Earlier than Ne-Yo grew to become a family title, the budding performer was working tirelessly as a songwriter behind the scenes, and his breakthrough got here within the type of then-16-year-old singer Mario.
Launched in October 2004, Ne-Yo wrote “Let Me Love You” for Mario’s sophomore album Turning Level — the follow-up to his hit “Only a Pal 2002” — and the sleek R&B observe grew to become a global hit. It topped the all-genre Billboard Scorching 100 chart for 9 weeks and spent 11 weeks on prime of the Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart. It earned Mario his first-ever Grammy nomination and helped the teenager singer transition to a performer with an grownup fanbase.
However Ne-Yo admits, “I bear in mind once I wrote that music, I didn’t assume Mario was going to have the ability to pull it off.”
“Thoughts you, I hadn’t met him but,” he provides. “All I knew was that he had simply turned 16 and I’m like, ‘That is type of a mature music. Like, does this dude even know something about love?’”
However issues modified as soon as Mario arrived on the recording studio and received within the sales space. “After I met him, I noticed that he’s simply Sam Cooke reincarnated. I needed to eat these phrases. He knocked that music out in an hour and the remaining is historical past,” he says. “So shout-out to Mario.”
Except for “Let Me Love You,” Ne-Yo has additionally written hits like Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable,” Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” and “Untrue,” and Jennifer Hudson’s “Highlight.” His songwriting success propelled him to the entrance of the stage with the 2006 launch of his debut album, In My Personal Phrases. And, mockingly, Ne-Yo launched his personal music equally titled to Mario’s — “Let Me Love You (Till You Study to Love Your self)” — in 2012. It was co-written by Sia and have become a Prime 10 hit.
Ne-Yo says he and Mario will rejoice on the highway this 12 months.
“We are literally going to be on tour within the U.Ok. come March, so trying ahead to that,” he says of his Champagne & Roses Tour. “It’s a wonderful factor. Time is music.”
