Prior to the group's debut, a few of the members were already exposed to the entertainment industry. G-Dragon and Taeyang were the first ones to receive training under YG Entertainment at the age of eleven. T.O.P was an underground rapper.After G-Dragon was approached by YG-Entertainment for possible candidates to start a boy group, G-Dragon contacted T.O.P, with whom he was a childhood friend with, leading to the latter to audition in. Seungri first appeared on the reality television The original lineup consisted of 6 members: the aforementioned ones along with Daesung and So-1, who were both auditioned in. Their formation was documented on television; prior to their official debut, So-1 was dropped.
Big Bang held their official debut on August 19, 2006 at the Gymnastics Arena in Seoul Olympic Park during the YG Family 10th Year Concert.[20] On September 23, 2006, the group had their debut performance on television broadcast.