Biography
Ne-Yo is best known for co-writing Mario's 2004 #1
hit, "Let Me Love You". Def Jam Records released, "Stay"
(featuring Peedi Crakk) as the debut single in 2005. It
was well-received by the urban community but didn't
reach too far on Billboard charts. "So Sick" has been
his most responsive hit yet in his career since writing,
"Let Me Love You" by Mario.
His song "So Sick" is usually a slow song that Ne-Yo
hates slow songs, which makes him get bad memories.
Ne-Yo was a song writer before he became an artist. He
has written songs for, Mary J. Blige, Ruben Studdard,
Marques Houston, Faith Evans, Christina Milian, B2K,
Nivea, Tyrese, Jamie Foxx and Heather Headley. After
coming off a bad deal with Columbia Records, Ne-Yo
decided to remain as a songwriter, but a close friend
introduced him to L.A. Reid (former Arista Records CEO)
and signed Ne-Yo on the spot to Def Jam Records. The
origin of the name Ne-Yo was given by a mutual friend
who called him "Neo", after the concepts of The Matrix
Trilogy which featured Keanu Reeves as "Neo", because he
could see music like Neo (from The Matrix) could see The
Matrix. He had to change the spelling for legal reasons.
He was on Bet's The Student Center and said that he has
a clothing line called Chimere which is coming out in
September according to him.
The current single off the album, "So Sick", boasts an
audience of over 175 million. It is produced by a
Norwegian group called Stargate. The video for the
single, directed by Hype Williams, is now in heavy
rotation on BET and MTV. Two video versions of "So Sick"
were recorded but the original ended up being scrapped
for various reasons. The newer version appealed to the
current weather conditions of the Winter season with the
video being filmed in the snowy mountains. The official
remix to "So Sick",produced by Trackmasters, features
two verses by labellmate LL Cool J and has been recently
been submitted to radio stations nationwide. The remix
will be featured on LL Cool J's twelfth album, Todd
Smith. The album Todd Smith will also feature a track
with female labelmate, Teairra Mari having the R&B
portion written by Ne-Yo himself. More recently, Ne-Yo's
writing credits can be found on Jamie Foxx and Mary J.
Blige's latest albums, Unpredictable and The
Breakthrough. He can also be heard singing the choruses
to Ghostface's lead single, "Back Like That" off of his
upcoming album release Fishscale and Remy Ma's "Feels So
Good" from her recently released album There's Something
About Remy: Based on a True Story. Ne-Yo is currently
working on the upcoming movie soundtrack for "Save The
Last Dance 2: Stepping Up" and continues to promote his
new debut solo album, In My Own Words, due in stores on
February 28. Also said has a small role in the movie
Save The Last Dance 2: Stepping Up.
Compound Entertainment is the company behind Ne-Yo's
production, management, marketing, and other aspects
crucial to his success as a singer and songwriter.
On February 28, 2006, Ne-Yo announced that his 3rd
single from the album In My Own Words would be "When
You're Mad" on MTV's TRL.