JYJ Members Biodata And Profile

JYJ (formerly known as Junsu/Yuchun/Jejung in Japan) is a South Korean pop group formed in 2010 by Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu, the three former members of TVXQ. Their group name is taken from the initial letters of each member's names. The trio are managed by C-JeS Entertainment. In April 2010, they released their debut record, the Japanese EP The..., which topped the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart. Their subsequent releases, including their global debut album, The Beginning (2010) and their second studio album and first Korean full-length album, In Heaven (2011), all debuted at number one on the Korean Gaon Album Chart. JYJ is the first K-pop group to perform in Chile and Peru.

2010: Debut as JYJ, Japan tour and The Beginning

The three-member group was announced in April 2010 by Rhythm Zone, a sub-label of Avex. The group performed two rounds of lives: the four-day Thanksgiving Live in Dome concerts at Osaka Dome and Tokyo Dome in June, and performances at the nationwide a-nation tour throughout August. The group's debut release, The..., was released in September 2010, and debuted at number one on Oricon albums charts with 240,000 copies sold in the first week. The DVD for their Thanksgiving Live in Dome concerts sold 116,000 copies the first week after being released. Both the album and DVD debuted at № 1 on Oricon's DVD and album chart in the same week.

In September 2010, Avex Entertainment announced plans to suspend all of JYJ's Japanese activities. Avex claimed this stemmed from issues the label had with the president of the group's Korean management, C-JeS Entertainment. JYJ stated it was a conflict over new terms demanded by Avex in contract renegotiation. The group released their English-language global debut album under Warner Music Asia, The Beginning, on October 12, with the Kanye West-produced single "Ayyy Girl" as lead track. Two weeks before the release of the album, 500,000 copies of The Beginning had been pre-ordered and pre-sales for the 99,999 copies of the special edition of the album reached 400,000 requests. JYJ promoted the new album via a worldwide showcase tour throughout October and November with dates in South Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States. On November 27 and 28, they launched JYJ Worldwide Concert in Seoul, a two-day concert that was held at Seoul's Jamsil Olympic Stadium with a total seating of 100,000 (50,000 for each show). It was directed by the American concert producer Jeri Slaughter.

In spite of a ban in the Entertainment Departments of South Korea's three main terrestrial broadcasters, JYJ had their first public broadcast performance on December 31, 2010, at the 2010 KBS Drama Awards. They sang 찾았다 “Found You” – a ballad track from the drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal which starred member Yoochun.

2011: In Heaven and first Worldwide Tour

The lead track of JYJ's first Korean album In Heaven, written and composed by member Jaejoong. Problems playing this file? See media help.

JYJ in Barcelona in 2011

JYJ released their Korean EP, Their Rooms "Our Story" on January 25, 2011 in the format of a "music essay." Despite the majority of sales being counted in the books rather than CD category, the album sold well enough to chart on Hanteo. In the spring of 2011, JYJ launched their first Worldwide Tour as a group with concerts held in Thailand, Taiwan, China, Canada, and the United States. In addition, JYJ held two rounds of a special charity concert in Tokyo to benefit those affected by the Tōhoku earthquake. They also held two special concert performances in South Korea.

In September, JYJ released their first Korean studio album entitled In Heaven. There were over 300,000 pre-orders on the first day of advance sales alone. The album sold 165,000 copies within 3 days of being released and reached 220,000 copies sales in October according to Gaon Chart. JYJ held their "Unforgettable Live Concert in Japan" on October 15 and October 16 with over 84,000 in attendance. They were praised for the choice to hold these concerts in Ibaraki Prefecture, a region hit hard economically by the earthquake.

JYJ extended their World Tour by adding performance dates in Barcelona, Spain on October 29 and in Berlin, Germany on November 6. Rafa Mendez directed the choreography and stage set-up of their European concerts. Also, JYJ was invited to appear at the Salon Del Manga convention earlier on the day before the start their Barcelona concert. JYJ released Come On Over, a DVD documentary about the 3 members’ private lives, at the end of 2011. The footage was filmed from late December 2010 to February 2011, following each individual member's lives for a number of days. Some scenes included: a birthday party, a snowboarding venture, the rehearsal for a musical, and behind-the-scenes look of one of JYJ's fanmeets for their endorsements.

2012-2014: Documentary film and fan events, Just Us

In January 2012, C-JeS announced two more concert dates to be held in Santiago, Chile on March 9 and in Lima, Peru on March 11. Their South American leg would be the final stops for JYJ's first worldwide Tour. On 23 February 2012, JYJ released a 90-minute film titled The Day in South Korea. It was a documentary film featuring their daily lives and dreams, and was screened for 4 days at Lotte Cinema‘s 17 major chain theatres across the country, drawing 24,000 fans.

JYJ in 2014 Asian Games opening ceremony

In June 2012, JYJ held the first ever large-scale international fan fair in South Korea. The "2012 JYJ Membership Week" was put together specifically as a gift for their fans, and fully funded by the members themselves in spite of numerous sponsorship offers. It was held for 4 days— from June 28 to July 1—at SETEC (Seoul Trade Exhibition & Conventions) at Hak Yeo Ul station and cost an estimated KRW 3.7 billion. The membership week included photographic and video-based exhibitions of the group, theatre screenings of The Day as well as two sets of fan meetings that invited over 15,000 Korean fans and 7,000 Japanese fans. The huge influx of foreigners was the largest for a single event, and generated great economic benefits for South Korea. JYJ's representative C-JeS Entertainment has announced that this Membership Week event will be held annually.

In August 2012, JYJ released Mahalo, a premiere collection photobook with over 200 pages taken during their trip to Hawaii in December 2011. On 25 February 2013, JYJ performed a medley of hit songs from the '90s as well as their own songs at the 18th South Korean Presidential Inauguration Ceremony for the country's first female president Park Geun-hye, in front of an audience of 70,000 people. At the same time C-JeS Entertainment announced that the band would be able to perform at Tokyo Dome in Japan after a four-year hiatus due to their lawsuit with Avex Group. The band held a 3-day concert series titled "The Return of the JYJ" from April 2 to 4. As all 150,000 tickets were sold out, footage was released to 118 theatres across Japan in order to accommodate fans unable to obtain tickets for the concerts.

In July 2014 the band released their first studio album in three years, Just Us. The band reached the music charts with the song, "Back Seat".

Lawsuits against SM Entertainment & Avex

In mid-2009, Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu (then-members of group TVXQ) filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment, arguing that the 13-year length and structure of their exclusive contracts as well as the terms of profit distribution were unilaterally disadvantageous towards the artists and should be invalidated. The Seoul Central District Court in October 2009 ruled in their favor affirming their right to independently engage in entertainment activities and granted them injunction suspending the SM contracts; its ruling emphatically pointed out it was a "subjugating contract" with terms that are grossly incompatible with Korean labor and contract law. The three members of JYJ continued their activities in Japan for over half a year after the filing of the injunction until their Japanese agency, Avex, unilaterally suspended their activities in 2010 and gave its support to the remaining two members of the original group. JYJ then filed an injunction to terminate their exclusive contract with Avex.

On 17 February 2011, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed SM Entertainment's injunction against the three members, filed in April 2010 for damage compensation. In September 2012, the final decision on the case was postponed indefinitely by Seoul Central District Court for mediation under the justice department. On 28 November 2012, during a voluntary arbitration at the Seoul Central District Court, SM Entertainment and JYJ reached a mutual agreement to terminate all contracts between the two parties and not to interfere with each other's activities in the future. This concluded the three years and four months long exclusive contract lawsuit in Korea.

On 18 January 2013, Tokyo District Court ruled against Avex in their claims of an exclusive contract in the management of JYJ in Japan and ordered Avex to pay 660 million yen as damages to JYJ’s Korean management company C-JeS Entertainment and 1 million yen as damages to the representative of C-JeS for defamation charges. Avex has filed for an appeal. On 16 February 2014, C-JeS Entertainment and AVEX's long legal battle has been resolved. C-JeS Entertainment wrote on their official homepage, "C-JeS (JYJ) and AVEX has agreed to end all the legal battles we have had. C-JeS (JYJ) and AVEX will no longer meddle in each other's affairs.- Wikipedia