B.I.G : Hard working GUNMIN

GUNMIN of B.I.G (for BOYS IN GROOVE) blows today his 27 candles. Get to know this key member of B.I.G better for this special day.

GUNMIN, whose full name is LEE GUNMIN, is a member of the k-pop group B.I.G from GH ENTERTAINMENT agency. He was born on October 3, 1994 in Gangwon province in the northeast of South-Korea, but quickly moved to Gwangju city in the southwest. His musical vocation emerged in high school while watching the Korean TV show “X Men“. He explains in an interview:

“At the beginning, rather than doing music I wanted to go on variety shows like “X-Men”. In this program there are many singers. Therefore I enrolled in a school to learn singing and dancing”

GUNMIN for KWorld magazine

In 2014, GUNMIN is revealed to the public for the first time through a teaser for the debut of his group B.I.G. In this teaser, GUNMIN demonstrates sophisticated and mastered dance movements giving him the position of B.I.G‘s “lead dancer”.

GUNMIN a passionate dancer

If GUNMIN is described as the lead dancer in B.I.G, he deserves this title well. As a matter of fact, GUNMIN actively participates in his group’ s choreographies creation. Titles like “Are you ready” and “1.2.3” were entirely choreographed by him.

The singer also opened in 2019 a YouTube channel where he choreographed songs by American singers, such as “Intention” by JUSTIN BIEBER.

Activities outside B.I.G

After his B.I.G debuts in 2014, GUNMIN and HEEDO, another B.I.G member, have been receiving a lot of attention from fans. This leads their agency, GH ENTERTAINMENT, to create a sub-unit of B.I.G, called GUNMIN X HEEDO. In 2017, this duet releases a first song “Vanilla sky” written and composed by HEEDO and choreographed by GUNMIN.

The duet GUNMIN X HEEDO pursues his activities in 2017 by participating in the TV program The Unit. This survival-type show makes compete 500 idols who have already made their debuts but have not been as successful as expected. During this show GUNMIN impressed the audience, especially with his performance of EXO‘s song “Monster“, for which he was the “center” of the group.

However, his 33rd place ranking will not allow him to reach the final and he will be disqualified. B.I.G‘s fans criticised his elimination and The Unit‘s ranking system a lot. Indeed, GUNMIN didn’t receive any spotlight for his work, nor did he get much screen time despite having created choreographies for the show.

Yet GUNMIN releases shortly afterwards with HEEDO a second song for the duet GUNMIN X HEEDO: “Don’t worry“. The comeback’s sweet melody and encouraging lyrics earned the duo GUNMIN X HEEDO invitations to numerous university festivals in spring-summer 2018.

Quadrilingual GUNMIN

Since the beginning of B.I.G, the group has toured Japan regularly. Being one of the most comfortable B.I.G members with languages, GUNMIN learns Japanese quickly.
Early 2019 after the release of a cover of the Arabic song La Bezzaf B.I.G receives a disconcerting attention. GUNMIN and the other members of B.I.G start taking Arabic lessons, and the group accumulates views with each new Arabic cover released.
In 2019, every Monday GUNMIN joins the English radio station Arirang alongside BENJI for the “King of the idol” program. Eager to communicate with his fans, GUNMIN works hard on his English and his progress can be seen show after show.

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New debuts

At the end of 2019, GUNMIN and HEEDO join a Japanese survival show called G-EGG. Thanks to his previous experience in the show The Unit and the support of his fans, GUNMIN won the show’s first place, which allowed him to debut in the Japanese-Korean band NIK in September 2020.

Over the years, GUNMIN has won the hearts of many fans with his passion and hard work. He tries his best to communicate with his fans and to please them by learning different languages, and regularly posting photos or videos on his instagram or tiktok. We wish him a happy birthday and all the best for the future.