Benjamin Jaewook Bae, known simply as Benji, is a South Korean-American singer, dancer, violinist, host, DJ, and former member of B.I.G (비아이지) and MONÉ (모네). He was born in Indiana and later moved to Seattle. He is a violin prodigy and started playing it when he was 4. After moving to Seattle, he was part of the Seattle Youth Symphony before entering the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Heifetz International Music Institute.

In 2010, he passed the audition for the prestigious Juilliard School and spent about a year there before moving to South Korea to pursue a career as an idol. Before debuting, he spent 3 years as a trainee, including one year and a half of practice with his future bandmates before they were allowed to debut.

He finally debuted in 2014 as B.I.G's main vocalist, visual and the face of the group with the single "Hello". In 2016, they signed a contract with HY Entertainment and debuted in Japan with their 1st mini-album, "Aphrodite", and a Japanese version of the song "Taola".

He then appeared as a contestant in the 2019 JTBC show "Super Band", where he joined 4 other musicians during the team mission, forming MONÉ. The project band was unusual as it had 4 vocalists (he could also play violin) and a drummer but still managed to finish in 4th place. However, they were the only band among the top-4 who never released any material after the show ended.

He debuted as a solo artist in August 2019 with the single "Telephone". He also appeared in a few music videos and became a radio and TV host.

In late 2020, he announced his departure from B.I.G and GH Entertainment (GH엔터테인먼트) to continue his career as a soloist. He is currently not represented by any agency.

(Source: MyDramaList) Edit Biography