Park Ji-min
Park Ji-min (Hangul: 박지민, born July 5, 1997), otherwise known as Jimin Park or Jamie Park, is a South Korean singer, rapper and television host. She is a member of K-pop girl duo 15&. She is from Daejeon and known as the winner of SBS's K-pop Star Season 1. Jimin made her debut solo with the release of "Hopeless Love" on April 4, 2015
Native name: 박지민
Birth name: Park Ji-min
Also known as : *Jimin Park
*Jamie Park
*Baby J
*Queen J
Born: July 5, 1997 (age 18)
Busan, South Korea
Origin: Seoul, South Korea
Genres: K-pop Ballad R&B
Occupation(s): Singer Rapper Presenter
Years active: 2012–present
Labels: JYP Entertainment
Associated acts: 15& JYP Nation
Biography
Park Ji-min was born on July 5, 1997 in Daejeon. She lived in Thailand for seven years and went to an international school where she was known as Jamie. Her family currently lives in Seoul. Ji-min speaks Korean (her native language), fluent English, and basic Thai. She was a contestant on the popular talent show, K-pop Star on which the judges were the "Big Three" (SM, YG, JYP). She is currently a senior at the Hanlim School of Performing Arts alongside group member Baek Yerin.
Career
K-pop Star
In 2012, Park Ji-min became the first winner of the South Korean reality TV competition, K-pop Star. After winning, she was awarded with the opportunity of signing with YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment or JYP Entertainment. On May 21, it was reported by SBS that she had chosen to sign with JYP Entertainment. Later, it was revealed that Baek Ah Yeon and Park Jae Hyung decided to sign a contract with JYP Entertainment. As promised, Park Ji-min and Lee Ha-yi each received a brand new Hyundai i40 and i30 as the winner and runner-up of K-Pop Star. In addition, Park Ji-min also received 300 million won (~$257,400 USD), was cast in a drama, and was also given an opportunity to sign a contract as a CF model.
On August 24–26, Ji-min, along with runner-up K-pop Star, Lee Ha-yi, were invited as guest performer for the 'Samsung Galaxy S3 and Smart Air Condition Q – All That Skate 2012' event that took place at the Gymnastics Stadium in the Seoul Olympic Park. For the event, the girls are reunited to take the finale stage, singing Rihanna‘s 'We Found Love' complemented with the on-ice performances of Alexei Yagudin, Joannie Rochette, Stéphane Lambiel, Patrick Chan, Brian Joubert, and other world-renowned skaters.
15&
Main article: 15&
On September 19, 2012, Ji-min announced that she will debut as part of a duo along with Baek Yerin. On October 5, 15&'s first music video "I Dream" was released on YouTube. On October 7, they debuted stage with "I Dream" on Inkigayo
Solo debut
On March 31, 2015, J.Y. Park announced via Twitter that Ji-min would be making her debut as a solo artist, and that her debut stage would be held on the popular singing show K-Pop Star 4. Her teaser images were released later that day, along with the name of the title track, "Hopeless Love". The teaser pictures also revealed that she would be going by the name "Jimin Park", rather than "Park Ji-min", for her solo debut
Other activities
On May 19, 2015 producer group Sweet Tune revealed that Ji-min and Eric Nam would release a duet called "Dream" for Charity Project. The song was released on May 28, 2015.
On August 14, 2015, Ji-min announced a project group she had formed with Seungyoun of UNIQ and rapper Nathan. Their group name was later revealed to be M.O.L.A (Make Our Life Awesome), and they released their first track "My Way" on August 20. Their second song "Trick or Treat" was released on October 31, where Ji-min made her second recorded comeback as a rapper.
Charity work
In October 2012, Ji-min donated 50 million won (~$45,000 USD) to Hanbit Performing Arts Company for blind musicians. She became interested in the program after meeting with fellow K-pop Star contestant Kim Soo Hwan, who currently attends the Hanbit Performing Arts Company. Park Ji-min shared, “The Hanbit Performing Arts Company hosts young, elementary school students as well as professional performers. Although they are blind, they are musicians who are performing with amazing talent. I want to be at least a small help to those who have the same love for music that I have.” She also donated 50 million won (~$45,000 USD) to World Vision.
On May 28, 2015, Ji-min collaborated with singer Eric Nam for their song, "Dream", produced by Sweetune. They revealed all profit made from the song would be donated to charity.