Taeyang, the hottest member of one of the most phenomenal boy-bands from Korea, BIGBANG, is the subject of everyone’s interest. If you’ve ever caught the K-pop fever, then you’ve undoubtedly heard about him. Apart from being a part of the biggest and most loved boy bands in Asia and the world, the cute young man is also married to his sweetheart Min Hyo-rin who he started dating in 2013.

Mainly influenced by American musicians, especially Michael Jackson, whom he was introduced to by his brother, Taeyang has developed his style based mostly on soul and R&B genres. Taeyang is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and dancer, but he isn’t just an artistic person. He has a very good insight into how business deals work and has landed major endorsement deals from global brands such as automaker Lexus and Italian fashion house Fendi, among others.

This article delves into the early life and career of this music phenom, answering the question who is Taeyang the South Korean musician? Also, details about his body features are included for your reading pleasure.

Who Is Taeyang The South Korean Musician?

Taeyang was born on the 18th of May, 1988, in Uijeongbu, which is located in South Korea. At birth, his given name was Dong Yong-bae. He comes from a middle-class family and experienced financial problems while growing up. There isn’t much to tell concerning his family as the information is not available. At a very young age, Taeyang had to start working to support his family. This, however, did not derail him from his musical talents.

Taeyang started by listening to classical music by artistes like Franz Peter Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven at a very young age, learning to play the piano after listening to the latter. He auditioned and won the part of “mini Sean” in Jinusean’s music video A-yo, where he was introduced to and became fascinated with hip-hop music. This was his first major foray into the world of music. In order to pursue his goal of becoming a singer, Taeyang met and begged Yang Hyun-suk, the CEO of the record label YG Entertainment, to give him a chance as a singer. His pleas were granted and the record label accepted him as a trainee.

Taeyang was tasked with providing drinks to the senior artists and dance groups, as well as cleaning the studio as a trainee. He later admitted to being treated badly by the senior artists during that time and not getting any help from them. The label later paired him up with Kwon Ji-Yong, who is now popularly known by his stage name G-Dragon, as a hip-hop duo. Daesung, Seungri, and TOP then joined the group to become what we now know as BIGBANG.

Taeyang’s focus on singing was what helped the group to win fans and push them as a commercial success to their record label. Taeyang has released 8 albums both in Japanese and his native language, Korean. His first solo album, Solar was the first K-Pop music album to be sold worldwide on Apple’s music platform, iTunes. His impressive singing career has garnered him multiple awards from various organizations like the Korean Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and the Korea Popular Culture and Arts Award. Taeyang has also sold an estimated 10 million records.

What Is His Height?

Being a celebrity has its problems but when you’re a part of one of the biggest boy band in Korea and Japan, those problems can quickly become monstrosities. One of such challenges that have always reared up its head time and again is the issue of how tall Taeyang and the rest of BIGBANG are. While officially, the registered height of Taeyang is given as 173cm, rumors persist that the info is wrong for various reasons.

The first reason is the fact that most celebrities in South Korea wear insoles which are shoe lifts that can increase your height by at least 3 inches. Due to this reason, it’s possible to see how information about the height of Taeyang could be incorrect. The second reason is thanks to a picture taken in 2013 which presented Taeyang as the shortest member of BIGBANG. Immediately after this, there were pictures released showing Taeyang standing with members of BIGBANG without shoes. In the pictures Taeyang appeared, if not taller, then almost the same height as the rest of his teammates.

However, while both arguments appear to have their strong points, Taeyang’s official height remains 173 cm or 5 feet 7 inches.