One of South Korea’s most accomplished R&B singers, Dong Young Bae, better known by his stage name Taeyang, or Sol, is a singer-songwriter under YG Entertainment.

The singer first appeared on Jinusean’s music video for “A-YO”, followed by his debut under YG in 2006 as the main vocalist and main dancer of boy band BIGBANG.

In 2008, he became the first member to debut as a solo artist with his EP HOT, followed by the release of his first full-length album Solar in July of 2010; this album was released with an accompanying International Version, with the English versions of some of the tracks.

In 2013, Taeyang released the chart-topping single Ringa Linga, followed by the release of his second studio album, Rise, which upon release he embarked on his first solo world tour. Eyes, Nose, Lips, one of the title tracks for the album, went on to win Song of the Year and Best Vocal Performance – Male at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA).

In an interview with Dazed, Taeyang explained the reason behind his name as:

…I am inspired a lot by the beauties of nature. I named myself as the sun because the sun is the brightest star from the incalculable stars in the universe.

TAEYANG discharged from his military service in 2019, after serving for 21 months. In 2020 TAEYANG released a documentary about his life as a musician and an idol.