Kang Daniel

The South Korean singer Kang Daniel was born Kang Eui-geon on December 10, 1996 in Busan, South Korea. He rose to prominence as the winner of the second series of the prestigious TV reality talent show Produce 101. The group he became a part of as a result of winning the final episode were called Wanna One, an eleven-piece boyband who, after debuting in August 2017, disbanded at the end of 2018. Like many K-pop bands, Wanna One were judged on their endorsement deals as much as their music and in this respect, the group excelled, ranked number two on the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list in 2018. Kang Daniel was particularly successful in exploiting his commercial appeal and when the band split this led to a legal battle whilst he fought to be released from his exclusive contract arrangement with the powerful South Korean management company LM Entertainment. Kang Daniel was successful in his legal wrangles and in early 2019, launched his solo career with the release of his debut EP Color On Me and simultaneously set a Guinness World Record for the fastest recorded time to accrue over one million followers on Instagram in just over eleven hours. He went on to earn many more accolades, notably picking up several Asia Artist Awards over successive years, including the Best Musician Award two years in a row (2020 and 2021). Released in 2022, his debut full-length The Story was met with critical acclaim, hitting the number two spot on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart and making way for a November repackaged release of the album, titled The Story: Retold. Also in 2022, Kang Daniel made history as the first K-pop male solo artist to perform on The Kelly Clarkson Show. A new EP, RE8EL, saw the light in 2023. Earlier in May 2024, Kang Daniel's legal representative, filed a criminal complaint against the major shareholder of KONNECT Entertainment for various charges including counterfeit of private documents, embezzlement, breach of trust, and fraud. It was later reported that his contract with KONNECT Entertainment will be ending in June and he is not expected to renew, following the closure of the agency in early June after five years. In July, it was announced that Kang Daniel signed an exclusive contract with ARA, a new entertainment company founded by a former KONNECT executive with prior experience at YG Entertainment and BigHit Music. His first comeback under his new agency came on September 23 with his fifth mini album, Act.

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