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 In a Nutshell
Big Bang, commonly stylized as BIGBANG, is a Korean boyband made up of five Korean singers – G-Dragon, Taeyang, T.O.P, Daesung and Seungri. When they first debuted, they were considered to be the new face of YG Entertainment. The group gained mainstream success with the release of "거짓말" (“Lies”).
 The Formative Years
Before Big Bang's major debut, each member had his own degree of success and popularity in the entertainment industry. Leader G-Dragon and lead vocalist Taeyang had already been with YG Entertainment since they were both twelve years old. Member T.O.P was well-known as an underground hip-hop rapper while Seungri was first introduced to the entertainment industry through the show Let's Cokeplay Battle Shinhwa.
After the lineup for the group was finally made, MTV Korea released a documentary that showed the members in training before their debut as an official group. Prior to the release of their first album, the group had a unique release schedule, with three EPs released within a span of a few months. Their first EP was The First Single Album, which spawned the hit single "This Love", a remake of Maroon 5's own single. The second EP Big Bang is V.I.P. was released a month later. Their third and last EP, B I G B A N G 0 3, followed the success of their previous EPs with final sales nearing 30,000 copies.
At the end of December 2006, Big Bang held their very first concert titled The Real. The following month, their first debut album Since 2007, which was essentially a compilation of songs from their previous singles, was released. It sold 48,009 copies by the end of February 2007.
 Breakthrough success
On February 8, 2007, Big Bang released their live concert album entitled The First / Real Live Concert, which sold almost 30,000 copies by the end of 2007. In August, the group released what would become one of their first mini albums Always. Taking control over their music, group-leader G-Dragon began producing and writing some of the songs on the album. The mini-album contained the single “거짓말” ("Lies"), which became the group's first song to be a breakout hit, reaching number-one on SBS Hit Songs, MBC's Music Core, KBS Music Bank, Mnet's Countdown and numerous online and offline charts for many consecutive weeks.
The mini-album garnered Big Bang numerous awards by the end of 2007, including "Best Male Group" and "Song Of The Year" from the 2007 M.NET/KM Music Festival. Later in 2008, Big Bang also collected the prestigious "Daesang" from the 17th Seoul Music Awards.
Their second mini album, Hot Issue, was released a few months after Always and yielded another strong single for the group, "마지막 인사" ("Last Farewell"). It mirrored the success of "Lies," topping various music charts, and winning the "Song of the Month Digital Music Award" from Cyworld ,, beating strong competitors such as the Wonder Girls and F.T. Island.
Despite their activities being delayed several times due to solo activities, Big Bang eventually released their third mini-album Stand Up in mid-2008 — which featured collaborations with the group Daishi Dance, and the Korean rock-band No Brain. The mini-album went on to exceed the 100,000 mark in sales and also yielded some of the group's strongest singles, with the lead single "Day By Day" topping several online charts.
Towards the end of 2008, Big Bang released their Korean follow-up album, Remember, yielding the single "붉은노을 ("Sunset Glow"), which peaked at number-one on various charts in Korea.
 Branching out
The group went on a break in early 2009, with all of them pursuing solo activities. During this time, they collaborated with 2NE1, a new girl group from their entertainment company and also touted as The Female Big Bang, for the song "Lollipop". It has since hit number-one on various online charts.
On October 15, 2009, Big Bang announced their first tie-up with a Japanese drama; they will be providing the theme song for TBS's Ohitorisama, starring Alisa Mizuki and Teppei Koike.
Official site: http://www.ygbigbang.com
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