Seungri

Who is Seungri?

Lee Seung-hyun (born December 12, 1990), known by his stage name Seungri (lit. victory), is a member of Korean group BIG BANG. Before joining the group, he was a member of a dance team in Gwangju, South Korea. He first appeared on television on the reality television series Let’s Cokeplay: M.Net Battle Shinhwa, a show in which Shinhwa attempted to create a boy band that could be a “second Shinhwa”. Although he was noticed for his dance skills, his lack of vocal skills led to him being eliminated. He was later scouted by the record label YG Entertainment and joined the group BIG BANG in 2006. Although he was initially cut on the ninth episode of the group’s documentary series, he was given another chance to impress YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk and succeeded.

Seungri is known for his dance skills. In his hometown, Gwangju, he was part of the dance group II Hwa. He has competed against his fellow BIG BANG member Taeyang in several dance competitions, as well as against Super Junior’s Eunhyuk, tvxq’s Yunho, and SHINee’s Taemin. Seungri also choreographed some of Big Bang’s dance.

Seungri became the first member of BIG BANG to act in a musical with the performance in Sonagi in 2008. His next musical, Shouting, was performed in 2009 alongside another BIG BANG member Daesung, who was unable to perform at the last minute due to a car accident. Seungri made his film debut in with the movie Why Did You Come to My House?, followed by My 19 alongside another Big Bang member T.O.P . The movie was released on November 12, 2009. Although his first solo song Next Day was recorded as part of BIG BANG’s album track, his second solo song Strong Baby was released as a promotional single for the group’s second Korean album. In order to shed the “youngest member” look from BIG BANG Seungri promoted the single with a more mature look along with a stylized dance.