Apeace
Apeace, formerly known as Double B 21 or Double B, is a boyband from South Korea. The group was the largest K-pop boy band, with 21 members, until 30 June 2014, when it changed to 15 members. As of July 29, 2018, it changed into 12 members.
The members were chosen and produced by Kim Kyungwook, known for working with groups such as H.O.T., Shinhwa and TVXQ.
Until 2015, subgroups performed 6 days a week, 2 times a day at K Theater at Yebisu Garden Place in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo. The group now performs monthly concerts throughout Japan.
History
Pre-debut
In 2009, members Hwang Du-hwan and Kim Wan-chul were set to be members of the fifth generation of XING from XING Entertainment.Several members were models before debuting with Apeace. Ji Hyun-sung, Park Jae-won, Heo Chang-woo, and former member Hwang Seok-hyun and Im Ho-jun were models under DCM Models Management around 2008-2010. Yoo Dong-ho and Park Jae-won appeared on SBS Star School in 2009 with other models such as Kim Woo-bin. Other members that modeled before debuting were Hong Sung-ho, Song Seung-hyuk, Lee Tae-woo, Choi Yeong-won, Im Yeong-kyun, Kim Seung-hyung, Min Jin-hong, Son Yu-chang, Oh Seung-hyun, and Lee Myung-eun.
Member Yoo Jae-deok appeared on Star King's 100th episode in 2009 as a part of a kid's rock band. He was 12 years old at the time. He later served as the main vocalist for a kids progressive metal band named MetallateM, which was active from 2010-2012.
2010: Debut of Double B 21 with "One" and "S.O.S"
The original line-up of Apeace was called "Double B 21". It contained four sub-units: "Sky," "Earth," "River," and "Burning." Sky debuted with the single "One" on Mnet's "M Rookies" on 25 August 2010. All members appeared together for the first time on 24 October 2010 at Lotte World and released their single "S.O.S" on 27 October.In December, they changed their name to "A-peace" and they promoted S.O.S in Thailand. After a hiatus, several members left: Jung Man-soo, Im Ho-jun, Lee Ha-neul, Hwang Seok-hyun, Im Yeong-kyun, Oh Seung-hyun, and Kim Dae-geon left the group. Kim Dae-geon later became a member of F.cuz.
2011: Debut of Apeace with "Lover Boy"
Their name changed for a third time, officially becoming Apeace. They released their debut mini-album in June 2011 called "We Are the One" as well as a music video for the song "Lover Boy" on 7 September 2011. The group was split into three sub-units with 7 members each: Lapis, Jade, and Onyx. Jeong Eun-ho was replaced by Lee Tae-woo.They were cited in Japan by programs such as Sankei Sports and Kuraberu Kurabera. In addition, a special program covering the group's debut was aired by Fuji TV. Members Son Yu-chang, Kim Seung-hwan, Lee Tae-woo, Hwang Doo-hwan, Hong Sung-ho and Song Seung-hyuk appeared on a food program called K-COOK.
On 11 May 2011, Apeace opened K Theater in Yebisu Garden Place in Ebisu, Tokyo and performed daily concerts until December 2014.
On 28 November 2011, Son Yu-chang left to continue studying composition and Lee Sung-woo left because of backache issues. They were replaced by Kim Won-shik and Lee Myung-eun, respectively. After recovering, Lee Sung-woo pursued a career as a drama musical actor.
2012: Japanese Debut with "We Are the One" and major debut with "Hero"
In March 2012, Apeace released a mini album called "We Are the One" in Japan. The song was used for their first commercial, for Glico Bitte. They held their first fan tour in Seoul in April, 2012.On September 29, they launched their major Japanese debut with the release of their first full-length album called "1st ALBUM Apeace." The promotional video for the title track "HERO" was released on 1 September 2012.
During this time, members Yoo Dong-ho, Jee Hyun-sung, Song Seung-hyuk, Kim Won-sik, Kim Jin-woo, and Lee Tae-woo appeared on the "Language of Love" segment of NOTTV's program Bidanshikai. From June 10 to July 1, members Hwang Du-hwan and Song Seung-hyuk appeared on HBC's program Sega Sammy Cup.
2013: Japanese comeback with "X.O.X.O. ~Dreams~ / Never too late" and "Ur My Life"
By January 14, Apeace had performed a thousand concerts in Japan.Apeace released a single album on February 13, 2013 titled "X.O.X.O. ~Dreams~/Never too late," to celebrate Valentine's Day. From March 8–11, they held their second fan tour in Seoul from March 8–11. 700 Japanese fans traveled to Korea with them. A fanmeeting was held at Konkuk University and a concert was held at Lotte World. ONYX member Song Seung-hyuk did not travel with them because he was admitted to the hospital in Japan on March 6 due to pneumothorax.
ONYX member Hwang Doo-hwan became a regular host on season 2 of NHK's weekly program Hangul Class, starting on April 1, along with Koichi Akira, Ai Haruna, and 2PM.
Members Kim Seung-hyung, Kim Seung-hwan, and Jeong Ho-young left Apeace on April 23 to fulfill their mandatory military service. They were replaced by Yun Jun-sik, Kim Doo-hee, and Yoo Jae-deok, respectively.
On August 20, Apeace held two large concerts: "Apeace the 21 Live -3 Jewels-" and "Apeace the 21 Live -21 Jewels-" at Zepp Tokyo.
Apeace released the promotional video for their single "Ur My Life" on September 13 and released the album on October 16, which landed 11th on the Oricon Singles Chart.
On December 4, JADE member Ha Geon-hee was removed from the group's activities due to allegedly dating a fan. The following month, he resumes activities with Apeace.
2014: Japanese comeback with "VEIL" and member graduation
On 17 February 2014, Apeace won a leadership award at the Republic of Korea Record Culture Awards.ONYX member Lee Myung-eun was fired from Apeace on March 1. It was later revealed that he married someone in South Korea on March 15 and would not be returning to Apeace. He was replaced by Choi Sihyuk on April 9.
Apeace released a promotional video for their third Japanese single entitled "VEIL" on April 30. As part of their promotional events for VEIL, they held two large concerts on May 10 at the concert series LIVE ARCH, vol. 11 at the Tokyo International Forum.
On June 30, 6 members graduated from Apeace: Yoo Dong-ho, Park Jae-won, Mun Byeong-hun, Heo Chang-woo, Kim Doo-hee, and Lee Tae-woo. This left 15 members that were rearranged into 3 groups of 5: LAPIS5, JADE5, and ONYX5. Their promotions at K Theater continued as usual with these new subgroups starting July 5.
Apeace released a compilation album entitled "For You" on December 5, featuring solo songs by members Kim Wan-chul, Yoo Jae-deok, Oh Se-hyeon, Jeong Young-wook, and Hong Sung-ho. Apeace's second full-length album entitled "Colors" was released in Japan on December 24 and reached #5 on the Oricon Daily Albums Chart for December 23.
2015: After K Theater
From their debut in Japan until their last performance at K Theater, Apeace had a total of 2199 daily performances and a cumulative audience of over 330,000 people. Apeace had their last performance at K Theater on 31 December 2014. They announced that they would be joint managed by Universal Music & EMI Artists and that they would have regular monthly performances, starting with 【Apeace LIVE 2015 ♯0】 on January 25 at Tokyo Mielparque Hall. In addition to monthly concerts, Apeace members have additional solo concerts during each of their birthdays.Members Choi Young-won and Jeong Young-wook were cast in the musical On Air Night Flight, along with Teen Top's Chunji, U-KISS's Jun and Kevin Woo, and Supernova's Yunhak. It ran from February 5 to 12. In June, members Hong Sung-ho and Jung Young-uk were cast in the musical RUN TO YOU Street Life along with U-KISS's Soohyun and Jun, Supernova's Kwangsoo and Geonil, and Block B's Jaehyo and U-Kwon. It ran from June 26 to July 5.
Members Jee Hyun-sung and Kim Jin-woo enlisted in the military on February 24 and are scheduled to return on 19 November 2016. On March 3, it was announced that Min Jin-hong would rest indefinitely from Apeace activities due to poor condition of his knees and lumbar vertebrae. He remains a member of Apeace as a stage adviser. From March, Apeace continued to perform as a 12-member group.
In July, Apeace embarked on a fan tour to Hawaii which lasted from the 9th to the 14th.
Apeace received a trophy for Japan-Korea Diplomatic Normalization 50th Anniversary on July 19. They performed at the anniversary concert on the 20th along with other artists such as Supernova, Kim Da-hyun, Crazy Ken Band, ZERO, and Tendo Yoshimi.
A new subunit called FLOWERS debuted on August 3 at Tokyo FM Hall. It is composed of four members: Wan-chul, Young-uk, Si-hyuk, and J.D.
Apeace performed at A-Nation's concert "Asia Progress~Future~" on August 6 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, alongside artists such as Hazzie, Solidemo, Tensai Bonjin, and sh**tkingz with guests from AAA and Da-ice They also performed at Meiji Jingu Stadium for the 2015 Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival on August 11.
Apeace celebrated their fifth anniversary since their debut with the release of "5th Anniv Best 'Pray for…'" on October 21. On November 18, they released a single album "Just Once Again" with an accompanying PV. "Just Once Again" contains the theme song to their new ODS: Once Again, Apeace's first starring movie. Once Again was screened in theaters around Shinjuku from November 21–27.
Timeline
ImageSize = width:1000 height:350
PlotArea = width:600 height:325 left:75 bottom:20
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:09/07/2011 till:2019
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:a value:rgb legend:FirstGeneration
id:b value:rgb legend:SecondGeneration
id:c value:rgb legend:ThirdGeneration
id:d value:rgb legend:FourthGeneration
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2012 gridcolor:black
PlotData =
color:blue width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Sungwoo from:start till:11/28/2011 Color:a
bar:Yuchang from:start till:11/28/2011 Color:a
bar:Hoyoung from:start till:04/23/2013 Color:a
bar:Seunghwan from:start till:04/23/2013 Color:a
bar:Seunghyung from:start till:04/23/2013 Color:a
bar:Byeonghun from:start till:06/30/2014 Color:a
bar:Changwoo from:start till:06/30/2014 Color:a
bar:Dongho from:start till:06/30/2014 Color:a
bar:Jaewon from:start till:06/30/2014 Color:a
bar:Taewoo from:start till:06/30/2014 Color:a
bar:Doohwan from:start till:07/29/2018 Color:a
bar:Sehyeon from:start till:07/29/2018 Color:a
bar:Jinhong from:start till:03/05/2015 Color:a
bar:Jinhong from:03/05/2015 till:07/29/2018 Color:black
bar:Geonhee from:start till:12/04/2013 Color:a
bar:Geonhee from:12/04/2013 till:01/07/2014 Color:black
bar:Geonhee from:01/07/2014 till:end Color:a
bar:Hyunsung from:start till:02/24/2015 Color:a
bar:Hyunsung from:02/24/2015 till:11/01/2016 Color:black
bar:Hyunsung from:11/01/2016 till:end Color:a
bar:Jinwoo from:start till:02/24/2015 Color:a
bar:Jinwoo from:02/24/2015 till:11/01/2016 Color:black
bar:Jinwoo from:11/01/2016 till:end Color:a
bar:Seunghyuk from:start till:end Color:a
bar:Sungho from:start till:end Color:a
bar:Wanchul from:start till:end Color:a
bar:Youngwon from:start till:03/01/2016 Color:a
bar:Youngwon from:03/01/2016 till:end Color:black
bar:Youngwook from:start till:end Color:a
bar:Myungeun from:11/28/2011 till:03/01/2014 Color:b
bar:Wonsik from:11/28/2011 till:09/01/2017 Color:b
bar:Wonsik from:09/01/2017 till:end Color:black
bar:Doohee from:04/23/2013 till:06/30/2014 Color:c
bar:Jaedeok from:04/23/2013 till:end Color:c
bar:Junsik from:04/23/2013 till:end Color:c
bar:Sihyuk from:04/09/2014 till:end Color:d
- Red = Active
- Black = Inactive
Members
Current members
Subgroup Lapis5
- Kim Wan-chul
- Jung Young-uk
- Choi Si-hyuk
Subgroup Jade5
- Ha Geon-hee
- Yoo Jae-deok
Subgroup Onyx5
- Ji Hyun-sung
- Song Seung-hyuk
- Hong Sung-ho
- Kim Jin-woo
- Yun Jun-sik
On hiatus
- Choi Young-won - in military
- Kim Won-sik - paused from group's activities
Former members
Subgroup Lapis
- Kim Seung-hyung - left April 23, 2013
- Moon Byung-hun - graduated June 30, 2014
- Heo Chang-woo - graduated June 30, 2014
- Min Jin-hong - left July 29, 2018
- Oh Se-hyeon - left July 29, 2018
Subgroup Jade
- Son Yu-chang - left November 28, 2011
- Kim Seung-hwan - left April 23, 2013
- Yoo Dong-ho - graduated June 30, 2014
- Park Jae-won - graduated June 30, 2014
- Kim Doo-hee - graduated June 30, 2014
- Hwang Du-hwan - left July 29, 2018
Subgroup Onyx
- Lee Sung-woo - left November 28, 2011
- Jeong Ho-young - left April 23, 2013
- Lee Myung-eun - fired March 1, 2014
- Lee Tae-woo - graduated June 30, 2014
Discography