Jae Jin

Jae Jin (born in Seoul, South Korea) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, SAG-AFTRA actor and public speaker. He independently distributes his original music through AWAL (under Kobalt Music Group) and is a part of the Sinasoid Artist Guild.

To date, Jin has independently self-released four albums: Kairos (2015), Baltimore Boulevard (2017), Letters and Drinks (2018), and The Seasons In Between (2022). Jin won a John Lennon Songwriting Award in 2019 and also received first place in the International Songwriting Competition. He was also a finalist in the 2019 NewSong Music Competition. Jin has appeared on Season 16 of U.S. TV series The Voice and on Season 2 of U.S. TV series House of Cards as a principal actor.

Biography Jin was born in Seoul, South Korea on November 6 and immigrated to the United States with his mother when he was two years old. He attended Chantilly High School. Having spent over 20 years in Baltimore, Maryland, he considers Baltimore a hometown of sorts. He has a Korean mother, Mihye, and a Caucasian stepfather, John Whiteside, who he considers his real father and wrote his original song 'Father's Land' about.

At the age of 17, Jin was diagnosed with a terminal blood-bone marrow disorder. He underwent experimental chemotherapy at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Five years later, while he was a pre-med student at Johns Hopkins University, the illness returned, and Jin repeated the same chemotherapy, becoming the second patient in history to receive the treatment twice.

He graduated from Johns Hopkins University, went on to partially complete an MPH degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and spent many years working in healthcare management at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, social enterprise and workforce development in East Baltimore (Baltimore), as well as time spent in the startup world. As Jin was preparing to commence a dual graduate degree in Medicine and Business (MD/MBA program), he chose instead to pursue a career in music at the end of 2014.

Career

2013–2014: Early career Jin made his first notable appearance in 2013, when his cover of Sam Cooke's song "Nothing Can Change This Love" was shared by video blog WorldStarHipHop going viral. After garnering over one million views, the video was removed from the service at the request of Sam Cooke's music publishers. Following the popularization of this video, Jin began meeting with record labels, music business executives, and major network reality television shows even garnering the attention of Russell Simmons. However, instead of partnering with a third-party, the musician decided to pursue his music career independently.

In 2014, Jin appeared on Christian radio network Moody Radio for an interview on the Chris Fabry Live program discussing his plans to take a leap of faith with limited musical experience.

2015–2016: Kairos Jin began his journey by packing up his entire life into two suitcases moving to New York City. Jin spent three months recording his debut album, titled Kairos, with the help of his long time friend and the album's producer, Tim Ouyang of Tim Be Told. On October 6, 2015, Jin released his ten track debut studio album, Kairos.

Jin appeared on ABC News numerous times for interviews and guest performances of "Wild Creatures" and "Ain't About Love".

On August 28, 2020, Jin released a 31-track Kairos Super Deluxe album consisting of the original 10 songs as well as 21 bonus tracks that included live acoustic versions, a handful of special alternative versions, and instrumentals. The super deluxe also includes an in-depth commentary with album producer, Tim, as well as a special final track which includes Korean translation lyrics of "Amen" spoken by Jin's own birth mother.

2017: Baltimore Boulevard

On November 3, 2017, Jin released his sophomore effort Baltimore Boulevard, an album collection of songs written over a two-year span. In the same month, he was awarded a WeWork Creator Award given to those who "bring new ideas into the world". Jin was also invited to share his life story on stage at Madison Square Garden during the WeWork Global Summit. Notable venues Jin has played concerts at include The Bitter End, SideWalk Cafe, Pianos (club), Rockwood Music Hall, Eddie's Attic, Hotel Café, Postcrypt Coffeehouse, Smith's Olde Bar (ATL), Neck of the Woods (SF), and more.

Jin has toured throughout North America, Europe (Paris & London), and Asia (South Korea, Bangkok, Tokyo, Taipei, & Singapore).

His longest major touring took place in 2019, when he embarked on a 10 month, 46 city tour. His solo live music as a singer-songwriter ranges in genre from folk to blues to soul to rhythm and blues.

Discography Albums Title Year Label Kairos 2015 Independent Baltimore Boulevard 2017 Independent Letters & Drinks 2018 Independent Evergreen (a Christmas album) 2020 Independent The Seasons In Between 2022 Independent

As featured artist All Ye Nations (2014, single by Tim Be Told) The Battle Hymn (2015, Mighty Sound album by Tim Be Told ) The Great Divide (2016, Friends and Foes album by Tim Be Told) Translated Letters (2017, Ashley Court: Chapter 1 album by nak) Grace (2020, Love and Happiness album by Tim Be Told)

Music has appeared on Korean dramas and TV shows:

2 Days & 1 Night (1박2일) Begin Again (TV series) (jtbc) One Fine Day (South Korean TV series) Seventeen (South Korean band) (동네의 영웅) I Live Alone (TV series) (MBC 나 혼자 산다) Childish Bromance 용띠클럽 (KBS) Lucky Romance (운빨로맨스) Monster (몬스터) My Daughter's Men (내 딸의 남자들) Local Hero (TV series) (동네의 영웅) Sweet, Savage Family (달콤살벌패밀리) Mr. Baek: Homemade Food Master (집밥 백선생) Please Take Care of My Refrigerator (냉장고를 부탁해) How To Eat and Live Well (식사하셨어요) Three Meals A Day (삼시세끼) The Return of Superman (TV series) We Got Married ( 우리 결혼했어요) - Season 4 Men Are Men (그놈이 그놈이다) Show Me the Money (South Korean TV series) Season 7 - Ep.09 (11/02/2018)

Awards Jae Jin has received GRAMMY consideration for songs on all four of his full-length albums, with the most recent for his record 'Lifelines Always Have Two Ends' which received First Ballot consideration in the categories of Song Of The Year, Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals in the category of Production, Engineering, Composition & Arrangement, and Best Alternative Music Performance for the 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Previously his song 'Still Flowers Growin' received consideration for the 67th GRAMMY Awards for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song in the category of Country & American Roots Music and Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals in the category of Production, Engineering, Composition & Arrangement.

He has also won numerous songwriting awards including the John Lennon Songwriting Award, 1st place in the International Songwriting Competition, and the grand prize in the Music City SongStar competition in Nashville. He was also one of the finalists in the 2019 NewSong Music Competition.

Jae also received a WeWork Creator Award for Outstanding Original Music and Life Story in 2017 and a Mayoral Salute by the City of Baltimore in 2018.