Shaffer Chimere Smith aka Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and dancer who gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned his 2004 hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario. The single's successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam's label head and the signing of a recording contract. His debut solo single, "Stay", was released in 2005 to moderate success. Ne-Yo's debut studio album, In My Own Words (2006), was critically and commercially successful, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. It is certified platinum in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia and saw the success of the single "So Sick", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

Because of You (2007), Ne-Yo's second studio album, was the second number one platinum-selling album debuted on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, and received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Grammy Awards. His third studio album, Year of the Gentleman (2008), saw continued success and further Grammy Award nominations for Best Contemporary R&B Album as well as Album of the Year. Its singles "Closer" and "Miss Independent" were also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.Year of the Gentleman has been certified platinum twice in the US, selling two million copies, also platinum three times in the UK and once in Japan.

Libra Scale (2010), Ne-Yo's fourth studio album, reached number one in the UK R&B Singles and Albums Charts and number 9 on the US Billboard 200, seeing a decline in overall sales. His fifth studio album, R.E.D. (2012), saw the international success of its lead single "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)", which certified platinum in the United States and sold over two million copies. Ne-Yo's sixth studio album, Non-Fiction, followed in 2015. His seventh studio album, Good Man, was released on June 8, 2018. In addition to music, Ne-Yo currently serves as judge for the reality competition series World of Dance alongside Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough.

Smith was born in Camden, Arkansas. His father is of African American and Chinese descent and his mother is African American. Both his parents were musicians. As a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father.In 2011 Ne-Yo was approached by Cartoon Network to help create an animated series. Ne-Yo announced that the show would be titled I Heart Tuesday and that he had created it for his sister. He also stated that he wanted to avoid having the show resemble the anime art style of The Boondocks due to the potential cost of the show's animation style.

 In hopes of better opportunity, his mother relocated the family to Las Vegas, Nevada.

While in the Las Vegas Academy, Smith adopted the stage name GoGo and joined an R&B group called Envy, who appeared during amateur night on Showtime at the Apollo and on the MTV's The Cut[8] (hosted by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC). The group disbanded in 2000, and Smith continued to write songs for other artists before starting his solo career. The stage name Ne-Yo was coined by Big D Evans, a producer with whom Ne-Yo once worked, because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music as Neo sees the Matrix.

Ne-Yo appeared in an episode of the seventh season of CSI: NY as a hit-man, under his birth name of Shaffer Smith.

He starred as the Tin Man in NBC's musical telecast adaptation of The Wiz alongside David Alan Grier, Elijah Kelley, Queen Latifah, Common, Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba and Mary J. Blige. The musical telecast premiered December 3, 2015 as a three-hour event. For his performance, he received a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie made for Television or Limited Series.

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