Year of the Gentleman

Hard-working musician Ne-Yo

The amounts, in which talented singer-songwriter Ne-Yo works, whose real name is Shaffer Chimere Smith, can impress everyone. He immediately caught the attention of the producers with the gift to create emotional, filled with deep images lyrics and his clear high-pitched voice. The number of the stars, with whom the singer already managed to collaborate, and the success of all his discs are breath-taking, especially taking in consideration his age - twenty-eight years. For now, he works with such celebrities as Anastacia and Lindsay Lohan. It is also worth mentioning, that Ne-Yo also recommended himself as a gifted cinema actor. Moreover, he is currently laboring his series of cartoons for Cartoon Network titled What The Bear. The cartoons are centered over the bear, which is in jail in another dimension. Most obviously, the plot of the animated series was inspired to Ne-Yo after the accident, in whish he was arrested for driving without license. Nevertheless, the main passion in Ne-Yo's life is music. Having released the disc In My Own Words in 2006, Ne-Yo firmed his position on the international R&B scene with his work Because Of You in 2007. This year, the inspired and hard-working musician decided not to slow his speed and released the third album, Year Of The Gentleman.

The elegant dedication to the stars of the twentieth century

Ne-Yo decided to dedicate his new material to his idols - pop-singers of the early and middle twentieth century. Among all, he enumerated The Rat Pack, especially gorgeous Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., and added that their suit-styled manner of clothing became his ideal of appearance. This tendency is seen both in his songs for Year Of The Gentleman and the cover design for his album and singles. The disc starts with the dancing single Closer, produced by Stargate. This winding R&B tune perfectly gives the pace to the album with its urban sound, while its verses go about love affair. Some woman became an obsession for him, he strives to the beauty sincerely and madly, and wants to get closer to her, to win her attention and amuse somehow. The other smash single Miss Independent, built around the sample from the song Forget About Me by artist Little Bit, is sure to cheer the listeners not only with the compliments to strong women, but with its club sounding - no doubt, that this song has already become the classics for both R&B and pop. The track Fade Into The Background with the expressive vocals, brilliant percussion and bass is the piercing story of a young man, who had to see the marriage of his ex-girlfriend and the other man with the sorrow in his heart. The song So You Can Cry is fulfilled in the 70's pop stylistics, while the piano track Lie To Me became an extremely emotional tail of the girl, who deceived her partner.

The brightest star on the R&B sky

The new album Year Of The Gentleman demonstrated the new image of Ne-Yo in the role of an elegant gentleman and a ladies' man, which becomes him extremely - but it is not the only advantage of the disc, as it symbolized several important moments in the singer's career. First, the high and sweet vocals of the artist, so often compared to the one belonging to Michael Jackson, started to sound unique and genuine. From this moment, it would be hard to state that Ne-Yo copies the King Of Pop - on Year Of The Gentleman, he assuredly proved that he is a self-esteem and original performer. Besides, the artist made his transition to more up-tempo danceable beats and decided to move rather in pop direction than to incline to the R&B clue, although the disc seems to lack slow compositions. Although the main source of his lyrics - the personal relations and love for women - remains irreplaceable, Ne-Yo again had a handful of bright and embracing stories for his listeners. However, this is not the main part. During the last years, on the pop-R&B scene one could notice numerable bright performers, but no one was bright enough to be definitely crowned as the king of the genre. With the establishment of Ne-Yo, the public and the critics traced his talent progress with fascination. The disc Year Of The Gentleman became the evidence of the almost evident fact that in the world of show business Ne-Yo takes the part of the king. Even if Ne-Yo would prove to be the king for a day, his devoted fans all over the world would not forget him for a long time, while his songs have already found their places in the charts and are considered the classics of the genre.