Ne-Yo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an
American pop and R&B singer–songwriter, record producer, actor, and occasional rapper. Since his
debut, Ne-Yo has had five top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist and two number-
one albums on the Billboard 200. Ne-Yo has also amassed a catalog of chart-topping songs that he
has written for other artists.
Ne-Yo broke into the recording industry as a songwriter, penning the hit "Let Me Love You" for
singer Mario. The single's successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting
between Ne-Yo and 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". Then in 2007, he released his sophomore album, Because of You which contained the US
top 3 hit, "Because of You". In 2008, he released his third album, Year of the Gentleman, which
contained the top 10 hits "Closer" and "Miss Independent".

Early life
Ne-Yo was born in Camden, Arkansas, and baptized as Shaffer Chimere Smith.[1] His father is
African American and his mother is of mixed African American and Chinese American descent;[2]
both were musicians.
As a young child, he was raised by his mother alone after she separated from his father.[3] In hopes
of better opportunity, his mother relocated the family to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Career
2000-2005: Career beginnings

Ne-Yo emerged into the recording industry as member of the Las Vegas-based quartet Envy.[4]
After the group disbanded in 2000, Ne-Yo was signed to Columbia Records, but, after recording his
first album, was dropped from the label before he could even release it.[5] American singer
Marques Houston happened to hear one of Ne-Yo's tracks, "That Girl", which was supposed to be
the latter's debut single off his then-unreleased album. Houston rerecorded "That Girl" and released
it as a single to his 2003 album MH.[4] The release of the song led to Ne-Yo being recognized as a
top songwriter.[4]
For the next two years, Ne-Yo continued writing songs, some of which have not been officially
released.[4] He contributed songs to American singer Teedra Moses's 2004 album Complex
Simplicity, Christina Milian's It's About Time, and the American boy band Youngstown,[6] though
all of which failed to give Ne-Yo much attention from the mainstream.[4] Ne-Yo has also
contributed songs to American singer Mary J. Blige, B2K, Faith Evans and Musiq, among others.[7]
Ne-Yo broke into the industry after "Let Me Love You", a song he wrote for American singer
Mario, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and later stayed on the top spot for nine
weeks.[6][8] After the successful release, Tina Davis, former A&R representative for Def Jam
Recordings, arranged an informal meeting with label head L.A. Reid.[4] Originally, Ne-Yo was not
seeking a new contract, but, after he had performed to them, he was signed by American hip hop
artist Jay-Z, then-CEO of Def Jam.[5][7]
"Ne-Yo" was coined by a producer Ne-Yo once worked with, Big D Evans,[9] because Evans
claimed that Ne-Yo sees music as Neo sees the matrix.[10] As a joke, Evans started calling him Ne-
Yo until everybody was accustomed to it.[3]

2006-2007: 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, selling over
301,000 copies in the first week.[11] During the same week, the single had reached number one on
the Billboard Hot 100.[8] Later singles released were "When You're Mad" and "Sexy Love", which
peaked at number 15 and number 7, respectively.[12] The album has been certified platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for a shipment of over one million units.[13]
His sophomore album, Because of You, was released on May 1, 2007, and, fueled by its lead single,
debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 251,000 copies in the United States; the feat
gave Ne-Yo his second number-one album.[14] The first single from the platinum-selling album
was the title track, which peaked at the number-two spot.[12] Despite the success of "Because of
You", later singles released charted lower and were unable to reach the Top 20.[12] The album has
been certified platinum by RIAA for a shipment of over one million units.[13] In December 2007,
Ne-Yo and the Goo Goo Dolls performed at a fund-raising concert for the then presidential
candidate Senator Barack Obama.[15]

2008-2009: Year of the Gentleman and Greatest Hits

Ne-Yo's third album, Year of the Gentleman, was first released on September 11, 2008, in Japan.
The album sold 250,000 copies in its first week in the United States, debuting on the Billboard 200
at number two.[16] 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 [Ne-Yo] can be".[17]
The first two singles, "Closer" and "Miss Independent", have peaked at number seven on the
Billboard Hot 100. The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album and Album of
the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards, "Closer" for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and "Miss
Independent" for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.[18] Year of the
Gentleman has been certified platinum by RIAA for a shipment of more than one million copies.
[13] The third single, "Mad", peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2 2009, Ne-Yo released greatst hits album Ne-Yo: The Collection in Japan.[19] The
album was also released with a limited edition CD+DVD edition complete with the music videos of
singles.[20] It debuted at number four on Japan Oricon weekly albums chart, selling 55,625 copies
in the first week.[21]

Other ventures
Songwriting and production
Ne-Yo frequently co-writes with Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen of the Norwegian
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".[22]
Aside from working on his own album, Ne-Yo also collaborates with several other artist. His works
include: Rihanna's top-ten single "Unfaithful" and later her number-one hit "Take a Bow" in 2008,
Mario Vazquez's "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.[1] He wrote the song "I'm You" for Leona Lewis's debut album Spirit, and is currently
writing songs for her next album and for the debut album of fellow X Factor winner Alexandra
Burke. He has also been working with Sugababes for their seventh album, with member Keisha
Buchanan confirming that Ne-Yo had written a song called 'No More You' for their album.[23]
Ne-Yo has also written songs for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Anastacia, Ciara, Corbin Bleu,
and Enrique Iglesias.[1][24] He also collaborated with Lindsay Lohan on her new material, having
already finished "Bossy", a pre-single for her new album Spirit in the Dark.[25] 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.[26] However, at the time of Jackson's death, Ne-Yo's collaborations with him
had yet to move past the writing stage.[27] In 2009, he wrote "Truth～最後の真実～" for Japanese
pop group w-inds..[28]
Ne-Yo ventured out to open his own recording studio called Carrington House in Atlanta, Georgia.
[29] 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-pledge record label. It
successfully became a label, and artists such as Paula Campbell, Sixx John, and Shanell are now
associated with Compound.[5][29]

Film appearances
Ne-Yo appeared in two films. He debuted on the silver screen with Save the Last Dance 2 in 2006
and later with Stomp the Yard in 2007. He contributed songs to the soundtracks to both films.[30]
Ne-Yo is set to star in, executive produce and write the soundtrack to the film Venice Beach.[31]

Personal life
Ne-Yo's then-girlfriend had a son in 2005, naming him Chimere after Ne-Yo's middle name.[1]
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.[32]
Ne-Yo was arrested for reckless driving on February 19, 2008, while driving through Cobb County,
Georgia. He was driving at over 100 mph in his 2006 Range Rover and did not have a valid license.
It was reported that he was doing about 105 mph, 50 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, after he pleaded guilty to driving without a license and pleaded no contest to the
reckless driving charge.[33]