Born in Arkansas (into a family of musicians) and raised in Las Vegas, Ne-Yo got his start in the music industry behind the scenes writing songs for R&B highrollers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and B2K. He also cowrote Mario's megasmash "Let Me Love You." After years of paying dues in the studio and a shaky stint with Columbia Records (where he recorded an album that was never released), he finally came out as a solo singer in late 2005, dropping the single "Stay" with Peedi P...  [+]