Jun Hyo-seong (Hangul: 전효성; Hanja: 全 烋星; born October 13, 1989) often simply known as Hyoseong or Hyosung, is a South Korean singer and actress.
In 2005, she was a finalist in Mnet's Battle Shinhwa which led to her signing a recording contract with Good Entertainment. In 2007, she was going to debut in the group Five Girls, with G.NA, Wonder Girls' Yubin, After School's Uee and former T-ara member and former Spica member Yang Jiwon; however, the group disbanded before they were able to debut due to the company's financial problems. Hyoseong was later discovered by TS Entertainment through a show aired on SBS MTV called Diary of Five Girls and spent two years with the company as a trainee. In 2009, she debuted with Song Jieun, Han Sunhwa and Jung Hana as the four-member girl group Secret. Hyoseong debuted as a solo artist in 2014.
Life and career
1989–2004: Early life and childhood
Jun Hyoseong was born in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea on October 13, 1989. Hyoseong's name is derived from the word '유성' which is Korean for 'meteor'. She was named this way as her father and maternal grandmother saw a shooting star across the sky on the day of her birth. Hyoseong's family struggled financially and she and her family earned extra money by delivering newspapers every morning since she was in 3rd grade. Ever since she was young, she was known amongst her friends for her singing and dancing skills. However, she never had thoughts of actually becoming a singer until she was in 6th grade. She admitted:
In middle school, she was the leader of her school's dance club and worked part-time jobs to earn the money to travel to Seoul for auditions. Her parents were against her choice at first but later supported her decision when they saw how dedicated she was towards her goal.
2005–2008: Career beginnings, Five Girls and personal struggles
In 2005, Hyoseong failed her audition for talent shows hosted in Cheongju and Seoul. She later won an audition held earlier by the same management company in Cheongju in May 2005.
She was then advised by an agent at Good Entertainment to audition for Mnet's "Battle Shinhwa" and was picked as one of the final twelve participants and among them, three were females. She expressed:
She went on to add:
She was picked as the final 6 and later went on to sign a recording contract with Good Entertainment. She signed officially in 2006 and started to live in the dorms with Yoobin and Uee as a trainee and started going to school in Seoul. Good Entertainment had initially intended for Hyoseong to debut in a three-member group along with Yoobin and Uee, but ended up adding G.NA and Jiwon. They were set to debut as a five-member group called "Five Girls". In 2007, before their official debut, the group starred in a reality show on MTV called "Diary of Five Girls". Five Girls were never able to debut due to their company's financial issues.
In 2008, after "Five Girls" disbandment, she started working at a part-time job and managed to earn enough money to attend Inha University; however, her college life was short-lived.
However, she was faced with a larger obstacle during her 11th grade when her father was diagnosed with lung cancer, though he initially recovered after treatment. Her father was still weak when he decided to go back to work to support his family and the cancer recurred, this time being much more aggressive. The doctors told Hyoseong's family to "be ready". Her father died of lung cancer in 2008. At this point, Hyoseong was no longer a trainee with Good Entertainment and had decided to start attending college again. However, her plans changed when a TS Entertainment agent contacted her.
2009–2014: Debut with Secret and rising popularity
In 2008, a TS Entertainment agent had seen Hyoseong in "Diary of Five Girls" and contacted her to audition for their company. Hyoseong passed the audition and began living as a TS Entertainment trainee. TS Entertainment announced that they would debut a four-member girl group in October 2009. Hyoseong, along with Han Sunhwa, Song Jieun and Jung Hana, debuted as the group, Secret. Prior to their debut, the group appeared in a documentary called "Secret Story" which chronicled their debut process. They released their debut single "I Want You Back" in October 2009.
In April 2010, Secret released their first mini album entitled Secret Time which spawned the hit single "Magic" and served as their breakthrough song in South Korea. In August 2010, they released their second mini album entitled "Madonna" and the title track continued their success as it topped the Gaon Single Charts.