Jay B

Lim Jae-beom (born January 6, 1994), better known as Jay B (stylized in all caps), and formerly JB, is a South Korean singer, songwriter and actor.

Jay B is the leader of South Korean boy band group Got7, a member of boy band duo JJ Project and sub-unit Jus2, as well as part of R&B soul crew Offshore as Def..

In 2009 he was scouted by JYP Entertainment at a B-Boy competition: he was not interested in attending the audition, but his father pushed him to do so.

He subsequently passed the open audition, winning first place with Jinyoung over 10,000 applicants.

He became interested in musical composition and hip hop culture as a B-Boy, but at the beginning of his idol training, he thought that learning to sing was meaningless, and concentrated only on dancing; however, after listening to D'Angelo, he started singing and composing his first songs.

He made his small-screen debut through the drama series Dream High 2 in 2012.

Lim Jae-beom was born in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, and grew up in Goyang.

When he was seven, after watching g.o.d.

perform, he developed the dream of becoming a singer.

He started b-boying in his third year of middle school after failing a school test, dancing with friends at Ilsan, Paju, Boramae and Jeongbalsan station, and taking part in competitions.

As a B-Boy, he used the stage name Defsoul, taking Musiq Soulchild's "Just Friends" music video as inspiration.

In 2011, Jay B was cast in the role of Jang Woo-jae in the television drama Dream High 2, which began airing on January 30, 2012, on KBS for 16 episodes.

In order not to be confused with singer Yim Jae-beom, he adopted the stage name of JB.

In May 2012, he and fellow trainee Jinyoung debuted as the duo JJ Project with the single album Bounce.

Their official music video for the title track "Bounce" was released on May 19.

On March 11, 2013, it was announced that he would be appearing as Seo Mi-joon on MBC's new drama When a Man Falls in Love.

On January 16, 2014, the two members of JJ Project debuted as part of a seven-member boy band called Got7.

In 2015, he played the lead role in Dream Knight, a web drama, as a superhero version of himself, alongside his fellow Got7 members, featuring actress Song Ha-yoon as the female lead role.

In 2018, together with group mate Yugyeom, he participated in the art collaboration project Collaboran for carbonated mineral water brand Perrier with American multimedia artist Ben Jones.

The creation process was later revealed through a reality show in May.

On March 5, 2019, he and Yugyeom debuted as Jus2, a sub-unit of Got7, with their EP Focus and its lead single "Focus on Me".

On June 6, 2019, he attended the event for Saint Laurent 20SS Men's Collection in Los Angeles as a representative of Korea.

In December 2019, he launched the JB Collection, a summer-themed clothing line in collaboration with Represent, which went on sale for two weeks and sold 35,940 items.

He also writes songs as Defsoul or Def., both for Got7 and the Offshore crew; with the latter, he released two compilation extended plays, Scene #1 on June 24, 2019, and Scene #2 on March 26, 2020.

On April 13, 2020, he became the first male K-pop idol on the cover of a digital issue for American magazine Allure.

As Def., he held his first photo exhibition named Alone on October 6–12, 2020, in Seoul.

On January 19, 2021, following the expiration of his contract, he left JYP Entertainment.

On February 20, 2021, with the release of Got7's single "Encore", he started using the new stage name Jay B. On May 11, 2021, it was announced that Jay B signed an exclusive contract with H1ghr Music, an international hip hop and R&B record label founded by Korean American musician Jay Park and long time Seattle affiliate Cha Cha Malone.

Three days later, he made a debut as a solo artist by releasing his new single "Switch It Up" featuring rapper Sokodomo, which entered at number 12 on the Gaon Download Chart.

The R&B track was self-written and self-composed by Jay B with Jay Park and Cha Cha Malone, who also produced it.

The lyrics of "Switch It Up" talk about love, while the title conveys that his life is going to change.

On May 25, 2021, Jay B made his debut on the Billboard R&B Digital Song Sales Chart at number six, becoming the first Korean soloist to debut on this chart.

He also became the third Korean soloist to chart on Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Digital Song Sales Chart with "Switch It Up" entering at number 18.

On July 30, 2021, he became the first cover star for the launching of TMRW Magazine Korea.

The 100-page magazine had been curated with Jay B himself and featured an exclusive interview, photoshoot and his own film photographies.

In August, he appeared on MBC's singing competition show King of Mask Singer as "Toad's House" on episode 319.

On August 26, 2021, his first EP, SOMO:Fume and the music video of the title track "B.T.W (Feat. Jay Park)" were released both digitally and physically.

As part of the album promotions, Jay B held his first solo global fan meeting, "SOMO:Fume, Style of My Own:Fume", on September 25 through online platform Bbangya TV, while the official merchandise launched to commemorate the release of the EP, which went on sale for one week from September 2, was sold out in five days.

An offline pop-up store selling additional items was subsequently opened in Seoul for two weeks from October 1, 2021.

In September, he also participated in "Feel the Rhythm of Korea 2", a promotional campaign sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, for which he sang "I'm Surfin'", a re-interpretation of traditional song "Niliria", which was released on September 3 along a music video.