American singer (born 1979)
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of 2000s R&amp;B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards. He gained recognition for his songwriting abilities following the success of his first major credit, Mario's 2004 single "Let Me Love You". Its release prompted a meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam's then-president Jay-Z, resulting in a contract in which he released four successful studio albums and numerous hit songs for the label.
Ne-Yo's debut single, "Stay" (featuring Peedi Peedi) was released the following year to lukewarm commercial reception, although its follow-up, "So Sick" became his breakthrough hit as it peaked atop the "Billboard" Hot 100. Both songs, along with the follow-up singles "When You're Mad" and "Sexy Love", preceded the release of his debut studio album "In My Own Words" (2006), which peaked atop the "Billboard" 200 and saw positive critical reception. Furthermore, the album earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&amp;B Album and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in addition to similar certifications in the UK, Japan and Australia.
"Because of You" (2007), Ne-Yo's second studio album, also peaked the "Billboard" 200 and won Best Contemporary R&amp;B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. His third studio album, "Year of the Gentleman" (2008), saw continued success and yielded a nomination for the award, as well as for Album of the Year. Its lead single, "Closer" earned a nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while its follow-up, "Miss Independent" won the award, as well as Best R&amp;B Song at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. "Year of the Gentleman" received double platinum certification by the RIAA—selling two million copies—as well as triple platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
"Libra Scale" (2010), Ne-Yo's fourth studio album, was met with mild success on international charts and reached number nine on the US "Billboard" 200. Seeing an overall decline in commercial reception, he parted ways with Def Jam in favor of its coequal Universal Music Group subsidiary, Motown two years later. His fifth album, "R.E.D." (2012) peaked at number four on the chart and was preceded by the single "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)", which peaked at number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and peaked atop the UK Singles Chart. His sixth album, "Non-Fiction" (2015) was met with similar commercial response despite a steep critical decline. It was supported by the "Billboard" Hot 100-top ten single "Time of Our Lives" (with Pitbull) and the strip club-inspired top 40 single, "She Knows" (featuring Juicy J). His seventh album, "Good Man" (2018) peaked at number 33 on the "Billboard" 200, while his eighth and ninth albums, "Another Kind of Christmas" (2019) and "Self Explanatory" (2022) scarcely entered the chart.
Alongside his recording career, Ne-Yo served as a judge for the reality competition series "World of Dance" from 2017 to 2020 alongside Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough. In 2021, Ne-Yo competed as Badger on the second season of "The Masked Singer UK," and finished in second place. In 2023, he competed on the tenth season of "The Masked Singer," as the Cow and finished in first place. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Ne-Yo has sold 29 million certified albums and singles in the United States. "Billboard" ranked "Give Me Everything" and "Knock You Down" among the Greatest Songs of the Summer of all time. Ne-Yo has yielded five number one singles on the UK Singles Chart, and spent 315 weeks within the chart's Top 75. Ne-Yo also has four songs listed on Motown's Top 100 songs of the Millennium in the UK—the fifth most entries on the list.
Early life.
Shaffer Chimere Smith was born on October 18, 1979, in Camden, Arkansas to parents Lorraine and Shaffer Smith, both of whom are also musicians. As a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father. His mother then relocated the family to Las Vegas, Nevada.
While in the Las Vegas Academy, Smith adopted the stage name GoGo and joined an R&amp;B group called Envy, who appeared during amateur night on "Showtime at the Apollo" and on the short lived MTV series "The Cut" (hosted by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC). The group disbanded in 2000, and Smith continued to write songs for other artists before starting his solo career. The stage name Ne-Yo was coined by Big D Evans, a producer with whom Ne-Yo once worked, because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music like the character Neo sees the Matrix.
Music career.
1998–2005: Career beginnings.
After Envy 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", which Ne-Yo had planned to release as his debut single from his then-unreleased album. Houston re-recorded the song and released it as a single for his 2003 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", and the American boy band Youngstown, none of which, however, brought 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. The song reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and later stayed at the top spot for nine weeks. After the successful release, Tina Davis, former A&amp;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.
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 its first week on sale. During the same week, the single had reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Later singles released were "When You're Mad" and "Sexy Love", which peaked at number 15 and number seven, 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", 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. The first single from the platinum-selling album was the 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.
2008–2010: "Year of the Gentleman" and "Libra Scale".
Ne-Yo's third album, "Year of the Gentleman", was released internationally on August 5, 2008. Speaking to noted UK R&amp;B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues &amp; 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" 200 at number two. Reviews for the album were positive: in one, 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". The first two singles, "Closer" and "Miss Independent", peaked at number seven on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&amp;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&amp;B Vocal Performance and Best R&amp;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", peaked at number 11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.
On August 12, 2008, the New Kids on the Block released "Single", the second single from their fifth studio album, "The Block", which is a duet with Ne-Yo. Ne-Yo included a solo version of the song on his album "Year of the Gentleman". In December 2008, Ne-Yo performed at the Kennedy Center Honors as part of the tribute to Barbra Streisand; he sang and danced to the song "Lover Come Back to Me", which Streisand recorded on her second album in 1963. In 2009, "Billboard" ranked him as the 57th Artist of the 2000s decade. On September 2, 2009, Ne-Yo released greatest hits album "" in Japan. 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's "Oricon" weekly albums chart, selling 55,625 copies in the first week.
In January 2010, Ne-Yo was featured in a duet with singer Mariah Carey titled "Angels Cry". In June 2010, Ne-Yo released the single "Beautiful Monster", which became Ne-Yo's third number-one single on the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at number 53 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. On October 8, 2010, Ne-Yo performed some of his songs from the new album at P.C. Richard &amp; Son Theater in New York City, an event hosted by iHeartRadio. Ne-Yo made an appearance at New York ComicCon to announce that he was collaborating with Stan Lee for a Libra Scale comic. Ne-Yo also met with fans for pictures and autographs in the Cultyard of the ComicCon. The second and third singles released from the album are "Champagne Life" and "One in a Million", respectively.
"Libra Scale" was released on November 22, 2010. It received critical acclaim from music critics, but was a commercial disappointment, debuting at number nine on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling less than all of his previous three studio albums. 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 weighed it all out on a libra scale, which one of those two options would you choose?". "Libra Scale" sold 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&amp;B Chart.
2011–2012: "R.E.D.".
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 has also written songs for Mary J. Blige, JB, Beyoncé, Monica, Alexandra Burke, Cheryl Cole, and Willow Smith's upcoming albums. Ne-Yo starred in two motion pictures, the long-gestating George Lucas project "Red Tails", released in early 2012, and "", which was released in the United States on March 11, 2011. Ne-Yo has already finished writing songs for American singer and Roc Nation artist Alexis Jordan and her self-titled debut album as well as Jennifer Hudson for her second studio album, "I Remember Me", which had a North American release on