Danny Ahn

Danny Ahn (Hangul: 데니안; born December 22, 1978) is a South Korean entertainer best known as the main rapper of the South Korean pop music group g.o.d. He is notable for his unique rapping.[4] Having made his debut in the entertainment industry as a member of g.o.d in 1999, Ahn has gone into acting and has also been a radio DJ and MC.

Danny Ahn
Ahn Shin-won[1][2]
Born	December 22, 1978 Seattle, Washington, United States
Education	Dankook University
Occupation	Actor, singer, rapper, radio DJ, host
Agent	Sidus HQ Cuz-9 Entertainment[3]
Musical career
Genres	K-pop R&B
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Sidus HQ Cuz-9
Associated acts	g.o.d JYP Nation
Korean name
Hangul	안신원
Hanja	安信源
Revised Romanization	An Sin-won
McCune–Reischauer	An Sinwŏn

Early life

Ahn was born in Seattle, Washington and holds American citizenship,[5][6] although he later moved to South Korea with his family and spent most of his schooling years there.[7] He and g.o.d bandmate Joon Park are first cousins; Ahn's father is the youngest sibling of Joon's mother.[7] When he was in elementary school his parents divorced and he and his older sister went to live with their mother.[8][9] As a teenager, he began aspiring to become a singer after listening to Seo Taiji and Boys.[10] He studied Theater and Film at Dankook University.[11]

Career

Beginnings

Ahn's professional career began with his debut in the K-pop industry as a rapper for singer Uhm Jung-hwa. He was also part of a mixed-gender project group along with his friend Son Ho-young, Shoo and Kim Hwan-sung but it fell through; Kim was later recruited as the final member of NRG and Shoo joined S.M. Entertainment where she would debut as part of girl group S.E.S..[12]

In 1997 Ahn was recruited by his cousin Joon for a project group he was forming. Between 1997 and 1998, Son, Yoon Kye-sang and Kim Sun-a were recruited through auditions while Park Jin-young joined the group as their producer and mentor.[13] However, Kim Sun-a left to pursue acting and was replaced with Kim Tae-woo, then still a high school student.[14] The group eventually became a five-man boy band and named g.o.d, short for "Groove Over Dose".

1999–2005: Success with g.o.d

After a lukewarm response to their debut performance in January 1999, the group went on the become one of the most popular K-pop groups in the 2000s. He gained attention for his unique rapping style and occasionally composed his own rap lyrics.[15] The group later switched from SidusHQ to JYP Entertainment, with two members switching agencies while Ahn and Yoon renewed their individual contracts at SidusHQ.[16] In 2004, Yoon left the group and g.o.d continued as a quartet until December 2005.

2006–2013: Solo activities and projects

Ahn ventured into the radio industry prior to g.o.d going on hiatus in late December 2005.[17] He became as a radio DJ on KBS Cool FM and was the first host of Kiss the Radio before taking over Lee Soo-young as host of the long-running afternoon program Music Show (ko).[18][19][20][21] Due to his popularity as host of Music Show, he was invited back to be a guest DJ for the "Homecoming Day" special in 2015, in honor of KBS Cool FM's 50th anniversary.[22]

Ahn released his solo single album on May 28, 2007 "If It Were A Dream", which featured a cappella group Sweet Sorrow. He has since largely done guest vocals for other artists such as Rain, his bandmate Kim Tae-woo, SG Wannabe and Kim Dong-wan of fellow first-generation group Shinhwa. Alongside his music career, Ahn also took roles in TV shows and films. In 2008, he appeared in Crazy Waiting, also known as The Longest 24 Months.[23] He appeared as Baek-ho in the KBS drama, The Slave Hunters. He appeared in KBS Let's Go Dream Team! Season 2, and was the leader of the team. He also appeared as Manager Baek Nam-jung in The Fugitive: Plan B alongside Rain, Lee Jung-jin, Daniel Henney and Lee Na-young, and in The Innocent Man with Song Joong-ki and Moon Chae-won. He was a permanent guest on SBS's talk show Strong Heart.

Despite g.o.d going on hiatus, Ahn has reunited with his bandmates several times for collaborations. Ahn, Son Ho-young and Park Joon-hyung were featured in the song "Memories and Remembrance" (기억과추억), from Kim Tae-woo's mini album T-Virus. He also joined Kim and Son to perform their hit song "Lies" on the Music Bank special celebrating 600 episodes[24] and at the 2012 Korean Music Festival in Los Angeles.

In May 2012, Ahn starred opposite Dave K. Wong as Gye Dong-hee, a friend to Ryu's Seung-hyuk in Channel A's Goodbye Dear Wife.[25] He served as a commentator/host on We Got Married along with Lee Ji-hye, with hosts Park Mi-sun and Kim Jung-min before leaving the show on May 31, 2014.[26] In 2013 he joined Top Gear Korea to host the fourth season.[27]

Ahn was part of a project "group" called HOTSechgodRG, which comprises himself and four other members of first-generation idol groups who were born in the same year - 1978. The group was first conceived after former H.O.T member Moon Hee-joon invited Ahn, Tony An (H.O.T), Eun Ji-won (Sechs Kies) and Chun Myung-hoon (NRG) to create a reality show version of the television series Reply 1997 in which they would meet up at a rented house to chat and reflect on their heyday.[28] The show was called Handsome Boys of the 20th Century (20세기 미소년) and also featured special guests, mainly their former bandmates and contemporaries. The group has also launched a music video and performed on Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend.[29][30] The following year, in 2014, they starred in Where is My Superhero? on OnStyle. Due to busy schedules and the reuniting of g.o.d and Eun's group Sechs Kies, the group had not been able to meet up as often but remain close friends.

2014–present: g.o.d reunion and other activities

Ahn's contract with his previous agency SidusHQ expired, and he signed with Box Media in March 2014.[31] He reunited with his g.o.d bandmates to prepare for their eighth album to celebrate the fifteen anniversary of their debut. He was personally involved in the composition of several songs, especially the rap. Following the release of the album in July, the group embarked on a nationwide concert tour.

Ahn starred in the SBS drama Witch's Castle, in which he portrayed the antagonist.[32] His appearances on television are largely on variety shows such as Infinite Challenge, Fantastic Duo,[33] King of Mask Singer and The Friends in Chiang Mai. He reunited with HOTSechgodRG members Chun Myung-hoon and Tony An on Eun Ji-won's new travel reality show Plan Man.[34] The group, except Eun, most recently met up at Moon Hee-joon's bachelor party, part of which was shown on Mom's Diary - My Ugly Duckling, the reality show Tony An was participating in.[35]

In July 2018 Ahn re-signed with former agency SidusHQ. He had joined New Able Entertainment in 2016 but it was acquired by SidusHQ and he was one of several artists who opted to transfer to SidusHQ.[36][37]

Personal life

Ahn has revealed that he has had a total of five girlfriends in the past, with two of them being celebrities.[38] Regarding his views on dating, Ahn has stated, "I won't publicly announce my relationship while I'm dating, but I'm going to confidently date her in public. But when I find someone that I really want to spend the rest of my life with, I'm going to make a public announcement."[39]

He has one older sister.[7]

Discography

Year	Song	Album
2007	If It Were A Dream (feat. Sweet Sorrow)	Solo Album - Digital Single

Soundtrack contributions

Date	Track	Title	Notes
2012	죽어도 넌 내 사랑 (Danny Ahn with Misty)	Goodbye Dear Wife OST
2014	"One Day" (하루만) (Son Ho-young feat. Danny Ahn)	Marriage, Not Dating OST	Featured artist[40]

As a featured artist

Year	Track	Album	Peak positions^1		Notes
			KOR Weekly	KOR Monthly
2002	"What's Love" (Rain feat. Danny, Lexy, Byul and JYP)	Bad Guy
2006	사랑했어요 (SG Wannabe feat. Danny Ahn)	The 3rd Masterpiece
2009	기억과 추억 (Kim Tae-woo feat. Park Joon-hyung, Danny Ahn and Son Ho-young)	T-Virus
2010	"I'm Sorry" (The Film feat. Danny Ahn)	2nd Episode	68	—	[41]
2011	크게 라디오를 켜고 (remake)[42] (The Koxx and KBS Cool FM DJs: Lee Hyun-woo, Choi Kang-hee, Danny Ahn, Leeteuk and Eunhyuk)	Non-album single
2015	"Memories" (Kim Bo-kyung feat. Danny Ahn)	0516
	"Hometown" (뽀레버막내) (Kim Tae-woo feat. Danny Ahn)	T-Road
	"My Friend"[43] (Kim Dong-wan feat. Danny Ahn)	D			[44]

Lyrics and composition

Year	Song	Artist	Album	Note
1999	"Say g.o.d"	g.o.d	Chapter 2	lyrics co-written with Park Jin-young, Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Son Ho-young and Kim Tae-woo
2000	"g.o.d Party"		Chapter 3
	"Sky Blue Balloon"
2001	"Sad Love"		Chapter 4	lyrics co-written with Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Son Ho-young and Kim Tae-woo
	"134-14"			lyrics and music co-written with Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Son Ho-young and Kim Tae-woo
2002	"Us"		Chapter 5: Letter	lyrics and music
	"What's Love"	Rain	Bad Guy	lyrics and music
2003	슬픈 이별 뒤로	Cha Tae-hyun	The Book	lyrics
2004	"Familiar Strangers"	g.o.d	An Ordinary Day	Music and arrangement
2014	"Sky Blue Promise"		Chapter 8	lyrics co-written with Duble Sidekick
	"Smile"
	"Stand Up"		lyrics co-written with Black Eyed Pilseung and Son Ho-young
	"I Like It"		lyrics co-written with Kiggen and Hanhae
	"The Lone Duckling"		rap lyrics co-written with Duble Sidekick
	"One Day" (하루만)	Son Ho-young ft. Danny Ahn	Marriage, Not Dating OST	rap lyrics[45] co-written with Kim Won and Jang Jung-woo
2015	뽀레버막내	Kim Tae-woo	T-Road	lyrics[46]
2016	"My Friend"	Kim Dong-wan	K	lyrics co-written with Song Yang-ha, Kim Dong-yeol and Brand Newjiq

Filmography

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Network
2006	Banjun Drama		SBS
2008	Innocent You	Kang Eun-hwan	SBS
2009	High Kick Through The Roof	Ahn Shin-won (cameo)	MBC
2010	The Slave Hunters	Baek-ho	KBS2
	The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry	Kim Bu-ki's ex-boyfriend (cameo)	MBC
	The Fugitive: Plan B	Baek Nam-jung	KBS2
2011	Real School!	(cameo)	MBC
	Lie to Me	Hyun Ki-joon's friend (cameo)	SBS
	When Women Powder Twice	Han Sun-woo	jTBC
2012	Goodbye Dear Wife	Gye Dong-hee	Channel A
	The Innocent Man	Kim Jung-hoon (cameo, episodes 2 and 15)	KBS2
2013	Fantasy Tower	Dal-soo	tvN
2014	12 Years Promise	Yoo Soo-han	jTBC
	Drama Special "Pitch Black"	Park Hyun-tae	KBS2
2015	Romance of 7 Days	Ahn Jun-seo[47]	CMB
	The Three Witches	Baek Eun-yong	SBS
2017	Bravo My Life	Audition judge[48]	SBS
	Justice Team 2[49][50]	Lee Dae-ho	Naver TV (web series)
2019	Level Up[51]	Park Gi-woo	MBN, Dramax

Film

Year	Title	Role
2008	Crazy Waiting	Seo Min-cheol
2011	Head	Kang Seung-wan

Variety shows

Year	Title	Network	Notes
2009–2010	Let's Go! Dream Team Season 2	KBS2	Regular cast; 25 episodes
2013	Handsome Boys of the 20th Century	QTV	Regular cast; 29 episodes
2014	Where Is My Superhero?[52]	OnStyle	Regular cast
2015	The Friends in Chiang Mai	K-Star	With Park Joon-hyung and Ryohei Otani
2017	Travel For Me[53]	Naver TV (web series)	With Ryu Seung-soo, Choi Philip and Park Gyu-ri

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
2015	"Lonely Funk"	Kim Tae-woo

Radio

Year	Name	Network
2004–2006	Danny Ahn's Kiss the Radio	KBS Cool FM
2011–2013[19]	Danny Ahn's Music Show (ko)[54]	KBS Cool FM

Awards

Year	Category	Work	Result
2004	KBS Entertainment Awards	Danny Ahn's Kiss the Radio	Won

References

1. "데니안 프로필" (in Korean). Naver.
2. "[단독] 데니안 1억5000만원 뜯어낸 자칭 "빚 해결사"". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). July 28, 2016.
3. "데니안, 신생 기획사 커즈나인엔터 전속계약(공식)". Daily Sports (in Korean). July 22, 2020.
4. "Danny Ahn (데니안, Korean actor, singer)". HanCinema.
5. "CNN.com - Interview with Korea's g.o.d - June 27, 2001". CNN.com. June 27, 2001.
6. "Episode 19". Handsome Boys of the 20th Century. October 1, 2013. QTV.
7. "Episode 389: The Bromance Special". Happy Together. Season 3. Episode 389. March 12, 2015. KBS2.
8. "데니안 "부모님 이혼 후, 온갖 아르바이트 다 해" 고백". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). February 12, 2013.
9. "Episode 16". Handsome Boys of the 20th Century. September 10, 2013. QTV.
10. "데니안, god·HOT·젝키·신화 한무대 공연 꿈꾸다". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). June 12, 2016.
11. "개교 65주년 기념 '캠퍼스 빅 콘서트' 개최" (in Korean). Dankook University. September 4, 2012.
12. "슈 "손호영-데니안과 혼성팀으로 데뷔할 뻔"". Korea Economic Daily (in Korean). October 26, 2009.
13. "We Can See Korea Trip (part 2)". 2 Days & 1 Night. Season 3. Episode 414. October 18, 2015. KBS2.
14. "'명단공개' 김선아,god 원년멤버였다…'멤버들과 동고동락'". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). October 24, 2016.
15. "god 데니안 작곡 '신바람'". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). April 30, 2002.
16. "아이돌 그룹 장수를 위한 숨은 열쇠 '상표권'". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). July 17, 2014.
17. "[스타인터뷰]그룹 'god' 데니안, MC도 DJ도 '척척'". The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). July 6, 2004.
18. "데니안, KBS라디오 '데니의 뮤직쇼' DJ" (in Korean). KBS. April 4, 2011.
19. "데니안, KBS 쿨FM '데니의 뮤직쇼' 하차" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. March 22, 2013.
20. "데니안, KBS 쿨FM '데니의 뮤직쇼' 하차" (in Korean). KBS. March 22, 2013.
21. "[김홍범PD의 히든베스트](3) 익숙한 낯선 DJ 데니 안" (in Korean). KBS. June 25, 2015.
22. "데니안, KBS 쿨FM 개국 50주년 기념 '데니의 뮤직쇼' 일일DJ". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). June 26, 2015.
23. , imdb.com.
24. "Danny Ahn and Fellow g.o.d. Members to Have a Reunion at "Music Bank"". Soompi. April 21, 2011.
25. Ho, Stewart (29 May 2012). "Danny Ahn Cross Dresses and Becomes a ′Pretty′ Girl for Goodbye Wife". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
26. "Danny Ahn Leaves "We Got Married"". Soompi. May 31, 2014.
27. "Host of motoring show Top Gear Korea knows cars better than women". The Straits Times. February 16, 2015.
28. "'해피투게더' 핫젝갓알지 특집 "예능판 응답하라 1997"". The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). July 12, 2013.
29. ""20th Century Boys" Create "HotSechGodRG" and Release Music Video Teaser". Soompi. May 11, 2013.
30. "H.O.T, Sechskies, g.o.d, and NRG form H.S.g.R and compete on 'Immortal Song 2'". allkpop.com. June 23, 2013.
31. "[단독] 데니안, 싸이더스HQ와 결별". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). March 19, 2014.
32. "god 데니안, SBS '마녀의 성' 출연 확정…최정원과 호흡". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). November 2, 2015.
33. "'판타스틱 듀오'에 god가 떴다!… 뜻밖의 떼창". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). June 23, 2016.
34. "'플랜맨' 토니안-데니안-천명훈-은지원의 제주도 첫 여행기". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). July 29, 2016.
35. "'미우새' 토니안X데니안X천명훈, 문희준 총각파티 위해 뭉쳤다". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). January 13, 2017.
36. "[단독] 데니안, 싸이더스HQ와 결별". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). March 19, 2014.
37. "이봉원·박소현·데니안·황제성·이유진·맹승지·홍현희, 싸이더스HQ와 전속 계약". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). July 17, 2018.
38. "Danny Ahn Reveals He Had Five Girlfriends in Past and Two Were Celebrities". interest.me.
39. "Danny Ahn, "I'd rather Announce My Marriage than to Date Publicly"". KpopStarz. 28 June 2012.
40. "g.o.d's Son Ho Young and Danny Ahn release 'One Day' for 'Marriage Not Dating' OST". allkpop.com. August 2, 2014.
41. "2010년 17주차 Digital Chart" (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association.
42. "재생 KBS COOL FM 개국 46주년 특별 기획 음반". Naver Music. Naver. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
43. "D". Naver Music. Naver. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
44. "신화 김동완, 7년만에 솔로 앨범…앤디·데니안 참여" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. September 28, 2015.
45. "[Video] g.o.d's Son Ho Young and Danny Ahn Sing OST for 'Marriage Over Love'". Mnet. August 1, 2014.
46. "김태우 "데니안 피처링 '뽀레버막내', 짠한 형과 아우의 노래"". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). June 17, 2015.
47. "데니안 주연 한국-홍콩 합작드라마 '7일간의 로맨스' 18일 방영". 10Asia (Korea Economic Daily) (in Korean). April 16, 2015.
48. "'브라보' 데니안, 현쥬니 심사위원으로 '깜짝 등장'" (in Korean). Daum. November 4, 2017.
49. "법무부, 데니안 주연 웹드라마 '저스티스 팀 시즌 2' 공개". The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). December 28, 2017.
50. "데니안·서신애 주연 법무부 웹드라마 '날아올라' 네이버 공개" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. December 28, 2017.
51. Lee, Ji-hyun (June 24, 2019). "'레벨업' 데니안, 반전 있는 남자는 언제나 옳다♥". News Chosun (in Korean). Retrieved September 12, 2019.
52. "Where Is My Superhero". CJ E&M (TVING).
53. "'통하는 여행' 일본편 게스트 박규리-데니안 출연.."가족같은 분위기"" (in Korean). star.mk.co.kr. March 7, 2017.
54. "데니의 뮤직쇼". KBS.

External links

• Danny Ahn at HanCinema
• Danny Ahn at the Korean Movie Database
• Danny Ahn at IMDb