Park Jae-Sang is probably the most fun and craziest performer ever seen. Better known as PSY, this South Korean singer and rapper created “Gangnam Style,” the world's very first video to have more than one billion views on YouTube.
Psy was born on 31 December 1977 in the Gangnam district in Seoul, South Korea. His father was an executive chairman and mother, a multi-restaurant owner. In school, psy was known as the class clown.
He dropped out of Boston University and Berklee College of music and came back home to start his music career. He got his first chance of being on a TV show in 2000 where he showed his weirdness. And his weirdness like a magic wand! That’s what caught the eye of a producer who led him to join a label and make his debut album “Psy from the Psycho World.”
His first title track was ‘Bird’ and which made Psy known for having controversial lyrics. He was simply more open-minded and didn’t hold back his opinion. That, along with his unique personality and dance moves, gave him the name “bizarre singer”. Korea hasn’t seen anyone like him before. The release of his next album “Sa 2” also created controversy and it was banned in 2002 from being sold to the under-19 set.
He is a natural-born entertainer. From class clown to a superstar.
In September of 2002, Psy released his third album “3 Psy.” The album's title song, "Champion", saw great success due to the hype from the World Cup games held in Seoul. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding his music, Psy was awarded songwriting accolades at the annual Seoul Music Awards, marking his breakthrough in the K-pop music industry.
In 2003 it was time for Psy, and almost all Korean men of the 18 – 35 age group, to complete the mandatory military service. After the military training when he couldn’t find any new music, his wife encouraged him to ask his old friend for help. His friend was the head of YG entertainment, Young Han Suk, that that was a turning point.
The year 2012 was an explosive year for Psy and you might know the reason why. Yeah, ‘Gangnam Style’. Psy was an overnight superstar. In 2014, a spokesperson told the magazine NME, “We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than 32-bit integer, but that was before we met Psy.” After Gangnam Style, he did ‘Gentlemen’, ‘Daddy’, ‘Hangover’ and his last song ‘New Face.’ And today at the age of 42, he has his own label “P nation” with a net worth of $60 million.
He did something no other K-pop act has done. Won an American award, topped worldwide charts, brought K-pop to the mainstream for the first time and for the first time music had had an Asian artiste loved by people even if they didn’t know what he was saying!
He is a natural-born entertainer. From class clown to a superstar.