Ne-Yo (born Shaffer Chimere Smith on October 18, 1982) is an African American R&B singer-songwriter currently signed to Def Jam Records. He 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.

Background

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.

Recording career

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.

Feud with Hawthorne Heights

In late February of 2006, emo band Hawthorne Heights declared "war" on Ne-Yo in an effort to take the number one spot on the Billboard charts as both artists records dropped on the same day. Hawthorne Heights stated this was only one battle in the war between emo and R&B and called for their fans to do everything possible to secure the victory of emo music[1], even advocating sabotage of Ne-Yo's sales. There is some speculation amongst fans that Ne-Yo might release a diss track (or answer song) to Hawthorne Heights soon.