Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo (/ˈniːjoʊ/ NEE-yoh), is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. Regarded as a leading figure of 2000s R&B music,[7][8][9][10] 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.
"Neyo" redirects here. For other uses, see Neyo (disambiguation).
Ne-Yo
Gogo
- Singer
- songwriter
- actor
- dancer
- record producer
1998–present
Monyetta Shaw (2009–2013)
7[2]
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&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&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&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.[11][12]
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.[13] Billboard ranked "Give Me Everything" and "Knock You Down" among the Greatest Songs of the Summer of all time.[14] Ne-Yo has yielded five number one singles on the UK Singles Chart, and spent 315 weeks within the chart's Top 75.[15] 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.[16]
Early life[edit]
Shaffer Chimere Smith was born in Camden, Arkansas. Both of his parents were musicians, and of African-American descent. As a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father.[17] 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&B group called Envy, who appeared during amateur night on Showtime at the Apollo[18] and on the short lived MTV series The Cut[19] (hosted by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC).[20] 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,[21] because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music like the character Neo sees the Matrix.[22]
Artistry[edit]
Musical style and influences[edit]
Ne-Yo's music is generally R&B, while he also incorporates pop and hip hop occasionally. His musical influences include Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Babyface, Blackstreet, and Usher.[72][73] Ne-Yo is noted for his tenor voice, including his application of falsetto in his works.[74][75][76][77]
Songwriting and production[edit]
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 knowing the team produced R&B records, decided to collaborate with them. The collective's early works were tracks from In My Own Words, including "So Sick".[78]
Aside from working on his own album, Ne-Yo also collaborates with several other artists. His works include: Rihanna's top-ten singles "Unfaithful", "Russian Roulette", and her number-one hit "Take a Bow", Mario Vazquez's "Gallery", Paula DeAnda's "Walk Away (Remember Me)", and Beyoncé Knowles' Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Irreplaceable", which stayed at the top of the chart for ten consecutive weeks.[79] 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.[80]
In 2010, he dueted with Mariah Carey on "Angel's Cry", a song for her cancelled album, Angels Advocate. Ne-Yo has also written songs for Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Carrie Underwood, Anastacia, Ciara, Corbin Bleu, Enrique Iglesias, and Dima Bilan.[79] He collaborated with Lindsay Lohan on her new material, having already finished "Bossy", a pre-single for her new album Spirit in the Dark.[81] In 2007, 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.[82] However, at the time of Jackson's death, Ne-Yo's collaborations with him had yet to move past the writing stage.[83] In an interview in 2010, Ne-Yo said that, since Jackson's death, he had been confused as what to do with the songs, as he felt that selling them to another artist or even releasing the songs himself would be disrespectful to Jackson's legacy.[84] In 2009, he wrote "Truth (Saigo no Shinjitsu)" for the Japanese pop group w-inds.[85]
Ne-Yo ventured out to open his own recording studio, called Carrington House, in Atlanta, Georgia.[86] 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-fledged record label. It successfully became a label, and artists such as RaVaughn, Paula Campbell, Sixx John, Adrienne Bailon and Shanell are now associated with Compound.[23][86]
Other ventures[edit]
Television[edit]
In 2011, Ne-Yo was approached by Cartoon Network to help create an animated series. Ne-Yo announced that the show would be titled I Heart Tuesday and that he had created it for his sister.[87] He also stated that he wanted to avoid having the show resemble the anime art style of The Boondocks due to the potential cost of the show's animation style.[87][88] The series has since been believed to have been quietly cancelled.
Ne-Yo appeared in an episode of the seventh season of CSI: NY as a hit-man, under his birth name of Shaffer Smith.[89][90]
In 2011, Ne-Yo appeared in an episode of The Fresh Beat Band as himself.[91]
He starred as the Tin Man in NBC's musical telecast adaptation of The Wiz alongside David Alan Grier, Elijah Kelley, Queen Latifah, Common, Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba and Mary J. Blige. The musical telecast premiered December 3, 2015 as a three-hour event. For his performance, he received a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie made for Television or Limited Series.[92] In May 2018, he took part in the Celebrity Ninja Warrior special for Red Nose Day. He completed the course, resulting in a $30,000 donation.[93]
In December 2018, he was the entertainment at 67th Miss Universe pageant where he performed during the opening and final catwalk.
Philanthropy[edit]
Ne-Yo is passionate about the arts and children and has shown his support for Little Kids Rock by filming a PSA for the organization.[94]
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
In 2005, Jesseca White, Ne-Yo's girlfriend at the time, gave birth to a boy.[79] Ne-Yo later discovered the child was not his.[95][96]
In June 2010, Ne-Yo told Ebony that he and his then-girlfriend, Monyetta Shaw, were expecting their first child together – a girl due early in 2011.[97] Shaw gave birth prematurely to a daughter in November 2010. Announcing the birth, Ne-Yo said, "I've been in love before but this feels like nothing I've ever felt... like I'm in love for the first time."[98] Shaw and Ne-Yo's son was born in October 2011.[99]
In September 2015, the singer announced that he and Crystal Renay Williams were engaged and expecting a child.[100] They were married on February 20, 2016.[101] A son was born to them in March 2016.[102] Their second son was born in June 2018.[103] In February 2020, Ne-Yo announced that he and Crystal would end their marriage,[104] and he withdrew his divorce case afterwards.[105] The pair reconciled during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with Ne-Yo telling CBS chat show The Talk: "Before the quarantine happened, we were definitely talking divorce, and the quarantine forced us to sit still, block out the noise from the world – you know the world can get very, very loud, and we tend to let the world's opinion mean more in certain situations than it should."[106]
Ne-Yo and Crystal's third child, a daughter, was born in June 2021.[107] In April 2022, the couple renewed their vows in a Las Vegas ceremony.[108] Four months later, Crystal filed for divorce, with allegations of Ne-Yo fathering a child outside of marriage.[109] On January 26, 2023, Ne-Yo and Crystal finalized their divorce.[110]
In 2019, in wake of the television documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, Ne-Yo confirmed his support for the Mute R. Kelly campaign, for the protection of his own daughter.[111]
Legal issues[edit]
On February 19, 2008, Ne-Yo was arrested for reckless driving and driving without a valid license after driving through Cobb County, Georgia in his 2006 Range Rover. It was reported that he was doing about 150 mph, 100 mph over the speed limit. On June 2, 2008, Ne-Yo pleaded guilty to the driving without a valid license charge and no contest to the reckless driving charge. He was sentenced to 24 hours of community service.[112]
On August 22, 2011, Ne-Yo was sued along with rapper Pitbull and DJ Afrojack by actress Lindsay Lohan, claiming that their song "Give Me Everything" referenced her by name in the lyrics. A judge ruled that Pitbull's use of her name was protected by the First Amendment and that Lohan was barely mentioned in the song. Pitbull then won the lawsuit.[113]
On March 22, 2023, Ne-Yo was revealed to have been charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for violating investor-protection laws. Ne-Yo settled the charges for over $400,000 without admitting or denying the claims.[114][115]
Health[edit]
In August 2017, Ne-Yo announced he had adopted a vegan diet after viewing the documentary What the Health. In February 2019, he said in an interview that he had lost "like 30 pounds" and had also reversed his tendinitis since he became vegan, calling it "one of the best things he's ever done".[116] However, his representative confirmed in March 2020 that he was no longer a vegan.[117]
Comments about transgender youth[edit]
During a television appearance in 2023, Ne-Yo made comments that were critical of transgender youth and gender affirming care for children.[118][119] He later apologized for his comments.[118][119] The following day, Ne-Yo retracted his apology and suggested that the apology had come from a publicist.[119][120]
