Ne-Yo

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Biography

Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. (born October 18, 1979), better known by his stage name Ne-Yo , is an American Pop music|pop and Contemporary R& B|R& B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit " Let Me Love You " for singer Mario (entertainer)|Mario . The single's successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam Recordings|Def Jam 's label head, and signing a recording contract.

In 2006, he released his debut album, In My Own Words , which contained the US number one hit " So Sick ", as well as the top 10 hit " Sexy Love ". Then in 2007, he released his second album, Because of You (Ne-Yo album)|Because of You , which contained the US top 3 hit, " Because of You (Ne-Yo song)|Because of You ". In 2008, he released his third album, Year of the Gentleman , which contained the top 10 hits " Closer (Ne-Yo song)|Closer "," Mad (song)|Mad " and " Miss Independent (Ne-Yo song)|Miss Independent ". His fourth studio album, Libra Scale , was released on November 22, 2010.

In 2009, Billboard ranked him as the 57th Artist of the 2000s decade. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts-decade-end/artists-of-the-decade? year=2009& begin=21& order=position In addition to a successful recording career, Ne-Yo has amassed a catalog of chart-topping songs that he has written for other artists.

Early life

Ne-Yo was born in Camden, Arkansas , and baptized as Shaffer Chimere Smith . "Chimere" is a name originating from the Igbo language in Nigeria meaning "God's Deed". His mother is a mix of African American and Chinese American|Chinese descent, and his father is Nigerian . Both of his parents were musicians. As a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father. In hopes of better opportunity, his mother relocated the family to Las Vegas metropolitan area|Las Vegas , Nevada. While in the Las Vegas Academy, Smith adopted the stage name "GoGo" and joined an R& B group called Envy. The group disbanded in 2000, and Smith continued to write songs for other artists before starting his solo career.

Music career

1999–2005: career beginnings

Ne-Yo emerged on the recording industry scene as member of the Romford-based quartet Envy, which featured Chimna Orji as its leading woman. After the group disbanded in 2000, Columbia Records signed Ne-Yo, but the label dropped him before he could release his already-recorded first album. American singer Marques Houston happened to hear " That Girl (Marques Houston song)|That Girl ", which Ne-Yo had planned to release as his debut single (music)|single off his then-unreleased album. Houston re-recorded the song and released it as a single for his 2003 album MH (Marques Houston album)|MH . The release of the song led to Ne-Yo being recognized as a top songwriter.

For the next two years, Ne-Yo continued writing songs, some of which have not been officially released. He contributed songs to American singer Teedra Moses 's 2004 album Complex Simplicity , Christina Milian 's '' It's About Time (Christina Milian album)|It's About Time , and the American boy band Youngstown (band)|Youngstown , though all of which failed to give Ne-Yo much mainstream attention. Ne-Yo has also contributed songs to singers Mary J. Blige , B2K , Faith Evans and Musiq , among others.

A breakthrough came when Ne-Yo wrote " Let Me Love You " for American singer Mario (entertainer)|Mario . The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 , and later stayed at the top spot for nine weeks. After the successful release, Tina Davis, former A& R representative for Def Jam Recordings , arranged an informal meeting with label head L.A. Reid . Despite not seeking a new contract at the time, then-CEO of Def Jam Jay-Z signed Ne-Yo to a new deal after he performed for the label's executives.

The stagename "Ne-Yo" was coined by Big D Evans, a producer with whom Ne-Yo once worked, because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music as Neo (The Matrix)|Neo sees the Matrix (fictional universe)|matrix .
Though Evans started calling him this as a joke, the name stuck.

2006–07: In My Own Words and Because of You

In early 2006, Ne-Yo released his debut album, In My Own Words , through Def Jam . Boosted by its popular second single, " So Sick ", the album debuted at number one on Billboard 200| Billboard 200 , selling over 301,000 copies in the first week. During the same week, the single had reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 . Later singles released were " When You're Mad " and " Sexy Love ", which peaked at number 15 and number 7, respectively. The album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for a shipment of over one million units.

His second album, Because of You (Ne-Yo album)|Because of You , was released on May 1, 2007, and, fueled by its lead single, debuted at number one on the Billboard & nbsp;200, selling 251,000 copies in the United States; the feat gave Ne-Yo his second number-one album. The first single from the platinum-selling album was the Because of You (Ne-Yo song)|title track , which peaked at the number-two spot. Despite the success of "Because of You", later singles released charted lower and were unable to reach the Top 20. The album has been certified platinum by RIAA for a shipment of over one million units. In December 2007, Ne-Yo and the Goo Goo Dolls performed at a fund-raising concert for the then presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama .

2008–09: Year of the Gentleman and Greatest Hits

Ne-Yo's third album, Year of the Gentleman , was released internationally on August 5, 2008. Speaking to noted UK R& B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul , Ne-Yo explained the thinking behind its title: "To me 'Year Of The Gentleman' is all about a persona, a swag and a charm. I made an assessment of the music business. And, in my personal opinion, the essence of the gentleman is absent right now. Everybody kinda looks the same, everybody's kinda doing the same thing, everybody's kinda rude and full of themselves. Whereas a gentleman is calm, courteous, kind, charming... So that title basically represents me trying to lead by example, and showing these cats what it is to be a gentleman in this business still."

The album sold 250,000 copies in its first week in the United States, debuting on the Billboard & nbsp;200 at number two. Reviews for the album were positive: in one of which, Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Year of the Gentleman is "actually a superb concept album about what a great boyfriend he can be".

The first two singles, " Closer (Ne-Yo song)|Closer " and " Miss Independent (Ne-Yo song)|Miss Independent ", have peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot& nbsp;100. The album was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R& B Album|Best Contemporary R& B Album and Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards|2009 Grammy Awards , "Closer" for Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance|Best Male Pop Vocal Performance , and "Miss Independent" for Grammy Award for Best Male R& B Vocal Performance|Best Male R& B Vocal Performance and Grammy Award for Best R& B Song|Best R& B Song . Year of the Gentleman has been certified platinum by RIAA for a shipment of more than one million copies. The third single, " Mad (song)|Mad ", peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 .

On September 2, 2009, Ne-Yo released greatest hits album Ne-Yo: The Collection in Japan.|date=|work=CDJapan.co.jp|publisher=Neowing|accessdate=2009-09-12 The album was also released with a limited edition CD+DVD edition complete with the music videos of singles. It debuted at number four on Japan Oricon weekly albums chart, selling 55,625 copies in the first week.

2010–2011: Libra Scale

Ne-Yo released his fourth studio album, Libra Scale , on November 22, 2010. The first single, " Beautiful Monster ", premiered on May 25, 2010 and was released as a digital download on June 8, 2010 and reached number one on UK singles chart. On October 8, 2010, Ne-Yo performed some of his songs from the new album at P.C. Richard & Son Theater in New York City that was hosted by iheartradio . Ne-Yo made an appearance at New York Comic Con to announce he was collaborating with Stan Lee for a Libra Scale comic.Nagy, Evie "Ne-Yo Teams Up with Stan Lee at New York Comic Con" 11 October 2010 http://www.billboard.com/column/viralvideos/ne-yo-teams-up-with-stan-lee-at-new-york-1004120357.story#/column/viralvideos/ne-yo-teams-up-with-stan-lee-at-new-york-1004120357.story Ne-Yo also met with fans for pictures and autographs in the Cultyard of the comic con.Cope2, 09 October 2010 "COPE2,NE-YO,PHETUS SIGN IN AT ELITE GUDZ AT THE NEW YORK COMICCON!!& #33; SUCCESS!!!!!!" http://www.12ozprophet.com/index.php/cope2/entry/cope2ne-yophetus_sign_in_at_elite_gudz_at_the_new_york_comiccon_success/ The second and third singles released off of the album are "Champagne Life" and "One in a Million", respectively. Speaking of Libra Scale , Ne-Yo stated: "The album is based upon this short story which basically follows these three characters who are forced to choose between money-power-and-fame versus love. Which in turn is why I've called it 'Libra Scale'. You know, its whole concept is based on that question of morality – that, if you weight it all out on a libra scale, which one of those two options would you choose? "

The album debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200 , selling 112,000 copies in its first week. In the United Kingdom , the album debuted at number 11 on the UK Albums Chart , while debuting at number one on the UK R& B Chart .

2011& ndash;present: The Cracks in Mr. Perfect and projects

On February 25, 2011, while on his tour in the United Kingdom , he announced his new album would be called Love and Passion and would be released in September, but this was proven false as the title was tentative. American rapper Fabolous , said in an interview that he is planning a collaboration album with Ne-Yo as well. Ne-Yo is currently writing songs for Mary J. Blige , Beyoncé Knowles , Justin Bieber , Monica (singer)|Monica , Alexandra Burke , Cheryl Cole and Willow Smith 's upcoming albums. Ne-Yo starred in two motion pictures, Red Tails , due for a release in early 2012, and Battle: Los Angeles , which was released in the United States on March 11, 2011. Ne-Yo has already finished writing songs for American pop singer and Roc Nation artist Alexis Jordan (singer)|Alexis Jordan and her Alexis Jordan (album)|self-titled debut album as well as Jennifer Hudson for her second studio album, I Remember Me (album)|I Remember Me , which had a North American release on March 22, 2011.

Ne-Yo appeared in the childrens preschool show The Fresh Beat Band and is one of the few artists not to cancel appearances in the wake of the 2011 Japan earthquake .

In the spring of 2011, Ne-Yo collaborated with American rapper Pitbull (rapper)|Pitbull on his single, " Give Me Everything (Pitbull song)|Give Me Everything ", which has peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 , giving Ne-Yo his second U.S. number-one single since 2006's " So Sick " and his first as a guest artist. Ne-Yo has also revealed an interview that he would like to collaborate with Chris Brown (American singer)|Chris Brown , Lil Wayne and Drake (entertainer)|Drake on his new album.

Ne-Yo is currently making a mixtape to give to fans before his forthcoming album. The Mixtape will be called "1O1" and will be hosted by comedian Kevin Hart . On October 13, 2011, Ne-Yo revealed that his fifth studio album would be titled, The Cracks in Mr. Perfect , which is expected to be released in early 2012. On Oct. 27, 2011, Ne-Yo dropped his first single called " The Way You Move (Ne-Yo song)|The Way You Move " featuring Trey Songz and T-Pain . http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-way-you-move-feat.-trey/id478214681

Other ventures

Songwriting and production

Ne-Yo frequently co-writes with Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen of the Norwegian production team Stargate (production team)|Stargate . Ne-Yo met them in a hallway at Sony Music Studios in New York, and having known the team produces R& B records, he decided to collaborate with them. The collective's early works were tracks off In My Own Words including "So Sick".

Aside from working on his own album, Ne-Yo also collaborates with several other artists. His works include: Rihanna 's top-ten singles " Unfaithful (song)|Unfaithful ", " Russian Roulette (song)|Russian Roulette " and her number-one hit " Take a Bow (Rihanna song)|Take a Bow ", Mario Vazquez 's " Gallery (song)|Gallery ", Paula DeAnda 's " Walk Away (Remember Me) ", and Beyoncé Knowles ' Billboard Hot 100 number-one single " Irreplaceable ", which stayed on the chart for ten consecutive weeks. He wrote the song "I'm You" for Leona Lewis 's debut album Spirit (Leona Lewis album)|Spirit , and is currently writing songs for her next album and for the debut album of fellow The X Factor (UK)|X Factor winner Alexandra Burke . He has also been working with Sugababes for their Sweet 7|seventh album , with member Keisha Buchanan confirming that Ne-Yo had written a song called 'No More You' for their album.
In 2010, he dueted with Mariah Carey on 'Angel's Cry', a song on her cancelled album, Angels Advocate.
Ne-Yo has also written songs for Whitney Houston , Celine Dion , Carrie Underwood Anastacia , Ciara , Corbin Bleu , Enrique Iglesias and Dima Bilan . He also collaborated with Lindsay Lohan on her new material, having already finished " Bossy (Lindsay Lohan song)|Bossy ", a pre-single for her new album Spirit in the Dark . Ne-Yo confirmed that he had been contacted by producer will.i.am to work on what would have been Michael Jackson 's new album. However, at the time of Jackson's death, Ne-Yo's collaborations with him had yet to move past the writing stage. In an interview in 2010 he said since Jackson's death he's been confused as what to do with the songs, as he feels that selling them to another artist or even releasing the songs himself would be disrespectful to Jackson legacy. In 2009, he wrote " New World/Truth (Saigo no Shinjitsu)|Truth (Saigo no Shinjitsu) " for Japanese pop group w-inds. .

Ne-Yo ventured out to open his own recording studio called Carrington House in Atlanta, Georgia. He also had started his own production company, Compound Entertainment, in 2007, and has hired several producers and songwriters in hopes of turning it into a full-fledge record label . It successfully became a label, and artists such as Paula Campbell (singer)|Paula Campbell , Sixx John, and Shanell are now associated with Compound.

Personal life

Family

In 2005, Ne-Yo's girlfriend at the time gave birth to a boy, naming him Chimere after Ne-Yo's middle name. Though Ne-Yo believed he was the father, he later discovered the child was not his. He is now in litigation with the child's mother.

In June 2010, Ne-Yo told Ebony (magazine)|Ebony that he and his thought to be girlfriend, Monyetta Shaw, were expecting their first child together, a girl due early in 2011. Shaw gave birth early to a girl, Madilyn Grace Smith, on November 12, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia . Announcing the birth, Ne-Yo said of his first child, "I've been in love before but this feels like nothing I've ever felt...Like I'm in love for the first time."

In September 2011, Ne-Yo revealed that he is expecting his second child with Monyetta Shaw. Shaw gave birth to a boy, Mason Evan Smith, on October 9, 2011Ravitz, Justin (September 19, 2011). . Us Weekly . Retrieved September 21, 2011.

Legal issues

Ne-Yo was arrested for reckless driving on February 19, 2008, while driving through Cobb County, Georgia . He was driving at over 100 miles per hour|mph in his 2006 Range Rover and did not have a valid driver's license|license . It was reported that he was doing about 150& nbsp;mph, 100& nbsp;mph over the speed limit. According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution , Ne-Yo was sentenced to 24 hours community service by a judge on June 2, 2008. He pleaded guilty to driving without a license and pleaded "no contest" to the reckless driving charge.

On August 22, 2011, Lindsay Lohan sued Ne-Yo, Pitbull (rapper)|Pitbull , and Afrojack in response to Give Me Everything (Pitbull song)|Give Me Everything 's lyrics referencing her name.

Discography

;Studio albums

2006: In My Own Words

2007: Because of You (Ne-Yo album)|Because of You

2008: Year of the Gentleman

2010: Libra Scale

2012: The Cracks in Mr. Perfect

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Save the Last Dance 2	Mixx	Direct to video
2007	Stomp the Yard	Rich Brown	FilmCarroll, Larry (January 3, 2007). . MTV . Retrieved August 26, 2011.
2011	CSI: NY	The Handsome Man	Smooth Criminal "Abrams, Natalie (November 30, 2010). . TV Guide . Retrieved December 1, 2010.
2011	The Fresh Beat Band	Himself	Special episode "Band in a Jam"Seidman, Robert (May 17, 2011). . TV by the Numbers . Retrieved October 28, 2011.
2011	Battle: Los Angeles	Specks	Film. (March 10, 2011). IGN . Retrieved April 6, 2011.
2012	Red Tails	Andrew 'Smoky' Salem	Film. (April 6, 2009). StarWars.com . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
2012	Good Deeds	Jacob	Film

Copyright Citations

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Ne-Yo Photo by: i.realone.com


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