Jo Jin-ho (; born April 17, 1992), commonly known by the mononym Jinho, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, composer, vocal coach and member of South Korean boy group Pentagon under Cube Entertainment. In 2023, he participated in the JTBC singing competition program Phantom Singer 4, where his quartet Crezl ultimately placed third and officially debuted.
He is a former SM Entertainment trainee and member of the project group SM the Ballad. After leaving SM Entertainment in 2015, Jinho became a vocal coach. Since then, he has trained Cube labelmates (G)I-dle and Yoo Seon-ho, among others.
Early life Jinho was born in Bucheon, South Korea on April 17, 1992. When he was seven, his family moved to Daejeon. At the age of 15, he lived in Qingdao, China, for eight months due to family and work before settling in Seoul.
He decided to become a singer after watching Brian McKnight and Johan Kim perform a duet of McKnight's "One Last Cry."
Career 2008–2014: Everysing win and SM the Ballad In 2008, Jinho won first place in the SM Everysing Contest. He later became a trainee through SM Entertainment's casting system in the same year.
In November 2010, Jinho, under the name Jino, made his debut as a member of SM the Ballad alongside Super Junior's Kyuhyun, Shinee's Jonghyun, and TraxX's Jay. The group had great reception, and their debut EP Miss You reached number one on the Gaon Album Chart. He was then preparing to debut in another group, but plans fell through and the group was ultimately not formed. In 2013, he was cast in the musical Summer Snow.
2015–2020: Departing SM Entertainment, debut with Pentagon and musical roles
In 2015, Jinho left SM Entertainment and began working as a singing tutor at Modern K Academy. Modern K Academy encouraged Jinho to audition at Cube, as their CEO has close connections with Cube Entertainment and had a hand in creating Pentagon, being in charge of talent development. In February, he was part of a vocal project group, Seorin-dong Children (서린동 아이들) with Hui and another female singer. They released a remake of and Ryu Keum-deok's 1994 classic "For All the New Lovers". The group wasn't originally supposed to consist of them, but after receiving a good response from Cube Artist Development for the recorded guide, the company decided to release it on streaming sites. In February 2016, Jinho was featured in K.Shin's song "Perception" alongside Hwang Sung-dae under the name Mush. The name was intended to be Mu$h, but he forgot to tell K.Shin to add a dollar sign instead of an 's'.
Making it through the audition process, Jinho participated in Pentagon Maker making it to the final lineup and debuting with the group on October 10, 2016.
In 2017, Jinho started a personal project titled "Magazine Ho" releasing covers in various genres and languages on the last of each month. With this project he has worked with and featured other artists such as CLC's Sorn, (G)I-dle's Jeon So-yeon, HYNN, and band mates Hongseok, Shinwon, Hui, Kino, and Yeo One.
On March 17, 2018, Jinho held his first mini live concert which is a part of his Magazine Ho cover songs project.
In September, it was announced that Jinho would star in the musical Iron Mask as Raul, the son of Athos who admires his father and dreams of becoming a royal general. The musical ran from September 13 to November 18 at the Kwanglim Art Center, Seoul. He rotated the role with musical actor, Shin Hyun-mook and actor Yoo Hyun-seok.
On December 17, 2018, Cube announced his second mini live concert "Magazine Ho Vol.2 - Ready Ho" would be on 19 January 2019 at Ilchi Art Hall, and it sold out in seconds. Members Hongseok and Kino were present as special guests during the concert.
Jinho was cast in his fourth musical, Goddess is Watching You. He played as the role of an innocent and pure North Korean soldier Ryu Soon Ho, who overcomes his trauma due to war with the belief in a goddess. The musical ran from November 14, 2019, to February 26, 2020, at the Daehangno Arts Theater in Seoul.
Jinho held his 3rd solo mini live concert, "Magazine Ho Vol.3 - Off Stage" on January 11, 2020. Due to high demand from fans, Cube Entertainment added an additional date to the concert. Jinho is set to open the first performance on January 10 to meet more fans. He sang an unreleased song, "Gravity" together with member Kino which was composed and written by Kino. Members Hui, Hongseok and Yeo One were also present as special guest. In March, Jinho appeared on Mnet's music talk show Studio Music Hall 2. He was introduced as "high note terminator" performing a duet of Kim Kwang-seok's "At About Thirty" with Hui.
2021–present: Phantom Singer, Crezl, Japanese mini album In March 2023, Jinho joined season 4 of Phantom Singer as a contestant. His quartet, Crezl, ended up placing third in the final round.
Jinho released his first solo mini album, titled Cho:rd, on August 28. The album is a five-track Japanese project, with the lead single "Teddy Bear".
Personal life Mandatory military service As part of his mandatory military service, Jinho enlisted as an active duty soldier on May 11, 2020. Jinho prepared a small gift, "I'm Here", a self-composed solo song for his friends and bandmates who are running toward their dreams. Jinho explained, "When people are faced by exhaustion and discouragement, they bring back the old self of the day when they first dreamt of a dream. I hope that the voice of Pentagon's Jinho with the words 'You are doing great, so don't worry', will comfort everyone who listens to this song." The song was made before he enlisted, and only available through We:th physical album.
On September 29, 2021, Jinho's agency announced that he will be discharged from military service on November 14, 2021, without returning to the unit after his final vacation, according to the Ministry guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Discography
Extended plays +List of EPs, with selected details, peak chart positions and sales Title Details Peak chart positions Sales KOR JPNCho:rd Released: August 28, 2024 Label: Cube Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 12 19 KOR: 16,446Cumulative Sales of Cho:rd:
JPN: 4,391Cumulative sales of Cho:rd:
Singles Title Year AlbumAs lead artist "Goodbye With You" 2024 Cho:rd Teddy BearCollaborations "시작되는 연인들을 위해" 2015시작되는 연인들을 위해 "Happy Winter Song" 2016United Cube Project Part 2 "You Are" Pentagon "Thank You" 2017Ceremony "All My Heart" () 2019MBC What Is the First Place? Part 1As featured artist "Perception" 2016Part.1: Seed of Truth "Always" 2018Big WaveSoundtrack appearances "Just a Little Bit More" 2018What's Wrong with Secretary Kim OST "Miss U" 2019On the Campus OST "How Can I Do" Welcome to Waikiki 2 Part 4 OST "A-Ha!" 2022User Not Found OST"Keep This Moment" (이 순간을 간직해)Love All Play OST
Writing and production credits All credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association, unless stated otherwise.
YearArtistSongAlbumLyricsMusicCreditedWithCreditedWith2016K.Shin "Perception"Part.1 : Seed Of Truth Pentagon "Find Me" () "UP" 2017 "To Universe" () Ceremony "One More Night" () Demo 01 "All Right" Demo 02 2018 "Think About You" () Positive 2019 "Can't forget (忘れられない) " Shine "Round 1" (Bonus track) Genie:us "SUMMER!"Sum(me:r) "Round 2" (Bonus track) 2020 "Talk" Universe: The Black Hall Glay "I'm loving you" (Korean Ver.) Pentagon "I'm Here" WE:TH 2022"Feelin' Like"In:vite U
Filmography
Television series Year Title Role Notes 2017 Hello, My Twenties! 2 Cameo member of idol group Asgard
Variety shows Year Title Role Notes 2016 Pentagon Maker Contestant 2019 King of Mask Singer as "Young Master," episode 190 Rewriting The Chart Show, Number 1 Now Is? 2020 Studio Music Hall 2 with Hui, episode 10 2023 Phantom Singer Season 42024King of Mask Singeras "Fish Bread Hotspot," episodes 436-437
Theater Year Title Original title Role Notes 2013–2014 Summer Snow Lee Suhyun 2017–2018 All Shook Up 올슉업 Dean Hyde Korean Ver. 2018 Iron Mask 아이언 마스크 Raul 2019–2020 Goddess is Watching You 여신님이 보고 계셔 Ryu Soon Ho 2022Midnight Sun 태양의 노래Jung Ha-ram Ocean 오션스 Sky (Halbo)
Concerts Date City Country Events Venue Attendance March 17, 2018 Seoul South Korea Mini Live Magazine Ho Hana Tour V Hall January 19, 2019 Mini Live Magazine Ho Vol.2 - Ready Ho Ilchi Art Hall January 10, 2020Mini Live Magazine Ho Vol.3 - Off Stage Nodeul Live House 900 January 11, 2020 900
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Result Ref. 2019 Fatal Attraction
References
External links