NE-YO BIOGRAPHY

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Ne-Yo

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Ne-Yo Biography

Ne-Yo was born in 1979, on the 18th of October as Shaffer Chimere Smith. Ne-Yo is a singer-songwriter and record producer of R&B and pop music. He also does some occasional rapping and has also done some acting. He first became known as a songwriter when he composed Mario�s successful hit entitled: �Let Me Love You�. This eventually led to a recording contract with the Def Jam label and, in 2006 Ne-yo launched �In My Own Words�, his debut album that contained his US chart-topper track �So Sick�.

Ne-yo was born to musician parents in Arkansas and is a mixture of African American and Chinese American. At a young age, Ne-yo experienced the break-up of his parents, so his mother alone raised him. Neyo�s mother eventually decided to transfer to Las Vegas with the desire to give Ne-yo a better future.

Before Neyo became a songwriter for other artists, he was a member of the group Envy which was based in Las Vegas. The band split up in the year 2000, but Ne-yo was able to get a solo deal with Columbia Records. After his recording of his supposed to be debut album, the label let go of Ne-yo. Marques Houston, however, was able to hear Ne-yo�s �That Girl� and decided to re-record it and include it in his album for 2003. Because of this, Ne-yo came to a decision to focus on songwriting for other performers rather than on his singing career. Some of his works may be found in Christina Milan�s album �It�s About Time�, Teedra Moses� �Complex Simplicity�, etc.
When Ne-yo wrote �Let Me Love You� for Mario, it became a very successful track, which led to Ne-Yo being adopted into the Def Jam Label. His debut album (In My Own Words) was catapulted to fame by one of its singles entitled "So Sick". �In My Own Words� hit the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and sold 301,000 copies within the first seven days of the album�s release. �So Sick� was also first in Billboard�s Hot 100.

Ne-Yo�s sophomore album �Because of You� was launched in 2007, and became a chart-topper on the Billboard 200. Its lead single with the same title as the album title �Because of You� reached the 2nd spot on the Billboard chart. Neyo�s next album called �Year of the Gentleman� was released in the 3rd quarter of last year (�08) and placed second on the Billboard 200. It even gave Ne-yo a nomination in the recent 2009 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album as well as Album of the Year. One of the album�s singles, "Closer" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and another single, "Miss Independent", was included in the list for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Other Ne-yo Trivia: He was arrested in February of last year because of reckless driving in Georgia, with Ne-yo caught going over 100 mph without even carrying his driver�s license. Ne-yo�s sentence of 24 hours of community service was served in June of the same year (2008).