Tremaine "Trey" Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), better known by his stage name
Trey Songz, is an American
singer-songwriter,
record producer and
actor His debut album,
I Gotta Make It, was released in 2005, while his second album,
Trey Day, was released in 2007. His third album,
Ready, was released in 2009 while his fourth studio album,
Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010. His fifth album entitled
Chapter V was released on August 21, 2012.
Life and career
1984–2003: Early life and career beginnings
Songz was born Tremaine Aldon Neverson on November 28, 1984, in
Petersburg, Virginia.
[1] Raised as a
military brat,
Songz did not have aspirations to have a musical career as a child due
to his shyness, saying "Singing wasn't a reality for me, until other
people started noticing I sounded good."
[2] He recognized his vocal abilities at the age of 14.
[2] Reluctant to sing, he began performing with encouragement by friends and family in high school. Record producer
Troy Taylor discovered Songz during a
talent show in 2000, which led him to signing a recording contract with
Atlantic Records in 2002.
[2] After graduating from high school in 2002, Songz moved to
New Jersey to begin recording his debut album, though recording did not actually begin until 2003.
[1]
2004–2008: I Gotta Make It and Trey Day
While recording his debut album in 2004, Songz released multiple mixtapes under the alias
Prince of Virginia.
[1] One of the mixtapes featured an "answer track" to
R. Kelly's "
Trapped in the Closet", entitled "Open the Closet". The song gave Trey some notoriety.
[3] His debut album,
I Gotta Make It was released on July 26, 2005.
[4] It debuted at #20 on the
Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies in its first week of sales.
[5] It has sold 300,000 records in the US, but was never certified by the
RIAA. Songz's debut single,
Gotta Make It, featuring
Twista, was released in March 2005 and reached #87 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and #21 on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
It garnered success in the R&B/urban community but failed to make a
mark in mainstream music. The album's second and final single,
Gotta Go,
was released in July 2005 and reached #67 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming even more successful than his
debut single in the R&B/urban community and in the mainstream
community. After promotion for his debut concluded, he was featured on
the lead single from
Twista's fifth album,
The Day After. The single, "
Girl Tonite", reached #14 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a huge hit.
In mid-2006, Songz began work on a follow-up album to his debut with longtime collaborator
Troy Taylor and also employed hitmakers
Bryan-Michael Cox,
Danja,
Stargate and
R. Kelly
to help create the album. Trey aimed for the album to be more
mainstream-oriented than his debut album. His second studio album,
Trey Day, was released on October 2, 2007. The album reached #11 on the
Billboard 200,
[6]
selling 73,000 copies in its first week. It has since sold 400,000
records in the US, becoming his second album not to be certified by the
RIAA. The album was going to be released on May 8, 2007, but was
continually delayed in order for a successful single to precede the
album, as the lead single failed to impact charts.
His second album was preceded by the lead single, "
Wonder Woman",
which was released in February 2007. It reached #54 on the Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but failed to impact the Hot 100. Because
of the single's failure, his second album was delayed from May 2007 to
October 2007. The album's second single, "
Can't Help but Wait", was released in August 2007 and was released to promote his second album and the film
Step Up 2 the Streets
soundtrack as a single for it. The single reached #14 on the Hot 100,
and #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It became Songz's first
Top 20 hit on the Hot 100, and helped to boost his second album's sales.
The single was also nominated for
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008
50th Grammy Awards. The third single from the album, "
Last Time",
was released in January 2008 and reached #69 on the Hot 100, and #9 on
the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The fourth and final single from
the album, "Missin' You", was released in May 2008, but failed to chart
completely. In mid-2008, Songz was nominated for a
BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist but did not win the award.
[7]
2009–2011: Ready and Passion, Pain & Pleasure
In late 2008, Trey began work on his third studio album with
Bryan-Michael Cox,
Sean Garrett,
Stargate and
Troy Taylor
and aimed for the record to be more mature than his first two. Before
releasing his third album, Songz released a mixtape titled
Anticipation in June 2009 through his blog, which featured songs from his third album.
[8] Another mixtape from Trey was released in the summer of 2009, called
Genesis.
Genesis
was a collection of Trey Songz's first recordings when he was fifteen
years old and was released to show his fans the dedication that he had
to making a record when he was young.
[9] Trey released his third studio album,
Ready, on August 31, 2009. The album reached #3 on the
Billboard 200, selling 131,000 copies in its first week.
[10]
These are his best first week sales to date and the album was his first
to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. The album has since sold over
800,000 records in the US, earning a Gold certification from the RIAA
in February 2010, becoming his first album to be certified by the RIAA.
The lead single from the album, "
I Need a Girl",
was released in April 2009 and reached #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
songs chart and #59 on the Hot 100, becoming an R&B/urban hit but
not a mainstream hit. A promotional single, "
Successful", featuring rapper
Drake,
was released in June 2009 and reached #17 on the Hot 100, becoming
Songz's third Top 20 hit. The single also served as the second and final
single from Drake's
EP,
So Far Gone. The second official single from his third album, "
LOL Smiley Face", featuring
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and
Gucci Mane,
was released in August 2009 and reached #51 on the Hot 100 and #12 on
the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third single from the album, "
I Invented Sex",
featuring Drake, was released in October 2009 and reached #42 on the
Hot 100 but #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his
first single to top that chart. Like the first two singles from the
album, it achieved success in the R&B/urban community but only some
mainstream success. charted within the
Billboard Hot 100, and topped the R&B chart. The fourth single from the album, "
Say Aah", featuring rapper
Fabolous,
was released in January 2010 and reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #3 on
the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single has become Trey's
highest charting single on the Hot 100 and one of his most successful
singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
The fifth and final single from the album, "
Neighbors Know My Name",
was released in February 2010 and reached #43 on the Hot 100 and #4 on
the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A sixth single, "Yo Side of the
Bed", was going to be released in June 2010, but its release was
canceled due to unknown reasons. A music video, featuring singer
Keri Hilson, was filmed and released, however. Songz was also the opening act for
Jay-Z on his
Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009. The album was nominated for
Best Contemporary R&B Album at the
52nd Grammy Awards in 2010, but lost to
Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce. On April 1, 2010, he recorded an episode of
MTV Unplugged, which aired on April 26, 2010.
[11] A documentary-series about Trey,
Trey Songz: My Moment,
began in June 2010 to positive reviews and high ratings. The 10-part
series will end in August 2010 and follows Trey during his time as
opening act on
Jay-Z's
Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009.
Songz's fourth studio album,
Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010.
[12] Trey began work on the album in early 2010 with
Sean Garrett,
Troy Taylor and
Stargate
and has stated that the album will be his most personal to date. The
album was completed in July 2010. The album's lead single, "
Bottoms Up", featuring female rapper Nicki Minaj, was released on July 27, 2010 and has reached number twenty-four on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was shared enough on
Facebook to appear as a trending video on
ItsTrending. Its video was filmed on July 31, 2010 and is pending release.
[13] Trey also filmed the video for the album's second single, "Can't Be Friends", on August 1, 2010.
[13] "Can't Be Friends" was released as the album's second single in August 2010.
[13] Songz embarked on the
Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour on August 6, 2010 with singer
Monica.
The tour is his first headlining tour to date and consists of shows in
venues that seat 3,000 to 5,000 people. Songz also contributed the song
"Already Taken" to the
Step Up 3D
soundtrack, which was released on July 27, 2010. He filmed a video for
the song, which was released in July 2010. The leading lady in the video
is former girlfriend and professional dancer Helen Gedlu. Songz
appeared at the
2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.
[14] Songz performed at
BET Awards 2011 which broadcasted on June 26, 2011.
[15]
In July 2011, he was cast in
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D as Ryan, the male lead role.
[16]
2011–present: Inevitable and Chapter V
On August 18, 2011, it was announced Songz will be working on his fifth studio titled
Chapter V.
[17] In an interview Trey said the album, which will act as the follow-up to
Passion, Pain & Pleasure,
is said to be nearing completion. He also carried on to say "It’s my
sixth year in the game so I’ve been here for a while now. You can expect
the best me you’ve ever heard. I don’t have any release dates in mind
right now but I’m just making music and enjoying myself in the studio
and having fun. When I get to a place where I feel comfortable saying a
date or all of that, people will definitely know. I have a few dream
collaborations on that album that I want, but they say if you blow out
your candle and make a wish you can’t tell people what you ask for or it
won’t come true."
[18]
On November 28, 2011, on his birthday, Songz released his
Inevitable EP to prepare for the release of his album. In February 2012, Songz will embark on his
Anticipation 2our to promote his mixtape
Anticipation 2 and to raise awareness of his new album. .
Discography
Tours
- Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour (headliner) (2010)
- OMG Tour (opening for Usher) (2010)
- Anticipation 2our (headliner) (2012)
- Chapter V World Tour (Presented by oovoo) with Miguel and Elle Varner (2012)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
Other Awards
References
External links
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