October 20, “It warmed my heart to hear that 2PM’s Junho and his fans made a second donation to the animals activist’s group! ...I’m so proud that he is using his fame and influence in a way that’s so heroic.”

On February 15, Humanitarian Organization World Vision reported that they launched ‘Global Share Project‘ in collaboration with EBS. Junho was selected as the first person to volunteer with ‘Global Share Project’ and sacrificed his first vacation in four years since his debut. He opted to travel to Ethiopia last month to spend some meaningful time with the locals. Junho met with patients suffering from ‘elephantitis’, a rare form of skin disease and delightfully sang and danced with them. Junho has also been secretly supporting a child in Ethiopia who he got to meet in person, even presenting his adopted child a special gift.^[16]

Discography

Filmography

Television

Films

References

External links

• Junho on Twitter
• Junho on Me2day
• Junho on Sina Weibo