Marshall Bang, known professionally as MRSHLL (), is a Korean-American R&B and K-pop singer.

Early life

Born and raised in a conservative Christian home in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, Bang started developing his affinity for music and singing in church. He further explored his performing sensibilities in his high school

show choir A show choir (originally known as a "swing choir") is a musical ensemble that combines choral singing with choreographed dance, often with an overarching theme. It is most relevant in the Midwestern United States and was popularized by the America ...

and local community theater productions. After graduating, Bang attended private Christian institution

Biola University Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's ...

, where he began to post singing videos online such as his cover of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" that went viral. Post-college, Bang was diagnosed with

laryngopharyngeal reflux Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is the retrograde flow of gastric contents into the larynx, oropharynx and/or the nasopharynx. LPR causes respiratory symptoms such as cough and wheezing and is often associated with head and neck complaints such a ...

, where he eventually had to quit singing and decided to enroll in cosmetology school in Los Angeles. A formative time in his life, this was when he was properly introduced to queer culture and the LGBTQIA+ community at large. After receiving his license, Bang eventually moved to New York City to further his career in the beauty industry.

Career

While Bang had moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and given up his music career due to his throat condition, a South Korean television producer from

Seoul 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 ...

found his online cover videos and invited him to compete on national Korean television singing competition show, ''The Great Rebirth – Star Audition: The Next Big Thing 3'' in 2012. Though it hurt to sing, his condition gradually improved throughout the show and Bang decided to remain in South Korea after the show to pursue his singing career. Bang began performing under the moniker MRSHLL (pronounced "Marshall") in 2016 and officially debuted as a credited featured artist on two songs off of DJ friz's debut EP, ''The Record, Vol. R '' in March 2017. Bang signed to Seoul-based boutique record label

Feel Ghood Music Feel Ghood Music () is a South Korean record label and entertainment agency founded by Tiger JK in 2013. History Originally created in July 2013 by MFBTY to house the new group and their members (Tiger JK, Yoon Mi-rae, and Bizzy) the company Fe ...

(home to Korean hip hop pioneers

Tiger JK Seo Jung-kwon, Hangul: 서정권, Hanja: 徐廷權, also known as Tiger JK (born July 29, 1974) is a Korean-American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur best known as a founding member of Korean hip hop group Drunken Tiger. He has also foun ...

and Yoonmirae, and R&B singer-songwriter BIBI)'''' and made his official solo debut as MRSHLL in June 2017 with two songs – "Circle" and "Home" – on Feel Ghood Music's compilation album, ''FeelGhood''. A few months later, Bang made his national Korean television debut as MRSHLL on popular hip hop competition show, Show Me The Money ( Season 6); where he co-wrote, featured, and performed with Woo Won Jae,

, and Bizzy. The song ''T.O (Again)'' – released in August 2017 – ended up reaching the Top 40 charts in South Korea. In June 2018, Bang released his first EP project ''Breathe'', consisting of 6 songs including the title track "Come Over (featuring pH-1) and the disco dance anthem “Pose”. In October 2018, he released his second EP and first mixtape, ''Alien'' ''(Issa Mixtape).'' Bang parted ways with Feel Ghood Music in early 2019 and made a comeback as an independent artist with the single ''Mirage'' in January 2020. In subsequent years, Bang has steadily released singles, mini-albums, and been in campaigns for Instagram,

instax Instax (stylized as instax) is a brand of instant still cameras and instant films marketed by Fujifilm. The first camera and accompanying film, the Instax Mini 10 and Instax Mini film, were released on November 10, 1998. The "Wide" film and fi ...

, and

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

and penned songs for other artists, such as co-writing

Verivery Verivery (; stylized as VERIVERY and also abbreviated VRVR) is a South Korean boy band formed by Jellyfish Entertainment in 2018. They debuted on January 9, 2019 with ''Veri-Us''. They self-produced their DIY Albums and have created several DIY ...

's 2022 title track ''Undercover'' and

88rising 88rising (stylized as 88⬆), formerly known as CXSHXNLY (pronounced “cash only”), is an American music company that founder Sean Miyashiro describes as a "hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company". The compa ...

(with Rich Brian and BIBI, and featuring Warren Hue)'s ''froyo''. Bang continues to release solo music with his 90s/2000s R&B concept EP, ''XYZ'' in October 2021. Writing for

Harpers Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

, Chyenne Tatum listed the EP as one of the top 15 K-pop albums of 2021.

Personal life

Bang is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He first

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to his family before moving to New York City but publicly came out in a '' Time Out Seoul'' interview in 2015. He is known as the first openly gay singer in K-Pop, debuting in 2017. Though Bang’s friends warned that coming out would be “social suicide" (as it is still very taboo in Korean culture), Bang decided to be open with his sexuality from the start as he feels it is nothing to be ashamed of. In spite of the fact that his parents are not accepting, Bang is fully supported by his brothers and his chosen family.

Discography

Extended plays

Compilation albums

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* {{cite web, url=htt , - ! scope="row" , ''FeelGhood''
with Tiger JK, Yoonmirae, Bizzy, Junoflo, Ann One , *Released: June 27, 2017 *Label: FeelGhood Music *Formats: CD, digital download , — , {{N/A , -

Singles

* pancakes (with TOMMY YANG) (2019) * 001 (with Nieah) (2019) * mirage / caress (2020) * I Don't Wanna Know (with

Vardaan Arora Vardaan Arora (born 22 April 1992) is an Indian recording artist, songwriter, and actor based in New York. Early life Vardaan Arora was born in New Delhi, India. After attending The British School in New Delhi, he went on to study theatre a ...

) (2020) * RECEiVE (2020) * Never Too Late (featuring sokodomo) (2020) * StarLiGHT (2020) * AUTOMATIC REMIX (with Chancellor, BIBI, LeeHi,

Jay Park Jay Park (Korean name: Park Jae-beom (Hangul: 박재범; Hanja: 朴載範); born April 25, 1987) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and entrepreneur of based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based b ...

JAMIE Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and t ...

, and 21 others) (2020) * DO U (featuring Queen WA$ABII) (2020) * deserve better (featuring CHAI) (2021) * metamorphosis (2021) * show me what U got (2021) * Heart Beating (with Tia Kofi) (2022)

References

{{reflist {{Authority control American gay musicians Living people 21st-century American LGBT people American people of Korean descent American rhythm and blues musicians People from Orange County, California American LGBT singers K-pop singers American LGBT people of Asian descent Year of birth missing (living people)