Vernon is the stage name of Korean-American rapper Hansol Vernon Chwe. He is best known as the lead rapper of Korean hip-hop boy group “Seventeen”; which is why many now know him as Vernon Seventeen.
Contrary to its name, the group is made up of 13 members are grouped into 3 sub-units: the Hip-Hop unit to which Vernon belongs, the Vocal unit and the Performance unit. Due to the large size of the group, they are able to pool their different talents and therefore most of their songs are self-produced.
Vernon Seventeen came into limelight as Seventeen’s lead rapper on a reality television series called Seventeen TV which culminated in a television show Seventeen Project: Big Debut Plan, which aired in May 2015. He has then participated in Mnet 4 ‘s Show Me the Money .
The group released their debut EP titled 17k which was featured on Billboard ‘s 10 Best K-pop Albums of 2015. His second EP titled Boys Be proved to be the best-selling rookie album of 2015. All of that success landed seventeen spots on Billboard ‘s 21 and Under 21: Young Music Stars list for the year 2015.
Vernon Seventeen Biography,
Seventeen’s Vernon was born Hansol Vernon Chwe on February 18, 1998, New York, United States. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to South Korea where he was raised in the Hongdae district of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
He had his elementary education at Ewha University Primary School. Vernon developed a passion for hip-hop at an early age, and as a teenager signed up for the Pledis Entertainment label.
He was featured on the talent reality series Seventeen TV which aired online. The show chronicled Vernon’s training among other young talents and also helped build an early fanbase for the musical prodigies. The show’s grand finale was a live showcase on May 26, 2015, which marked the band’s debut.
Shortly after, the band released their debut EP titled 17 Carats on digital platforms. 17 Carats outlasted all other K-pop albums on the US charts in 2015. The group’s second EP Boys Be was a huge commercial success and also won them critical acclaim at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, among others. 2015 was indeed a massive year for Seventeen and the band ended the year with a music concert tagged 2015 Like Seventeen – Boys Wish.
The concert which took place in December 2015 was a huge success and was therefore succeeded by two similar concerts labeled Like Seventeen – Boys Wish Encore Concert in February 2016.The band announced “Carat” as their official fan club nickname on February 14, 2016.
On April 25, 2016, Seventeen released their 1st studio album titled Love Letter. The album was a hit and also made its way up the international music charts. The album was later repackaged to include another single “Very Nice”, which became the album’s lead single. This was followed by the band’s first Asian tour which saw them play in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia and China.Seventeen released their third EP titled Going Seventeen on December 5, 2016, and its commercial success surpassed that of their debut album.
Vernon has featured in several music videos, including the single Chute by Man K and My Copycat by Orange Caramel.
His parents and family
Hansol Vernon Chwe is of mixed ethnicity. Her father is from South Korea and her mother from the United States. Her father Simon Choi is an artist while her mother Melody Chwe is an art teacher. The rapper has only one sister, a sister named Sofia Chwe. Her middle name “Vernon” was actually her mother’s maiden name. Coincidentally, the rapper also adopted it as his stage name. The family moved to South Korea when Vernon was still a child.
Is he related to Leonardo Dicaprio?
For some reason, probably because of his good looks, many Vernon fans are of the opinion that he has a semblance of popular Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Seventeen’s lead rapper Vernon is often referred to as K-Pop’s Leonardo DiCaprio. Many have even taken it a notch higher by concluding that the 2 artists are in fact related.
However, there is no blood relationship between the Hollywood actor and the young rapper. Of course, Vernon is totally flattered by the comparison, however, he admits he sometimes feels embarrassed.