Yang Joon-il

Yang Joon-il (born 19 August 1969), also known as John Yang, Yang Joon Il, Joon-il Yang, JIY and V2, is a Korean-American singer-songwriter.

Yang was born in Saigon, whose current name is Ho Chi Minh City today, of Vietnam during the war on August 19, 1969.

His father used to work for an American travel agency and his mother was a reporter.

He spent his childhood in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea.

Yang emigrated to the United States with his family at age nine and grew up in Los Angeles.

Yang dropped out of school to debut as a singer in Korea in 1990.

He entered Korea in the same year and studied Korean at the Yonsei Korean Language Institute.

Yang made his debut in 1991 with a song titled "Rebecca".

He was active in South Korea from 1991 to 1993 before he had issues renewing his visa.

He released three albums in Korea between 1991 and 2001.

Yang debuted in March 1991 at the age of 21 with the album, "Winter Wonderer(겨울 나그네)".

He debuted on the "Rookie Stage" of the MBC's music program "Saturday Night Music Show" performing "Rebecca".

The second single was "Help Me Cupid".

A few months later, he returned to Los Angeles to work on his 2nd album.

Active in South Korea from 1991 to 1993, he suddenly disappeared from the public scene and returned to the U.S. In a 2019 interview with The Korea Times, he revealed that "he was hated by many for his unusual looks and songs."

Some also threw rocks during his performance at an open-air stage.

Once, Yang recalled, an audience member faked a handshake to pull him violently down to the ground from the stage, telling him: "You need a beating."

While a 10-year visa he held in Korea as a U.S. national had to be recertified every six months, but he was denied an extension to his visa.

His nationality as an American also made it hard for him to gain acceptance in South Korea.

His 2nd full length album was released in 1992.

He released other hit songs like "Dance with Me Miss" (1992) and "GaNaDaRaMaBaSa" (1992).

Yang also composed most of the songs including "Love Strutter(뚜벅이 사랑)" of Chul Y and Mi Ae(철이와 미애)'s second album.

In 'Back to the Future" in Chul Y and Mi Ae 's 2nd album dance pop and Korean traditional music were combined, which was very innovative attempt at the time.

In 2001, he made a brief comeback as JIY, a member of project group V2.

The song was a hit, but, at the time, agency issues prevented him from working in the entertainment industry.

He got back to America disappearing away from the public scene.

He recently gained attention through JTBC's Two Yoo Project Sugar Man, a program dedicated to finding and rediscovering old singers from the past.

On April 17, 2001, he made another debut as JIY, a member of a music band V2, with a third album "Fantasy".

V2 meant his "Version 2".

He was in active under the name of JIY instead of his real name, Yang Joon-il.

He lied about his age and made a big change in his look.

His new song "Fantasy", composed by Valery Gaina of Cruise, enjoyed a brief popularity before he finally put an end to his music career.

Due to the agency's circumstances, it became impossible to work as a musician and after that he worked as an English teacher for 14 years.

After one year of dating Yang married a woman with whom he fell in love at first sight in 2006 and the first son was born in 2015.

When he was in Glendale High School in LA, he was persuaded to make a debut as an entertainer by the late Hollywood actor Soon-Tek Oh, who was a member to the same church.

Yang was a soloist in his high school choir.

He took classes at a modeling school to prepare for his debut.

He entered University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

During his studies, he was selected by Lee Bum Hee, who was the famous composer of the day in Korea.

As of 2020, he is active in various fields such as fan meeting, book writing, public appearances, lectures, commercials, beauty and fashion related activities.