Biography
Hyeon-Seok Yang is a South Korean music executive, rapper, dancer and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of Seo Taiji and Boys during the 1990s. After the group disbanded, he founded and became chief executive officer of YG Entertainment, one of the biggest record companies in South Korea.
Seo Taiji & Boys was formed in 1991 with Taiji Seo, Juno Lee and Hyeon-Seok Yang. Yang said he first met Seo when the musician came to him to learn how to dance. "Blown away" by his music, Yang offered to join the group and they later recruited Lee who was one of the top dancers in Korea. The group was influential on the Korean music scene, famous for their single, "Nan Arayo" ("I Know"). The group received criticism for various albums, most notably for the song, "Shidaeyugam" ("Regret of the Times"), to which the fan backlash led to the abolishment of the Pre-censorship law in 1996. The group disbanded in 1996, with each member pursuing solo activities.
In 1998, he established YG Entertainment and released his first solo album which featured a song composed by Seo Taiji. This was their first collaboration since the breakup. Hyeon-Seok has produced hugely successful artists under his entertainment, most notably Jinusean, 1TYM, Se7en, Big Bang, and 2NE1. Recently, Tablo, Epik High, and PSY joined the company. After 2012, the company took Lee Ha Yi, Akdong Musician, WINNER, iKON, BLACKPINK, Zion.T, Sechs Kies, Bang Ye-dam and Katie Kim under their label.
In March 2010, Yang revealed that he has been dating former Swi.T member Eun-Joo Lee, who is 12 years Yang's junior, for nine years. Eun-Joo Lee then gave birth to their first child on August 5, 2010 at 2:01 pm; she is named Yang Yoo-Jin. In April 2012, Hyeon-Seok Yang announced on SBS's K-Pop Star that the couple's second child, a baby boy, was born. His name is Yang Seung Hyeon. Eun-Joo Lee is the younger sister of Jaijin Lee of Sechs Kies.
