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

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

singer.

Early life

Born and raised in a conservative Christian home in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

, 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 (previously known as a "swing choir") is a Ensemble (musical theatre), musical ensemble that combines choral singing with choreographed dance, often integrated into a narrative story or overarching theme. Origin Show choirs have been ...

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' ...

, where he began to post singing videos online such as his cover of

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" that went viral. Post-college, Bang was diagnosed with

laryngopharyngeal reflux Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) or laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) 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 asso ...

, 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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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 (home to Korean hip hop pioneers

Tiger JK Seo Jung-kwon (; born July 29, 1974), also known as Tiger JK, is a South Korea-born American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur based in South Korea. He is best known as a founding member of Korean hip hop group Drunken Tiger. He has a ...

and Yoonmirae, and R&B singer-songwriter

BIBI Bibi is a given name, nickname and surname. People with the nickname or stage name * Bibi Andersson (1935–2019), Swedish actress * Bibi (artist) (born 1964), French visual artist Fabrice Cahoreau * Bibi Baskin (born 1952), Irish former TV an ...

)'''' 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 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

); 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 Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

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

Verivery Verivery (; stylized in all caps 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-produce their albums and have created several music vid ...

's 2022 title track ''Undercover'' and

88rising 88rising (stylized as 88⬆), formerly known as CXSHXNLY (pronounced "cash only"), is an American record label founded in 2015 by Sean Miyashiro and Jaeson Ma. According to their website, Miyashiro describes it as a "hybrid management, record ...

(with

Rich Brian Brian Imanuel Soewarno (born 3 September 1999), known professionally as Rich Brian (formerly Rich Chigga), is an Indonesian rapper. He is known for his viral debut single "Dat Stick, Dat $tick", which was first released in March 2016 on SoundClo ...

and

, 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'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

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

Personal life

Bang is

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 ...

. He first

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

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

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 at ...

) (2020) * RECEiVE (2020) * Never Too Late (featuring

sokodomo Yang Seung-ho (; born November 15, 2000), known professionally as Sokodomo (; stylized in all lowercase), is a South Korean rapper and songwriter. He first garnered attention when he appeared on '' High School Rapper 3'' in 2019. He signed with So ...

) (2020) * StarLiGHT (2020) * AUTOMATIC REMIX (with Chancellor,

, LeeHi,

Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...

JAMIE Jamie is a unisex name. Traditionally a masculine name, it can be diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names and is of Scottish English origin. It is also given as a name in its own right. Since the mid-20th century it has been used a ...

, 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 Lawrence John Bolton, better known by the stage name Tia Kofi, is a British drag queen and singer from Clapham, South London. They are best known for competing on the second series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2021), and winning the second se ...

) (2022)

References

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