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Name
As the word for "rain" is different in many languages, he is known by a variety of names. In Europe and the US, he is known by the English word Rain. In Korea he is known as 비, romanized as Bi and pronounced as the letter B in English.
Biography
Early life
Rain was born in Seoul. He became interested in R&B and Hiphop dancing in the 6th grade. As an adolescent, he was a member of a boy band called Fanclub. The group was short-lived, and soon disbanded. Rain then began auditioning for various talent agencies. In a CNN interview, however, he recalled being repeatedly rejected because of his looks: "In fact, I was told after one audition that my singing and dancing was great but I didn't make it because I didn't have double eyelids."Finally, Rain entered an audition for Korean talent agency JYP Entertainment. Park Jin Young, the CEO of the agency, took a personal interest in Rain and accepted him as a trainee. During the early years of training, Rain was a backup dancer.
In 2002 he debuted with the album Bad Guy where he was introduced to the media through his stage name, Rain. The album's title single Bad Guy was a hit. After his first album, he took time off from his career as a singer to star in the drama series, Sang Doo! Let's Go To School. Following the success of his debut as singer and actor, Rain released his second album How to Avoid The Sun, and had another hit with the title song "Ways to Avoid the Sun."
In 2004, he starred in another successful drama called "Full House", which was one of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time with ratings of over 30% for every episode It was broadcasted in many other countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. Through Full House, Rain was recognized across Asia. His performance in the drama also won him the Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards.
International recognition
His third album It's Raining sold over 1 million copies in Asia. According to a report by Rain's previous agency JYP Ent. to the Korea Culture & Content Agency, It's Raining topped the charts in all of the following countries as of December 29th, 2005: Japan (100,000 copies), China (500,000 copies), Taiwan (70,000 copies), Thailand (150,000 copies), Indonesia (50,000 copies), and South Korea (154,000 copies), for a combined total of 1,074,000 units sold, making it Rain's most successful album to date both domestically and internationally.His first concert, Rainy Day, held in Korea and Japan, was sold out the first day tickets became available.
In 2004, Rain earned greater recognition by winning the MTV Asia Grand Slam, securing top honors in all the Asian countries which broadcast MTV Asia. Rain won the Favorite Korean Artist at the 2005 MTV Asia Aid held in Bangkok, the Most Popular Asian Artist Award from Channel [V] Thailand, the Best Buzz Asia Award during the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2005 (He won Best buzz ASIA as well as Orange Range and Stefanie Sun.) and the Best Korean Singer award in the MTV-CCTV Mandarin Music Honors in Beijing. Rain was also the first Asian performing artist everto be invited to the 2005 American MTV Video Music Awards in Miami, as well as the 2005 MTV Latin Video Music Awards in Mexico. These accomplishments earned Rain a lot of media attention, including interviews with Time Asian Edition and CNN Talk Asia. Rain also won the Best Korean Singer Award 2005 at the Mandarin Music Honors in Taiwan.
Rain then went on his RAINY DAY 2005 Tour, starting in Seoul and followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong; due to his fame and his extravagant performances, tickets sold out quickly. His first solo concert in Japan last summer, entitled Rainy Day Japan held at the Tokyo International Forum, was so popular that all the tickets were sold out 30 seconds after going on sale.The tickets for another of his concerts in Taiwan were sold out the moment they became available also. His performances in Hong Kong also sold out in a couple of hours. Rain continues to set records in Asia. Now planning to go beyond Japan and Hong Kong, Rain will make a foray into China by giving a concert in Beijing.
In April 2006, he was mentioned in the Time magazine website article that named the "100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World." In 2007, Rain topped Time Magazine's online user poll, although he was not in the magazine's actual list. He has an ongoing joke feud with Stephen Colbert for the top spot. He also made it into People's 2007 list of the "Most Beautiful People" in the world.
Fame in the United States
Time magazine noted that Rain may collaborate in the future with Diddy. This came after reviewing Rain's performances in Madison Square Garden in February 2006. His two day concert, Rainy Day New York was marketed and promoted by the Asian concert production company Rainstone Live. Tickets were sold out within a matter of days.
Special guests who made stage appearances at the concert included American pop singer JoJo, R&B singer Omarion, and hip-hop mogul Diddy.
There is also news that Rain will be recording a duet with Omarion, who used to be the vocalist of the popular hip-hop group, B2K, and had starred in the movie, You Got Served. When Rain's first movie, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, finished filming in early July 2006, he departed for the U.S. to discuss the possibility of singing the duet with Omarion, and to meet with the organizers of his Asian Tour. Rain apparently met Omarion through his producer, who had written a song for Omarion's recent album. Also, after Rain's concert in February in New York - where Omarion danced to Rain's song "Bad Guy" - Omarion and Rain became friends, says JYP Entertainment. They also noted that the two may star in a movie together one day.
Omarion and Rain recorded a duet song, "Man Up," that was released on the European version of Omarion's album 21 as a bonus track. The song has yet to be released in the U.S. due to contractual issues between several record labels.
In 2007, Rain made it to People's Most Beautiful People list for the first time, in its "First-Time Beauties 2007" section. In a press release, Rain stated that he was honored to be on the list, and also noted that it will be a great boost to his efforts to raise his public awareness in the United States. Also in 2007, Rain topped Time's open online poll. He beat Stephen Colbert by 100,000 votes; Colbert jokingly retaliated by producing a parody of Rain's music video for "Ways to Avoid the Sun" called "He's Singin' In Korean". Stephen Colbert has since challenged Rain to a dance-off "or a cuddle-off, or a spoon-off". On May 5, 2008, Rain appeared in a "surprise" guest segment at the end of The Colbert Report, and proceeded to engage Stephen in a dance-off. In the end, Rain won by causing the Dance Dance Revolution machine on which they were competing to overload and explode.
Rain performed in two concert dates in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 23-24, 2006; the tickets to these concerts sold out within the first week of sales. The concerts were held at the Colosseum Center at Caesars Palace.
World tour and beyond
Rain's fourth album, Rain's World was released in Korea on October 14, 2006.
His Rain's Coming Tour began on December 15, 2006 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, and was scheduled to continue through 2007 to the following countries: Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, United States and Canada. His tour incorporated the talents of producers and stage designers (such as Jamie King and Roy Bennett) who have been involved with the concert tours of famous artists such as U2, Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin, Madonna, Britney Spears, and The Rolling Stones. Ticket sales were expected to be over US$100 million, but that never happened.
His latest concert was at the Tokyo Dome on 25 May 2007 which attracted nearly 40,000 people. The Tokyo Dome is the largest auditorium in Japan. Rain was the first Korean artist to perform at the Tokyo Dome.
On his latest World 2007 tour, his scheduled concerts in Shanghai, Toronto, San Francisco and Hawaii were cancelled, followed by the last concert in Los Angeles. The latter event at the Staples Center was canceled only two hours prior to opening: Rain's producer blamed the situation on financial problems with the local producer, and the local promoter blamed Star M, calling them "incompetent to handle the situation."
Legal troubles
Rain, together with JYP and the tour promotor, are currently being sued by Honolulu promoter Click Entertainment for more than a million dollars, after his concert was cancelled there and the promoters were not refunded the $500,000 licensing fee.. The company claims that Rain never intended to perform in Hawaii. The suit also claims that Rain and his Korea-based promoters "sought to defraud the general public by aggrandizing and exaggerating the scope of the 'Rain's Coming' world tour."
In February 2007, Rain and his former management agency JYP Entertainment as well as concert organizer Star M Corporation were sued over copyright infringement of the stage name "Rain," by the U.S. recording firm Rain Corporation; the company, which works with an American band also called "Rain," demanded that he drop the English name in the United States. The U.S. concert dates were postponed due to the controversy over his stage name. In June 2007, the lawsuit ended because the Nevada court provided no evidence indicating that Rain Corporation would suffer any actual harm, but the court canceled the "Rain's Coming to Los Angeles Concert". Since the filing of the lawsuit, Rain's U.S. concert promotional posters had been changed to "Ji-hoon's World Tour 2007"; however, Rain may continue using "Rain's Coming World Tour." It is still unknown when Rain will resume his U.S concert tour.
J. Tune Entertainment (Formerly known as the Rainy Entertainment)
In November of 2007, Rain told the Korean media that he has left JYP Entertainment for good and has started his own entertainment company called J. Tune Entertainment (formerly known as Rainy Entertainment). He will be positioned as the CEO of the company, but told the media that he still keeps in touch with his mentor and his long time trainer Park Jin Young.
Discography
Bad Guy (1st full-length Korean album)
* Released: May 13, 2002
* Format: Cassette, CD
* Label: Daeyoung AV
* Producer: JYPE
* Chart position: #9 KOR Monthly, #45 KOR Year-End (2002)
* Sales: KOR: 143,414
How To Avoid The Sun (2nd full-length Korean album)
* Released: October 16, 2003
* Format: Cassette, CD
* Label: Daeyoung AV
* Producer: JYPE
* Chart position: #6 KOR Monthly, #19 KOR Year-End (2003)
* Sales: KOR: 166,731
It's RAINing (3rd full-length Korean album)
* Released: October 8, 2004
* Format: Cassette, Enhanced CD
* Label: Seoul Records
* Producer: JYPE
* Chart position: #3 KOR Monthly, #17 KOR Year-End (2004); #15 JPN, #489 JPN Year-End (2005)
* Sales: KOR: 202,764, JPN: 26,246
* Certification: KOR: n/a, JPN: none
Eternal Rain (1st full-length Japanese album made for the Japanese market)
* Released: September 13, 2006
* Format: CD, CD+DVD, CD+DVD+T-shirt
* Label: King Records
* Chart position: #14 JPN, #573 JPN Year-End (2006)
* Sales: JPN: 18,569
* Certification: JPN: none
* Singles: "Sad Tango", "Free Way", "Move On"
Rain's World (4th full-length Korean album)
* Released: October 13, 2006
* Format: Cassette, CD, CD+DVD, CD+DVD+Diary
* Label: Seoul Records
* Chart position: #1 KOR Monthly, #17 KOR Year-End (2006); #57 JPN
* Sales: KOR: 108,179
* Certification: KOR: n/a, JPN: none
