Hyosung's bio

Jeon Hyosung often simply known as Hyosung, is a South Korean idol singer and dancer. She is best known as the leader of a popular South Korean girl group, Secret.

In 2005, she became a finalist on Mnet's "Battle Shinhwa" which led to her signing a recording contract with Good Entertainment. In 2007, she was set to debut in the group 'Five Girls' along with G.NA, Wonder Girls's Yubin, After School's UEE and a former T-ara member and current Spica member Yang Jiwon. Unfortunately, the group disbanded before they were able debut due to the company's financial problems. She was later discovered by TS Entertainment through a show that was aired on SBS MTV, called "Diary of Five Girls" and spent two years in the company as a trainee. In 2009, she debuted in a four member girl group called Secret along with Song Jieun, Han Sunhwa and Jung Hana.

Life and career
1989–2004:Early life and childhood

Jeon Hyosung was born in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea on October 13, 1989. Hyosung's name was derived from the word 유성 which is Korean for meteor, due to her father and maternal grandmother seeing a shooting star on the day of her birth. Because Hyosung's family struggled financially, she and her family earned extra money by delivering newspapers every morning since she was in 3rd grade. Ever since she was young, she was known amongst her friends for her singing and dancing skills. However, she never had thoughts about actually becoming a singer until she was in 6th grade. She admitted, "I liked performing for others since I was little. I danced things to songs like Fin.K.L and S.E.S. at my friends' birthday parties. In 6th grade, I decided that I really wanted to become a singer, and all of my friends helped me try to make that dream come true." In middle school, she was the leader of her school's dance club and worked part time jobs to earn the money to travel Seoul for auditions. Her parents were against her choice at first but later supported her decision when they saw how dedicated she was towards her goal.

2005–2008: Career beginnings, Five Girls and personal struggles

In 2005, Hyosung began to audition for several talent shows hosted in Cheongju and Seoul but was met with failure. The same management company that Hyosung had auditioned for at Cheongju held another audition in May 2005. This time Hyosung had made it through to the final round. Hyosung danced BoA's Valenti at her final audition because, "although many people danced to BoA, no one had done the Valenti dance". Thanks to her song choice, the management company took notice of Hyosung and she went on to win that talent show. She was then advised by an agent of Good Entertainment to audition for Mnet's "Battle Shinhwa". However, she initially hesitated because she was not sure if she was ready to come out on TV, and was worried about her school attendance.

Hyosung managed to make it to the final 12, out of which only 3 were girls. She expressed, "I changed a lot during 'Battle Shinhwa.' I could never let myself relax. Why? Because I had to survive. I didn't have time to relax. All my friends told me I was being so intense." She went on to add, "It was so hard both physically and mentally because I had to do it while attending school. I left school early often during those 6 months. But my teacher really helped me a lot. I felt so bad for my teacher and my friends, but I didn't want to give up either school or Battle Shinhwa. But honestly, I did pretty well during that time in school."

She was picked as the final 6 and later went on to sign a recording contract with Good Entertainment. She signed officially in 2006 and started to live in the dorms with Yoobin and Uee as a trainee and began to school in Seoul. Good Entertainment had initially intended for Hyosung to debut in a three member group, along with Yoobin and Uee, but ended up adding G.NA and Jiwon. They were set to debut as a five member group called "Five Girls". In 2007, before their official debut, the group starred in a reality show on MTV called "Diary of Five Girls". Unfortunately Five Girls never got to debut due to their company's financial issues.

"I had about $30 for a month during my dorm life. But it didn't matter, because I could walk to school, so I only needed the money for bus fare to get to lessons. The company fed us, so that was no problem." However, when she got to 12th grade without any progress, she said, "I realized I couldn't just waste my time, so I started to prepare for college and started working at a part time job. A lot of people asked me when I was going to debut, but it wasn't as if I could do anything about it. I was happy that Yoobin debuted as a Wonder Girls member, but it made me wonder what I was doing." —Hyosung, on her struggles after the disbandment of Five Girls.

In 2008, after the disbandment, she started working at a part time job and managed to earn enough money to attend college at Inha University. But her college life was short lived. "Only Uee and I were left in the company. I thought I really had to work hard, so I decided to leave school and focus on lessons." However, she was faced with a larger obstacle in her way. During 11th grade, her father had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but had recovered after treatment. Her father was still weak when he decided to go back to work to support his family, and unfortunately the cancer came back, this time much more aggressive. The doctors told Hyosung's family to "be ready". Her father died of lung cancer in 2008. At this point Hyosung was no longer a trainee in Good Entertainment and decided to start attending college again. However, her plans changed when a TS Entertainment agent contacted her.
2009–present: Secret and rising popularity

In 2008, a TS Entertainment agent had seen Hyosung in "Diary of Five Girls" and contacted her to audition for their company. Hyosung passed the audition and began living as a trainee in TS Entertainment. TS Entertainment announced that they will be debuting a four member girl group in October 2009. Hyosung, along with Han Sunhwa, Song Jieun and Jung Hana, debuted as the group, Secret. Prior to their debut, the group was on a documentary show called "Secret Story" which chronicled their debut process. They released their debut single "I Want You Back" in October 2009.

In April 2010, Secret released their first mini album entitled Secret Time which spawned them the hit single "Magic" and served as their breakthrough song in South Korea. In August 2010, they released their second mini album entitled "Madonna" and the title track continued their success as it topped the Gaon Single Charts.

In January 2011, the group deviated from their "sexy" and "sassy" image and released Shy Boy, a "cutesy" and retro inspired song. Although they were worried with the 180 degrees transformation, the single exceeded their expectations as the song was a huge success. Shy Boy charted strongly in digital charts and Secret won their first trophy on music shows with the song. They won a total of 5 trophies in various music shows with Shy Boy. In March 2011, Hyosung was chosen as a regular cast on KBS's Oh! My School. Secret continued their success with the release of their second CD single entitled "Starlight Moonlight". The title track became another hit for Secret as the song reached number one on the Gaon Monthly Singles Charts and won them another trophy in SBS's Inkigayo.

The same year, Secret began a foray of Japanese activities with the release of Madonna and Shy Boy (EP). The Japanese remake of "Madonna" debuted at number nine in the Oricon singles charts. Secret was one of the first three Korean girl groups to debut on the Oricon chart in the top 10, the others being Kara and Girls Generation being the first and second respectively. In October 2011, released their first studio album entitled "Moving in Secret" and spawned them another hit with the lead single "Love is Move. Secret released their first mini album in Japan entitled Shy Boy (EP). The mini album debuted also at number nine on the Oricon album charts.

On November 23, 2011 Hyosung was injured falling down the stairs while leaving the dorm. The accident ruptured the cartilage in her left knee and fractured the top of her right foot which halted her promotions with Secret at that time.

In February 2012, she played Soo Yeon in the sitcom Salamander Guru and The Shadows aired on SBS.

Personal life

Hyosung is the middle child out of three sisters. According to Hyosung, her two sisters were born at home but she was born at a hospital. Since they were young, their family struggled financially and they worked together making newspaper deliveries. Her father was a construction worker.

Artistry and influences

Hyosung has said from childhood that she has been influenced by pop and R&B groups such as Fin.K.L and S.E.S. She was also influenced by South Korean ballad singers such as Kim Bum-soo, Sung Si-kyung and Kim Yeon-woo. Hyosung said that she was influenced by the American singer Beyonce particularly when it came to dancing. She also stated that Beyonce is one of her music idols. TS Entertainment uploaded a video of Hyosung performing a cover of Beyonce's Naughty Girl and Crazy in Love in Secret's 1st Japan Tour in March 2012. Because of her work with Secret, she portrays a mix of cute and sexy image through their songs such as "Shy Boy" and "Madonna".

Endorsements and other activities

Along with Secret, Hyosung has been featured as a model for various endorsement deal such as Grand Mer(Online Fising Game), Nike, Nene Chicken, Good Day Soju and Parkga among others. Along with Han Sunhwa, Kim Himchan and Bang Yong Guk, Hyosung was chosen as a model for KELLAN sportswear 11/12 Winter Collection in September 2011. In December 2010, Secret and the Korean Non-Life Insurance Association (KNIA) teamed up to film a Commercial Film in a Kangnam studio to share their message of concern against drunk driving. With Secret, they were also appointed as ambassadors in campaigns and events such as The Seoul Competition Movie Content 'Streamed Seoul 2009' Goodwill Ambassador(2009), The 18th National Women's Soccer Tournament ambassador(2010), The Eco-Project environmental campaign 'URBAN FARM'(2010), The 8th International Paralympic Skills Competition(2010) and others. In December 2011, Secret were appointed as PR
ambassadors for the ‘Korea Consumers Forum’. close