Ear of the gentleman

VIVA LAS VEGAS Ne-Yo credits his stage show to his early fandom of Tom Jones and the Rat Pack.

At last year’s Jingle Ball, the annual holiday spectacular staged by Z100 at Madison Square Garden, the most commanding performance came not from Kanye West, Katy Perry or the legion of blue-eyed heartthrobs on hand. Rather, the night belonged to Ne-Yo, the R&B prodigy who is shaping up to be his genre’s most well-rounded contender. Dressed in an uptown suit and perennial fedora—when the hat briefly slipped off, it was like seeing Woody Allen without his glasses—Ne-Yo moved with a cocky grace, displaying all the stage swagger of Morris Day. Yet the songs Ne-Yo penned for his recent album, Year of the Gentleman, suggest that he follows the brainier model of Day’s former bandmates: the writing-production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. At 29, Ne-Yo appears to be the full package, that rare pop star comfortable with every aspect of his job.

Calling from Los Angeles while preparing for the Grammys—where, two days later, he would lose in Album of the Year but take home two R&B statuettes—the singer credits his showmanship to nothing more elaborate than his Las Vegas youth. “Growing up, my mom was my hero,” says Ne-Yo, whose hero named him Shaffer Smith. “Anything she was into, I was extra into. When I was 16, I wanted to be Sammy Davis Jr.—I can’t say it made me the most popular guy in high school. Anybody who knows anything about a Las Vegas show knows that it’s not just singing or dancing or magic. It’s everything rolled into one big entertaining ball.”

Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo’s third album in as many years, is sleek and diverse, with melodic pop, dance-floor movers and lover-man ballads. Most songs celebrate girlfriends, often at the expense of apologetic or inadequate boyfriends. (“She hates that I don’t do dishes?/?Even though I mess up the most,” croons one narrator.) Ne-Yo claims the album is his attempt to “remind men what it is to be a gentleman.”

The singer scored hits with his earlier albums, but until Gentleman, Ne-Yo’s biggest achievements came through the material he crafted for other artists. He began peddling songs while still in high school and has written confessionals for an all-star clientele that includes Rihanna, Jennifer Hudson and Beyonc—whose greatest song, “Irreplaceable,” was designed with a very different diva in mind. “In all honesty,” Ne-Yo says, “I wrote 'Irreplaceable’ for myself. But I came to the realization that it couldn’t be sung by a man. You know, the majority of my fan base is female. For me to sing a song telling a woman, 'I can have another you in a minute,’ might not make me too popular with these women.”

Ne-Yo continues writing for luminaries—he’s currently submitting songs to pop’s fallen king, Michael Jackson himself. But he’s taking time away from the industry’s lucrative back room for his debut tour as a headliner, which comes to Radio City Music Hall this week. Like his songs, Ne-Yo’s concert promises to be understated and a bit old-fashioned. “Growing up, I followed people like Tom Jones,” the singer explains. “He’s not a guy known for his amazing dance moves, but he’d get on stage and his charisma would keep you in the palm of his hand. Same thing with the Rat Pack. They had an effortless cool that I try to bring to the stage. If I can get the same amount of screams giving people the eye as some other guy gets turning backflips—which one of us is winning?”

Ne-Yo plays Radio City Music Hall Fri 20 and Sun 22.

Ne-Yo on working with Beyonc, Rihanna, Janet Jackson and more >>

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