Born in Busan on December 10, 1996. His parents divorced when he was a kid after his dad’s business failed and they lived in a basement for a while. He was raised by his single mother since then and by consequence became really close to her. He considers her his best friend.
Daniel revealed in 2017 on “Hello Counselor” that when he was in elementary school, he was chubby and bullied by his classmates.
Daniel was hurt by that. One day his teacher recommended he join the b-boy club. He said that dancing helped him build his self-confidence. He relayed his story on the show to the guest who was a girl going through a similar situation in order to give her advice.
He took on dancing for years and even won competitions. He specialized in b-boying and modern dance and minored in ballet.
Dancing has always been his passion. He used to go to dance academy classes late at night. It took him hours to get there and hours to get back home, but he never skipped practice and was always cheerful and hardworking no matter how tired he was.
What his middle school teacher had to say about him: https://twitter.com/minimini1216_/status/1153337680341549056
Daniel had to dropout of high school after a year due to financial difficulties. He worked part-time in places such as a coffee shop and BBQ place. https://twitter.com/realdefnik/status/983949264689684480
He briefly taught b-boying at his old middle school. When he became an adult, he went to Seoul by himself to pursue his dream of standing onstage.
He joined B2M and was there for 2 years before transferring to MMO. The company was broke, and in the end only Daniel and a few of his friends remained. Needless to say, they got no vocal or dancing lessons or any lessons of any sort. The company only provided them a basement.
And that’s where those young adults full of dreams trained day & night in hopes of achieving their dreams even tho their prospects were dim. They practiced dancing everyday even did dance covers. B2M was going to debut a boy group, but plans fell through. https://twitter.com/winkingniel/status/1044948976447905792
Youtube links in case the account is deleted:

With no visible light at the end of the tunnel, Daniel almost gave up on his dream&got his passport ready to go to Canada where his aunt lived. That’s when 1 of the guys who trained with him (Jisung) proposed that they try out their chances at MNET’s second season of PRODUCE 101.
With nothing to lose, Daniel along with 4 other trainees went on with their plan and participated in PRODUCE 101 SEASON 2. In the first 2 episodes the MMO BOYS (as they were called) got some attention for their carefree and funny attitude.
But Daniel only started getting real attention after his SORRY SORRY eye-contact video uploaded on Naver TV went viral for weeks even though he wasn’t one of the top popular trainees prior to that. His name even started trending on realtime search on Naver.
People became captivated with this charming Busan man who is not only a talented dancer and performer but was also very attractive offstage. His duality charmed many: He had the cutest eye-smile but a manly physique that made his dance line ever more beautiful.
His positive and cheerful personality amidst the tension of a very stressful survival show were very refreshing to see. Daniel didn’t once fight for the center position & tried his best in the position he was given. He also helped trainees who were struggling with their dancing.
Daniel started getting even more traction, and all his next eye-contact videos went viral. He trended almost everyday in Korea and by the last episode won first place in the mega hit show PRODUCE 101 SEASON 2 with over 1.5M votes.
A unknown trainee from a unknown company became the hottest man in Korea. It was a miracle. “KANG DANIEL SYNDROME” became a thing in 2017. SNL Korea even had a segment on the syndrome.
Link:
He was trending for the smallest things he did. Even his fancams of WANNA ONE fansigns trended on YouTube Korea. He was named "Celebrities' Celebrity" for how many celebrities were openly singing their love for him.
Link:
Everything he touched got sold out. He became known for his sold out status. Even earlier this year he proved his sold out power when his collaboration with Kakao Apeach was a huge success and shelves were emptied again and again.
This whole thread is a must read: https://twitter.com/prince__danik/status/1235563144434470912
He became the HOTTEST MAN in South Korea and was called “the second most powerful man in S. Korea” right after the president Moon Jae In himself in 2017 on tvN show "Problematic Men". Also Ceci Magazine conducted a survey and he placed second again right after the president.
The project group that came out of PRODUCE 101 SEASON 2 “WANNA ONE” became the hottest boy group and won daesangs during their active period from August 2017 to January 2019 before they officially disbanded because they only had a temporary contract.
Daniel and Jisung signed with LM (which is basically MMO's paper company).
In January Daniel opened a personal instagram account which managed to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD of fastest time to gain 1 Million followers on instagram.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/1/south-korean-k-pop-star-kang-daniel-breaks-popes-instagram-fans-record-553717
Apart of a few things that were filmed when he was in still WANNA ONE, Daniel was strangely absent.
Time went on without people hearing anything about Kang Daniel. His social media was abandoned and fancafe unmonitored. It was weird. Fans became worried. What was going on???
In February he went on Fancafe for a few times and he posted this message. At the time we didn't really know what he meant but later on we understood everything. He knew what was coming and he told us to trust him. That was the day before his contract with LM went into effect.
On March 3, the K-pop scene was shaken by news that KANG DANIEL was in a legal dispute with his agency LM. Fans were worried because going against companies in K-pop most of the time doesn’t end well.
Daniel posted on Fancafe both in korean and english.
On the day of Daniel’s ex-company dispute for many months to follow, there were many suspicious articles and negative mediaplay trashing KANG DANIEL personally and professionally. Fans knew LM were doing their hate campaign as every K-pop company does to any idol trying to leave.
Fans found out that the journalists trashing Kang Daniel were connected to LM CEO and Staff and worked for them. LM were hiring them for a smear campaign against him. https://twitter.com/LaEL_K_here/status/1106390220411277312
https://twitter.com/prince__danik/status/1104210386029502464
The hate and rumours got too extreme, even trampling Daniel’s search terms on Naver and associating him with bad words. Fans spent countless nights trying to get rid of them only for them to reappear again. Bots on fc and twitter& paid journalists tried to spread baseless rumours
Even using Disp*atch to try to paint him in a negative light. However, fans made posts exposing the lies spread and trended them everywhere. Fans were defending him on every platform on every forum everywhere with proof and receipts.
But it was suspicious. Fans suspected LM’s connections were pulling the strings behind them. Only powerful entities were able to do everything they did at the time. 
Like KMF who made it clear they were siding with LM.
LM delayed going to court twice by claiming a different address and switching lawyers at the last minute. This had fans worried since the longer they delayed the court hearing, the bigger the smear campaign they could create.
LM delayed court hearing a second time after they lost the contract suspension case and a week before the appeal hearing. They succeeded to delay it by 2 more weeks.
(Going on a tangent, during Daniel's Seoul exhibition in November 2019, he had some of his drawings on display like these ones. Fans suspected they were a representation of what his mental state was like during the the very hard times he went through in 2019)
It was a long and tough battle. All the way until May, no one saw a shadow of KANG DANIEL. He was on complete hiatus. Daniel only relayed what he had to say through his lawyers and not even once spoke badly of those trying to ruin his reputation.
After months he won the contract suspension. The first thing he did was update his fans on Instagram with a handwritten letter.
It was the most touching letter ever TT
Soompi link with english translation: https://www.soompi.com/article/1323514wpp/kang-daniel-pens-handwritten-letter-to-fans-after-court-accepts-his-request-to-suspend-exclusive-contract-with-agency
Daniel right away set up his company KONNECT ENTERTAINMENT (part of KD Corporation) and opened public job recruitment for staff positions.
Every step he did was trending news.People were amazed,not only because he won with a full citation (basically the judge sided with him on everything)in record time but because he is also setting up his own company at such a young age when many thought he would join a big company
Things slowly started getting better. Daniel had his FIRST PITCH THROW just a while after in Busan as the city’s AMBASSADOR. Thousands of people went to see him. Youtube link:
https://twitter.com/vikunyel/status/1212571710240645123/video/1
He then released his special debut album as a solo “COLOR ON ME”. He dedicated the album to his fans who waited for him all this time. He finished all preparations for it in a month only. The album sold over 450k albums and broke first-week record sale for solo.
he album had a beautiful holo cover that caught a lot of attention 😍
However, things didn’t go as well as they should have…
Fans started to notice that he didn’t go on music shows or any other shows for his debut album promotions. It became evident he was being BLACKLISTED in the industry.
He won #1 on Music Bank but he wasn't in attendance.
TV shows and celebrities stopped mentioning him when in the past a week wouldn’t pass without Daniel being mentioned in some context. He couldn’t even go to local festivals. The ban was obvious.
Some journalists spoke about it in this video:
Daniel still did V LIVEs, but fans noticed he looked off most of the time. In his debut showcase that aired on V LIVE, he confessed he was taking medication for anxiety.
More details about it here:
Things went on like that, and he was blacklisted for months. He could only have an Asia fanmeeting tour. The legal dispute finally ended in late September when his ex-company gave up after losing in court twice. He slowly started going back on TV.
He had his first public performance in October four months after his debut. Fans were happy! In November he released a digital single (TOUCHIN which is SOTY yall better go check it out) and was at last able to promote on music shows.
However, his anti situation was really bad throughout 2019, especially since March’s legal dispute and August when his private life was outed by Dis*patch. This was shadily dropped the same week he missed the hugely CJ MEDIAPLAYED WANNA ONE dinner
He couldn’t have attended anyway. Many months later, it was revealed Daniel has depression and anxiety. He didn’t go outside. The dinner was mediaplayed to be paid for by his ex-company. He likely wouldn’t have been able to go after the lengths they went to ruin his reputation.
Malicious fans of other W1 members, other idol stans, and incels who hated popular idols in general banded together on all platforms to cyberbully Daniel. They made up false rumours targeting his family, reputation, fans, and coworkers
One night in December, fans were alarmed when Daniel posted concerning messages on fancafe. He had enough of antis and people hating on him for no reason since 2017 and was crying for help.
The next morning, his company revealed Daniel was diagnosed in early 2019 with depression and panic disorder and that he would take a hiatus until further notice.
A hashtag in support of Daniel trended worldwide
https://www.newsweek.com/k-pop-kang-daniel-break-mental-health-depression-anxiety-panic-disorder-1475453
Fans were heartbroken. That day we vowed to clean up the environment for him and to speak up louder against any type of hate. That performance metrics and numbers were fleeting. What mattered was Daniel’s happiness and that he could pursue his dreams in a safe place.
On 'Omniscient Interfering View' show on MBC, Daniel said his manager checked up on him everyday for two months during his hiatus. 
(Trans cr: Soompi)
Daniel mustered up the courage to film a travel reality show HELLO, DANIEL in February. There was a time when his anxiety due to large crowds had them stop filming, but he pushed through.
In March he came back with his first mini album CYAN (which had 2U, also SOTY plz check it out). Meanwhile he set up his own café in KONNECT.
The Café is not only beautiful but it also served special menus that were as tasty as they were aesthetically pleasing 😍
It was revealed then some of his dancers were actually his longtime friends for more than 8 years!! He asked them to work with him when he set up KONNECT and they accepted. They call themselves Team Daniel.
Ingyoo (Carrot) even posted a sweet message about Daniel ❤
In this video Daniel talked about knowing some of the guys for more than 8 years and that even when they are busy with other things, whenever he called them to work with him they would drop everything and come to him.
We love true freindship ❤
Link:
Needless to say, his popularity was still proven by the solo CF deals he got this year for big names like GIVENCHY BEAUTY, PUMA, KT SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 10, KAKAO APEACH etc.
He also continued to grace fashion magazine covers and even had the honor of gracing September 2019 issue of VOGUE magazine which was a huge deal in the fashion industry.
His latest magazine covers were this June.
Here a whole thread about all the magazine covers he graced since 2017: https://twitter.com/prince__danik/status/1250312520973160449?s=19
His mini album CYAN released on March 2020 had an amazing number of album sales and got platinum certified. It marks the first album of his Colors trilogy. With over 750k sales so far, Danity are hoping to make him a million seller with his next album 💙
His variety appearances continued to trend and Daniel remained a hot topic in online communities. Winning polls and topping surveys to this day.
Even to this day, he is referred to as the NATION’S CENTER for his huge impact in the K-pop industry. Not only with respect to his popularity but also his contributions to charity and standing up for legal rights and mental health.
Even in the middle of a lawsuit and mental health issues, Daniel has always been donating to charity and so has his Fanclub (Danity). Daniel inspires the fandom to donate and they also inspire him to donate. Its the most wholesome beautiful relationship between idol and fans ❤
Danity even started the trend of Relay Donations for Gangwon wildfire victims and other fandom later did the same.
Daniel later made a response donation to Danity's donations.
Although he did it in secret, his name was later revealed by The Hope Bridge.
Daniel is this kind of man. He is a positive change in the industry.
I want people to stop saying he had an easy journey and that he became popular “easily”. That’s not true at all! He had so many hardships to get to where he is today
I tried to tell his story as best as I could.
After reading this I am sure you have an idea about who is Kang Daniel. So don’t look down on his hard work and please support him even a bit. He deserves it <3 Leave him alone if you can’t be respectful
If you managed to read this far, I thank you for spending some minutes to try to get to know this man. He deserves all the love in the world TT 💙
This was a glimpse of the story of Kang Daniel.
From a kid who loved to b-boy to a man who positively impacts the industry and others' wellbeing ❤
More useful links:
Anlther Fanmade wesbite: https://midoodlez.com/ 
A blog that shares eng subs of Daniel's videos: https://kdnsubs.blogspot.com/ 
For more info and news about Daniel on twitter and if you want to interact with his fans you can follow @KDANIEL_SUPPORT
@kangdaniel_com
@ourdaniel_com
@kdnsubs
@Niel_social
Finally you can support Daniel by following his SNS accounts ^^ ❤💙 https://twitter.com/KDANIEL_SUPPORT/status/1276895329065959426
Ah I forgot to add this!
If you have a Facebook account please join us here ^^
It's a Fanclub for anyone who loves Daniel❤
https://www.facebook.com/groups/471135133613282/?ref=share
Something else I want to say, there are some details that I left out. I couldn't write the details of the smear campaign that was going on. Because LM and whoever else behind their back were outright IMMORAL.
It was a very disturbing and disgusting smear campaign again such a young man. And because LM connections were strong it did cause damage. It was just not normal. So I am sorry that I was a bit selfish to leave out those details. It makes me sad even thinking about it.
More things people need to know about Daniel:
🔹 He adopted 2 stray cats in his trainee days and 2 more after he debuted. All female cats. He is a HUGE cat lover. He calls them his sisters and he loves them the most in the world 😭❤ Kang Ori, Peter Rooney and Zzangah 💙
🔹 He enrolled in a Cyber university after he debuted in Wanna One. He always wanted to resume his studies. Just recently he passed his exams with great grades ><
We stan a smart king 😍
🔹 This yall probably know already but his dancing is B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L ❤
It's not just talent it's also charisma.
Watch this dancin compilation here and support the channel <3
🔹Daniel has always done charity ever since he was a kid, even used to donate regularly to UNICEF &volunteered at child care centers. In his trainee days fans spotted old pics of him wearing bracelets for charity.
Giving back is just part of who he is ❤
https://ourdaniel.com/kang-daniel/philanthropy/
🔹Daniel's debut song 'What Are You Up To' had a music video that Danity are sure had many hidden messages about what Daniel went through in 2019
& considering he is the CEO and gets involved in his work I don't doubt it!
The mv won 'Best MV' in MMA 2019 https://mnews.joins.com/article/23536903#home
You can follow @DanityNation.
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