Get to know [WINNER]

#WINNER

Winner (Hangul: 위너), often stylized as WINNER, is a South Korean Boy Group formed in 2013 by Yg Entertainment and debuted in 2014.

It currently consists of four members, Jinwoo, Seunghoon, Mino and Seungyoon, the fifth member Taehyun have left the group on November 25, 2016. The group has released two studio albums, one extended play and one single album.

The group was formed through the 2013 reality survival program WIN: Who is Next, where they competed as "Team A" against other trainees from YG Entertainment for the chance to debut as the first YG boy group in eight years, since the BIG BANG.

At the conclusion of the program, the name "Winner" was given to Team A after they won all three rounds of public voting.

After several delays, the group made their Korean debut at the Yg Family Concert on August 15, 2014. Their broadcast debut was on Inkigayo on August 17. On September 10, the group debuted in Japan.

They won a number of awards for Best New Artist in 2014, including at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the Melon Music Awards, and the Golden Disc Awards.

Pre-debut

In 2010, the group's leader Kang Seung-yoon was a contestant on the singing contest Superstar K2, reaching the final four.

The following year, he signed with Yg Entertainment and made his acting debut in the sitcom High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged.

In 2013, he debuted as a solo artist and released multiple tracks, including "It Rains".

Lee Seung-hoon was also a former reality-show singing contestant, competing in K-pop Star 1 in 2012. He came in fourth place and was recruited by Yang Hyun-suk. It was announced that Seung-hoon had signed under YG Entertainment on May 16.

Song Min-ho began his musical career as an underground rapper under the name "Mino", collaborating with other underground rappers-turned-idols such as Block B's Zico, Kyung, and P.O and SPEED's Taewoon. Mino was initially meant to debut with Block B, but left the group before their debut for personal reasons.

In 2011, he debuted under Y2Y Contents Company as part of the group BoM, which disbanded two years later. In 2013, he joined YG Entertainment through an audition, after being spotted from his acting appearance in the 2012 series The Strongest K-POP Survival broadcast on Channel A.

Kim Jin-woo attended the Joy Dance Plug In Music Academy prior to joining YG, where he was seen by Big Bang's Seungri and brought to the agency. He became a trainee in 2010.

Nam Tae-hyun was recruited to the agency in 2011 through an audition. He and Jinwoo performed as backup dancers at the 2011 YG Family Concert.