Jo Kwon (Korean: 조권 born on August 28, 1989) is a South Korean singer, television host, actor, entertainer and the leader of South Korean boy band 2AM. He has starred in multiple musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar playing the role of King Herod and Everybody's Talking About Jamie as Jamie New.
Jo trained at JYP Entertainment for seven years after joining the company. He was chosen as the last member of Park Jin-young's "99% Challenge Project" along with Sunye of Wonder Girls.
In 2008, he appeared on Mnet's Hot Blood. The program showed the intense physical training that thirteen male trainees go through to acquire the opportunity to debut in either a four-member ballad group or a seven-member dance group. After several elimination steps, Jo was chosen for a position in the four-member ballad group 2AM. He became the group's leader.
2AM's first single "This Song" was released on July 21, 2008. In March 2015, Jo renewed his contract with JYP Entertainment, while three other members of 2AM signed with other agencies. JYP Entertainment assured that the departures did not mean 2AM was disbanding, however 2AM is currently on temporarily break from any group activities.
He left JYP Entertainment on September 22, 2017. On November 3, 2017, he signed with Cube Entertainment.
2008–2009: Variety entertainment and popularity as Adam Couple
Jo has appeared as a regular panel member on variety shows such as Star King. He was part of "Dirty Eyed Girls" in an episode of 2PM's variety show Wild Bunny, performing a parody of popular Brown Eyed Girls song "Abracadabra". The music video became popular. In September 2009, he was one of the main MCs for SBS' environmental variety show Find it! Green Gold with Super Junior member Shindong, SS501 member Kim Hyung-jun, and Fly To The Sky member Brian Joo. He also replaced Jay Park on historical culture variety show Nodaji.
He joined the cast of We Got Married on October 3, 2009, coupled with Brown Eyed Girls member Ga-In. Although he was initially only supposed to be featured in the Chuseok special, his appearance brought in the highest ratings yet for Season 2, so he was announced as a permanent couple. Jo was diagnosed with H1N1 on October 28, 2009, causing them to postpone filming We Got Married. He recovered quickly after treatment.
During his appearance in We Got Married, Jo and Ga-in were donned the nickname “Adam Couple” (아담커플) by fans. Together he released the digital single, "I Happen to Love You" (우리 사랑하게 됐어요), on December 17, 2009, which topped variety online music charts and won two awards on Music Bank's K-Charts and the "Most Popular Background Phone Music" on the Gaon Charts. 50 million won from the profits of the song were donated for rebuilding after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In 2010, he became a permanent cast member of Family Outing 2. He made his fifth appearance on the TV show "Happy Together" in June 2012. He made several appearances on Star King, Invincible Youth S2, Come To Play, Radio Star, Star Dance Battle, and many other shows. He is known for his kkab (깝) dance and often danced on variety shows. "Kkab" can be translated as hyperactive.
2010–2012: Screen debut and first solo album
On June 30, 2010, Jo released his first solo digital single titled, 고백하던 날 (The Day I Confessed), a song he partially composed during the We Got Married broadcast for Ga-in. The song came first on Cyworld real-time charts the day after release.
The same year, he was cast in the sitcom All My Love for You with co-stars Park Mi-sun, Kim Kap-soo and fellow idol and former 'wife' from We Got Married Ga-in.
On June 25, 2012, he released his solo album, I'm Da One, along with a music video.
In 2013, Jo joined the cast of a Korean Jesus Christ Superstar musical production, where he played the role of King Herod.
In the same year, on February 27, 2013, he was confirmed as one of the cast for the KBS2 drama Queen of the Office. The drama is about a talented contract worker, and the work and relationships that surround her.
2016–2017: Second solo album, fourth musical casting, Golden Tambourine, and departure from JYP Entertainment
Jo's new album Crosswalk included three tracks, two of which he wrote ― the lead single, "Crosswalk," and the third track, "Flutter." The second track, "It's Okay," was written by Ryan S. Jhun and Denzil "DR" Remedios, the music producers of SM Entertainment's Shinee and f(x). Popular songwriters Esna and Aev produced the title song.