Jae Jin (born in Seoul, South Korea) is an American musician, singer-songwriter,

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, record ...

actor and public speaker from Baltimore known for his soulful singing, award-winning songwriting, and sought-after public speaking/storytelling. He independently distributes his original music through

AWAL AWAL (an initialism of Artists Without a Label) is a British music distribution company owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The company serves as an alternative to the traditional music label deal, offering deal structures to artists and independ ...

(under

Kobalt Music Group Kobalt Music Group is an independent Performing rights, rights management and music publishing company. Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights. Also offer ...

) and is a part of the Sinasoid Artist Guild. To date, Jin has self-released three albums: ''Kairos'' (2015), ''Baltimore Boulevard'' (2017), and ''Letters and Drinks'' (2018). Jin won a John Lennon Songwriting Award in 2019 and also received 1st Place in the International Songwriting Competition. He was also a Finalist in the 2019 NewSong Music Competition. Jin has appeared on Season 16 of U.S. TV series ''The Voice'' and on Season 2 of U.S. TV series ''House of Cards'' as a principal actor. He received a prestigious

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Creator Award through WeWork in 2018 for his original music and powerful life story, and gave his first TEDx talk in 2020.

Biography

Jin was born in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

on November 6 and immigrated to the United States with his mother when he was two years old. He attended

Chantilly High School Chantilly High School is a public high school in the Chantilly CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. History Chantilly was originally built in 1972 with open c ...

. Having spent 20 years in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, he considers Baltimore his hometown. He has a Korean mother, Mihye, and a Caucasian stepfather, John Whiteside, who he considers his real father. At the age of 17, Jin was diagnosed with a terminal blood-bone marrow disorder. He underwent experimental chemotherapy at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

. Five years later, while he was a pre-med student at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, the illness returned, and Jin repeated the same chemotherapy, becoming the second patient in history to receive the treatment twice. He graduated from

, went on to partially complete an MPH degree from

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

and spent many years working in healthcare management at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, social enterprise and workforce development in East Baltimore (

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

), as well as time spent in the startup world. As Jin was preparing to commence a dual graduate degree in

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and Business (MD/MBA program), he chose instead to pursue a career in music at the end of 2014.

Career

2013–2014: Early career

Jin made his first notable appearance in 2013, when his cover of

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

's song " Nothing Can Change This Love" was shared by video blog

WorldStarHipHop WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fro ...

going viral. After garnering over one million views, the video was removed from the service at the request of

's music publishers. Following the popularization of this video, Jin began meeting with

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s, music business executives, and major network

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

shows even garnering the attention of

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

. However, instead of partnering with a third-party, the musician decided to pursue his music career independently. A few months later, Jin appeared as a principal actor singing in a scene on U.S. TV series ''House of Cards''. In 2014, Jin appeared on Christian radio network

Moody Radio Moody Radio is one of the largest Christian radio networks in the United States. Located in downtown Chicago, Moody Radio has 71 owned and operated stations

for an interview on the Chris Fabry Live program discussing his plans to take a leap of faith with limited musical experience.

2015–2016: ''Kairos''

Jin began his journey by packing up his entire life into two suitcases moving to New York City. Jin spent three months recording his debut album, titled ''Kairos'', with the help of his long time friend and the album's producer, Tim Ouyang of

Tim Be Told Tim Be Told was a Contemporary Christian music group founded in 2006 and originating in Charlottesville, VA, and since 2016 continuing as a solo act under the same name by band lead singer Tim Ouyang. Ouyang also works as an interior designer in S ...

. On October 6, 2015, Jin released his ten track debut studio album, ''Kairos''. Jin appeared on

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

numerous times for interviews and guest performances of "Wild Creatures" and "Ain't About Love". On August 28, 2020, Jin released a 31-track ''Kairos'' Super Deluxe album consisting of the original 10 songs as well as 21 bonus tracks that included live acoustic versions, a handful of special alternative versions, and instrumentals. The super deluxe also includes an in-depth commentary with album producer, Tim, as well as a special final track which includes Korean translation lyrics of "Amen" spoken by Jin's own birth mother.

2017: ''Baltimore Boulevard''

On November 3, 2017, Jin released his sophomore effort ''Baltimore Boulevard'', an album collection of songs written over a two-year span. In the same month, he was awarded a

Creator Award given to those who "bring new ideas into the world". Jin was also invited to share his life story on stage at Madison Square Garden during the WeWork Global Summit.

2018–2019: ''Letters & Drinks''

On June 29, 2018, Jin released his third full-length album, ''Letters & Drinks''.

Atwood Magazine Atwood Magazine is a digital music magazine that focuses on emerging and established artists from around the world. The magazine was founded in 2012 and is currently run by editor-in-chief Mitch Mosk. History Atwood Magazine was founded in 20 ...

's Mitch Mosk wrote: "echoing the likes of

Fun Fun is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "Light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment". Etymology and usage The word ''fun'' is associated with sports, entertaining medi ...

and

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

, and with a voice like

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

, Jin appeals to the deepest part of our souls – that tender, vulnerable side we too often build walls around. His songs truly come from the heart, whether he's dealing with tragedy as on 'Six Feet Above', honoring family (his stepfather) as on 'Father's Land', or trying to leave the world a better place – as in album opener 'Dance with Me'." His hit single, "11:11" has won him numerous songwriting awards, including the John Lennon Songwriting Award in 2019. He was also chosen as one of the eight finalists out of over 800 contestants for the prestigious NewSong Music Competition in Asheville, NC in November, 2019.

2020: singles and Christmas EP album

Jin released multiple original standalone singles including "So Wrong," "Love U Like That," "The Cost (of Loving You)," "Castaway," and "Pages." The

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

postponed touring plans but Jin released a deluxe version of ''Baltimore Boulevard'', as well as a 31-track Super Deluxe version of ''Kairos'', in 2020. In December 2020, Jin released a Christmas EP album titled ''Evergreen''. In 2021, Jin released numerous singles, including "Let's Be Fools," "Good Kind of Blue," and "Colder."

2022: ''The Seasons In Between''

On December 16, 2022, Jin released his fourth full-length album, ''The Seasons In Between'' which includes a handful of his popular original singles including "So Wrong," "Love U Like That," "Castaway," "Pages," and "Lighthouse" which received

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

consideration in 2022.

Touring

Jin played his first casual concerts as a solo artist in 2014 at various venues around the National Capital Region including Jammin' Java and Ebenezers Coffeehouse. Since the start of 2015 when he decided to do music full-time, he has toured extensively bringing him to over 124 cities. Notable venues Jin has played concerts at include

The Bitter End The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub, coffeehouse and folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to ''The Ot ...

SideWalk Cafe The SideWalk Cafe was a music venue and restaurant/cafe in East Village, New York City founded in 1985. It became a known venue for its underground music scene, and in particular, was known as being the center for Anti-folk in the United Stat ...

Pianos (club) Pianos is a two-story bar/restaurant/live music venue in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan at 158 Ludlow Street. Its stage attracts local and national alternative rock groups as well as DJs, though a more typical performance consists of ...

Rockwood Music Hall Rockwood Music Hall is a music venue at 196 Allen Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Owner Ken Rockwood, aka "The Professor", opened the establishment in 2005 as a small bar and music venue. Today, the venue features ...

Eddie's Attic Eddie's Attic is a music club in Decatur, Georgia. Founded in 1992 in music, 1992 by Eddie Owen (entrepreneur), Eddie Owen, it is a venue for both local musical talent and musicians of some acclaim who often got their start in the Atlanta area. ...

Hotel Café The Hotel Café is a live music venue located off an alley on the Cahuenga Boulevard strip in Hollywood, California, United States, that has become known for helping to establish the careers of new singer-songwriters in the 2000s. The venue began ...

Postcrypt Coffeehouse Postcrypt Coffeehouse is an all-acoustic music venue in the basement of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University in New York City, run completely by students. Founded in 1964, Postcrypt has hosted many up-and-coming folk musicians, including Jeff ...

, Smith's Olde Bar (ATL), Neck of the Woods (SF), and more. Paris-PreShowStreetSinging

Jin has toured North America, Europe (France and England), and Asia (South Korea and Singapore). The majority of his global touring that included London, Paris, South Korea, and Singapore took place in 2016. His last major touring took place in 2019, when he embarked on a 10 month, 46 city tour. As of 2020, Jin has played nearly 600 performances across over 136 cities globally.

Band members

;Current members *Jae Jin – lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards ;Current Touring members *Ryan Schneidermeyer – drums *Justin Cho – electric guitar, acoustic guitar *David James Estioco – piano ;Former Touring members *Tyler Carroll – bass guitar *Philip Chuah – bass guitar *Thomas Killian – drums *Andrew J. Choi – electric guitar, acoustic guitar ;Other musicians *Michael Lu– violin *Joanna M. Hui – violin *Khoa Le – acoustic guitar *Nancy Kim – cello

Influences

Jin has cited artists including

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, and

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

as major influences and often speaks about his varied influences ranging from country to soul to hiphop. His solo live music as a singer-songwriter ranges in

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

from

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

Discography

Albums

As featured artist

* ''All Ye Nations'' (2014, single by

) * ''The Battle Hymn'' (2015, Mighty Sound album by

) * ''The Great Divide'' (2016, Friends and Foes album by

) * ''Translated Letters'' (2017, Ashley Court: Chapter 1 album by nak) * ''Grace'' (2020, Love and Happiness album by

)

Music has appeared on

Korean dramas and TV shows: *

2 Days & 1 Night ''2 Days & 1 Night'' (; also known as ''1 Night 2 Days''; abbreviated as ''1N2D'') is a South Korean reality-variety show that airs every Sunday at 6:25pm KST on KBS2 beginning August 5, 2007. ''1 Night 2 Days'' used to be one of the two segm ...

(1박2일) *

Begin Again (TV series) ''Begin Again'' () is a South Korean television program which airs on JTBC. Season 1 aired on Sundays at 22:30 (KST) from June 25 to September 10, 2017. Season 2 aired on Fridays at 21:20 (KST) from March 30 to June 29, 2018. Season 3 aired on ...

(jtbc) *

One Fine Day (South Korean TV series) ''One Fine Day'' () is a 2006 South Korean television drama series starring Gong Yoo, Sung Yu-ri, Namkoong Min and Lee Yeon-hee. Originally set to be a faithful adapted of the manga series Flower of Eden by author Yuki Suetsugu,the series w ...

Seventeen (South Korean band) Seventeen (; stylized in all caps or as SVT) is a South Korean boy band formed by Pledis Entertainment. The group consists of thirteen members: S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Wen Junhui, Jun, Hoshi (South Korean singer), Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mi ...

(동네의 영웅) *

I Live Alone (TV series) ''I Live Alone'' (), also known as ''Home Alone'', is a South Korean entertainment program distributed and syndicated by MBC every Friday at 23:00 ( KST). Content ''I Live Alone'' is recognized as one of the "Real-Variety" shows in Korean te ...

(MBC 나 혼자 산다) * Childish Bromance 용띠클럽 (KBS) *

Lucky Romance ''Lucky Romance'' () is a 2016 South Korean television series based on the webtoon of the same name published in 2014 on Naver, starring Hwang Jung-eum and Ryu Jun-yeol. It aired on MBC TV's Wednesdays and Thursdays at 22:00 ( KST) timeslot ...

(운빨로맨스) * Monster (몬스터) * My Daughter's Men (내 딸의 남자들) *

Local Hero (TV series) ''Local Hero'' () is a 2016 South Korean espionage television drama series, starring Park Shi Hoo, Jo Sung-ha, Lee Soo-hyuk, Kwon Yuri and Yoon Tae-young. It was first broadcast on January 23, 2016 on OCN. Plot Former secret agent Baek Shi Y ...

(동네의 영웅) * Sweet, Savage Family (달콤살벌패밀리) * Mr. Baek: Homemade Food Master (집밥 백선생) *

Please Take Care of My Refrigerator ''Please Take Care of My Refrigerator'' (), also known as ''Chef & My Fridge'', is a South Korean cooking-variety program starring various chefs and celebrity guests. It airs on JTBC on Mondays at 21:30 ( KST) beginning November 17, 2014. Since O ...

(냉장고를 부탁해) * How To Eat and Live Well (식사하셨어요) *

Three Meals A Day ''Three Meals a Day'' () is a South Korean reality show, reality cooking show broadcast on TVN (South Korean TV channel), tvN. The cast live in a small rural or fishing village for three days a week and are tasked to use whatever food they find ...

(삼시세끼) *

The Return of Superman (TV series) ''The Return of Superman'' (; also known as ''Superman Is Back'') is a South Korean reality-variety show that airs on KBS2. ''The Return of Superman'' used to be one of the two segments (the other segment is ''1 Night 2 Days'') on ''Happy Sunday ...

We Got Married ''We Got Married'' () was a South Korean reality variety show that aired on MBC from 2008 to 2017. The show paired up celebrities who pretended to be married couples and completed various challenges together. The show ran for four seasons and ...

( 우리 결혼했어요) - Season 4 * Men Are Men (그놈이 그놈이다) *

Show Me the Money (South Korean TV series) ''Show Me The Money'' (''SMTM''; Korean: 쇼미더머니; RR: ''Syomideomeoni'') is a South Korean rap competition TV show that airs on Mnet. The show has grown in popularity since the first season aired in 2012 to the eleventh season in 2022, a ...

Season 7 - Ep.09 (11/02/2018)

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jin, Jae Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Baltimore Singer-songwriters from Maryland