Ne-Yo

Shaffer Chimere Smith, born October 18, 1979, in Camden, Arkansas, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and Broadway performer who works professionally under the name Ne-Yo. Raised by his mother in Las Vegas, Nevada, after his parents separated, he attended the Las Vegas Academy, where he adopted the stage name GoGo and joined an R&B group called Envy. The group performed during amateur night on Showtime at the Apollo and appeared on the short-lived MTV series The Cut. After Envy disbanded in 2000, Smith continued writing songs for other artists. His current stage name was coined by a producer named Big D Evans, who compared Smith's intuitive understanding of music to the way the character Neo perceives reality in The Matrix.

Columbia Records signed Smith early in his career but dropped him before releasing his debut album. He subsequently spent several years writing for other artists, contributing to projects by Teedra Moses, Christina Milian, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Faith Evans, and Musiq, among others. His breakthrough as a songwriter came when Mario recorded his composition "Let Me Love You," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for nine weeks. The song's success led to a meeting with Def Jam, where then-CEO Jay-Z signed Ne-Yo to a recording contract after he performed for the label's executives.

Ne-Yo released his debut studio album, In My Own Words, in early 2006 through Def Jam. Driven by the single "So Sick," which simultaneously topped the Billboard Hot 100, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with over 301,000 copies sold in its first week. Additional singles "When You're Mad" and "Sexy Love" followed, and the album earned platinum certification from the RIAA, as well as similar certifications in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia. It also received two nominations at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

His second album, Because of You, arrived on May 1, 2007, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 251,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album won Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards and was certified platinum by the RIAA. Year of the Gentleman followed in 2008, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and earning double platinum certification from the RIAA and triple platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, and its single "Miss Independent" won both Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

Ne-Yo's fourth studio album, Libra Scale, was released in 2010 and reached number nine on the Billboard 200. He subsequently parted ways with Def Jam and signed with Motown, a Universal Music Group subsidiary. His fifth album, R.E.D., arrived in 2012 and peaked at number four on the Billboard 200; its lead single "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)" reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. Non-Fiction followed in 2015, supported by the top-ten Billboard Hot 100 single "Time of Our Lives," recorded with Pitbull, and the top-40 single "She Knows," featuring Juicy J. Good Man was released in 2018 and peaked at number 33 on the Billboard 200, while Another Kind of Christmas and Self Explanatory, released in 2019 and 2022 respectively, each entered the chart. According to the RIAA, Ne-Yo has sold 29 million certified albums and singles in the United States, and he has accumulated five number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart, spending 315 weeks within the chart's Top 75.

Beyond recording, Ne-Yo served as a judge on the reality competition series World of Dance from 2017 to 2020, alongside Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough. In 2021, he competed as Badger on the second season of The Masked Singer UK, finishing in second place. In 2023, he competed on the tenth season of The Masked Singer in the United States as the Cow and finished in first place.

In 2024, Ne-Yo made his Broadway debut in Hell's Kitchen, adding stage performance to a career that has spanned songwriting, recording, television, and live performance across more than two decades.