Ne-Yo was a song writer before he became a recording artist. He has written songs for a number of artists, including 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 originally decided to remain as a songwriter until a close friend introduced him to L.A. Reid who signed him to Def Jam Records on the spot. The origin of the name Ne-Yo was given by a mutual friend who called him Neo because he could ‘see’ music akin to the character Neo from The Matrix trilogy. He altered the ‘-yo’ part as an homage to his hip hop roots. Ne-Yo’s debut album, In My Own Words, was released in early 2006, through Def Jam Recordings, and debuted at number one on Billboard 200, selling over 301,000 copies in the first week and certified platinum. During the same week, Ne-Yo’s second single “So Sick” (produced by Stargate) reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Ne-Yo is as famous for his songwriting as for his singing, writing such songs as Rihanna’s top ten hit “Unfaithful”, Mario’s “Let Me Love You”, Mario Vazquez’s “Gallery”, Paula DeAnda’s “Walk Away (Remember Me)”, and Beyoncé’s Billboard Hot 100 ten-week number-one hit “Irreplaceable”. His second album, Because of You, was released May 1, 2007. The first single from the platinum-selling album was “Because of You”. He has also said that he has written songs for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Corbin Bleu, and Enrique Iglesias for their upcoming albums. Smith also has stated that he will write songs for Craig David, Usher, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Leona Lewis, and he recently confirmed that he has been contacted by producer will.i.am to work on Michael Jackson’s upcoming album. Ne-Yo opened a recording studio called Carrington House and started his own label, Compound Entertainment, in 2007; Paula Campbell, Sixx John, and Shanell are now associated with Compound. In December 2007, Ne-Yo and the Goo Goo Dolls performed at a fundraising concert for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. He appeared in the song “Deewangi Deewangi” in the Hindi movie Om Shanti Om. In February 2008 at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, Ne-Yo won Best Contemporary R&B Album for Because Of You |
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