Son Ho-young

Son Ho-young (; born March 26, 1980) is a South Korean-American singer and musical actor based in South Korea. Best known as a member of g.o.d, he made his debut in the entertainment industry with the group in 1999 and pursued a solo career as a singer and musical theater actor after the group went on hiatus. He has also regularly appeared on Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend and other music variety shows.

Early life Son is the younger of two children and was born in the United States to Korean parents who are naturalized American citizens. They moved to South Korea, but their parents divorced and the siblings remained in South Korea with their father, mother and son only reconnected when he was an adult.

Despite growing up in a musical home, he showed no inclination towards a career in the music industry until he was a teenager. Son later stated that he had been living on the streets when he befriended future g.o.d bandmate Danny Ahn and eventually auditioned for a project group that Ahn's cousin Park Joon-hyung was forming.

Career 1999–2005: Early years and g.o.d Son, Danny Ahn, Shoo and Kim Hwan-sung were initially part of a mixed-gender project group but it fell through when Shoo signed with S.M. Entertainment; she went on to debut as a member of the girl group S.E.S. while Kim was recruited as the final member of NRG. Ahn was recruited by his cousin Park Joon-hyung to join his project group under EBM and persuaded Son to audition. Yoon Kye-sang and Kim Sun-a were also recruited but the latter left to pursue acting and was replaced by Kim Tae-woo. With Park Jin-young as their producer and primary songwriter, the group eventually became a five-man boy band g.o.d, short for "Groove Over Dose", and made their debut in January 1999. Despite the lukewarm response to their debut performance, g.o.d would go on to be one of the most popular boy bands of the early 2000s. Son was both a rapper and vocalist but was mainly given rap parts in the first and second albums. He was gradually given more singing parts, as seen in the third album.

Son and the other original members were managed by SidusHQ, the successor company of EBM. In 2003 their group contract with SidusHQ expired and they moved to Park Jin-young's agency JYP Entertainment. Son and Park signed individual contracts with JYP Entertainment while Yoon and Ahn remained with SidusHQ.

2006–2013: Solo career With Yoon having left the group in 2004, the four remaining members performed as g.o.d for the final time in December 2005 before going their separate ways. Son did not renew his contract with JYP Entertainment and signed with Lobe Entertainment, which was later absorbed into LOEN Entertainment. Under the Sea concert DVD was released the same year. In late 2008, Son released his second album, Returns.

Son performed as a soloist at the Korean Music Festival in 2008 and 2009 and was also MC for the 2009 and 2012 editions. During the 2012 edition he briefly reunited with three of his former g.o.d bandmates for a special performance. He was also a regular participant in Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend. He won an episode for the first time in episode 75 (broadcast on November 17, 2012).

In February 2010, with Kim Tae-woo having been discharged from the military, the duo toured overseas together for the first time. They held six concerts in Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver. Son was one of three former JYP Entertainment artists, the others being Kim and their close friend Rain, invited to perform at the first JYP Nation concert TEAMPLAY held at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena that December.

On November 10, 2011, Son released his second mini album U-TURN. The promoted single "Pretty But Hateful" featured rapper Bizzy, best known as a member of pioneer hip hop group Drunken Tiger, and peaked at #72 in the Gaon Digital Chart. The music video starred Suzy of miss A. The album was well-received critically and was featured on Mnet's Pick. From November 25, 2011, to January 29, 2012, Son starred in the musical Fame along with Eunhyuk of Super Junior, Tiffany of Girls' Generation, Go Eun Seong, Kim Chan Ho, Shin Ui Jeong, Lina of The Grace, Choi Ju Ri, KoN and Kim Jung-mo of TRAX.

In 2013, Son participated and won in MasterChef Korea Celebrity alongside other Korean celebrities, Seo Hye-jeong, Lee Kye-in, Shin Eun-jung, Kim Sung-soo, Tony An, Shin Bong-sun, Hwayobi, Fei (Miss A), Henry (Super Junior-M) and Jiyul (Dal Shabet).

2014–present: g.o.d reunion and other activities In early 2014, Son came back to the entertainment industry after a 1-year hiatus, joining O'live TV's Share House as his first appearance on TV since 2013. On July 24 he co-hosted the M Countdown 10th anniversary special with Moon Hee-jun and Lee Hong-gi.

g.o.d was officially reunited as quintet when Yoon Kye-sang agreed to rejoin the group. They re-signed a group contract with their former agency SidusHQ, which owns their group name trademark and currently manages their group activities, although each member remained with their individual agencies. After releasing their eighth studio album, they embarked on their 15th anniversary nation-wide tour beginning on July 12, 2014. They largely concentrate on releasing new material and holding live concerts rather than promoting on music programs to allow individual members to concurrently maintain their solo careers.

Son recorded the ballad "One Day" , one of the soundtracks for the tvN drama series Marriage, Not Dating. It was first played during the closing credits at the end of episode 8, which aired on July 26, and the accompanying music video uploaded later that week by CJ E&M. The single peaked at #33 on the Gaon Digital Chart. He also collaborated with Danny Ahn to record their version of the song. In between g.o.d's reunion concerts, he made a guest appearance at his long-time friend Baek Ji-young's concert in Daegu and sang Taecyeon's part in "My Ear's Candy" (내 귀에 캔디). He also featured in Natthew's single "Love Will Be Ok" and its music video, which were both released in November 2014. The week after its release to little fanfare, the single immediately peaked at #25 in the Gaon Social Chart. He was a guest judge on No.Mercy, a survival program launched by Mnet and Starship Entertainment in 2015; the seven of the remaining contestants would debut as Monsta X.

On May 23, 2016, Son released his fifth mini album, entitled May, I, to mark his tenth year as a solo artist. The music video for the title track "My Weak Point" was uploaded on CJ E&M's YouTube channel. It debuted at #8 on the Gaon Album Chart and remained in the top 100 for the months of May and June. The repackaged album, which included an additional new single "None Like You" , was released in October.

Son returned to musical theater for much of the latter half of 2016. He was double-cast as Dr. Rieux in Peste, the translated musical adaptation of Albert Camus's novel The Plague. Featuring music by K-pop legend Seo Tai-ji, the musical premiered on July 20, 2016. In December 2016 he was cast as the protagonist in the musical Geumgang 1894, which was based on the Donghak Peasant Revolution.

Son renewed his contract with his current agency MMO Entertainment, a subsidiary label of CJ E&M, in May 2017. He was one of eight guest artistes featured in his bandmate Kim Tae-woo's sixth solo album T-WITH, which was released in June 2017. From November 2017 to February 2018, Son was double-cast as Chad/Elvis in the jukebox musical All Shook Up, the third time he has taken the role. In between his performances, he held a series of joint concerts with Kim Tae-woo, the first time they have ever held a concert together domestically, over three days in Seoul and Busan. In January 2018 it was announced that he would be joining the cast of the musical The Three Musketeers, which ran from March to May, for its tenth anniversary run.

Son put his solo activities on hold for the latter half of 2018 due to g.o.d preparing for a series of projects celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut. He was the producer for the concerts, which took place in Seoul, Busan and Daegu over six days. The anniversary album was released on January 10, 2019, and Son produced the ninth track, a remixed and recorded version of the song "You Don't Know" (모르죠) from their fourth album.

On August 1, via Instagram, Son and Kim announced that they were collaborating as a project duo under the name HoooW , a portmanteau combining one character from each of their given names. As HoooW, they have appeared on Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend and You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook and performed as guests at Psy's summer concerts. On August 16, they released the digital single "Game Over" .

In April 2020, Son was announced as part of the cast for the new musical adaptation of the popular drama Another Miss Oh. He was triple-cast in the male lead role of Park Do-kyung, who was portrayed by Eric Mun in the drama. His performance received rave reviews from both the audience and critics. The musical was a box office success and also quickly became a trending topic on the internet, with a 9.5/10 rating on Naver's ticket booking portal and ranked by netizens as the number 1 musical they would bring their family to watch. Son was cast in the musical Chunhyang is Alive (춘향은 살아있다), a modern interpretation of the pansori Chunhyangga. It was commissioned to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Namwon's Chunhyang Festival. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, it was performed without an audience and live streamed on YouTube on September 11.

From August 2019 until January 2023, Son and Ahn have co-hosted a radio-style talk show g.o.d's Lunch Attack which aired on Naver's streaming app Naver NOW. at noon on weekdays.

On June 11, 2021, Son signed an exclusive contract with Beat Interactive.

On March 26, 2023, he held a fan meeting 'MARCH, HO YOUNG' to coincide with his birthday.

Personal life In 2000, Son and three of his bandmates were injured in a car accident on the Yeongdong Expressway. He was the most seriously injured and required treatment in hospital. It was reported in March 2006, after g.o.d discontinued group activities, that Son had undergone surgery on his right knee as it had never fully recovered since the accident and that he had been performing throughout the god is Back National Tour while on painkillers and delayed treatment.

Son's older sister is actress and VJ Son Jung-min (ko). Son and his older sister both hold American citizenship as they were born in the United States to Korean parents who were naturalized American citizens.

Discography

Lyrics and composition Year Song Artist Album Note 1999 "Say g.o.d" g.o.d Chapter 2 lyricsco-written with Park Jin-young, Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Danny Ahn and Kim Tae-woo 2000 "g.o.d Party" Chapter 3 "Sky Blue Balloon" 2001 "Sad Love" Chapter 4 lyricsco-written with Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Danny Ahn and Kim Tae-woo "134-14" 2002 "Us" Chapter 5: Letter lyrics and music 2006 "Love Brings Separation" Son Ho-young Yes lyrics "Happy Virus" lyricsco-written with Park Seon Ju 2008 "I Know" Returns lyrics "" lyricsco-written with Noru (ko) "Beautiful Day" lyrics 2014 "Stand Up" g.o.d Chapter 8 lyricsco-written with Black Eyed Pilseung and Danny Ahn

Filmography Television + Year Work Role Notes 2010 Becoming a Billionaire Ha Joon-tae cameo 2012 Salamander Guru and The Shadows Kim Shi-hoo cameo 2013 Pure Love Son Dae-ri Supporting 2016 Thumping Spike Kim Ki Joon Main 2021 We're FamilyCast Member 2022 Groom's Class New groom candidate

Web shows Year Title Role 2021 Hoyoung and Swing Girls Host

Theater YearTitle Role 2021–2022 Fantastic Fairy Tale war clown 2022 Again, Oh Hae-Young Park Do-kyung

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result 2006 Golden Disc Awards Disc Bonsang (Judges' Choice) YES Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Awards — 2008 Golden Disc Awards Popularity Award —