Ne-Yo not seduced by fame game

Extrovert star Ne-Yo stands by his friend Bobby Brown and defends talent shows, writes Ed Power

SHAFFER Chimere Smith — aka Ne-Yo — can’t stop laughing. “No disrespect to anyone who is gay,” says the chart topping R’n’B star. “I don’t fault you for it. If that’s who you are, great. But anyone who knows me understands that, with me, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Rumours about Ne-Yo’s sexuality started to circulating on the internet several years ago. They were prompted, it seems, by his extrovert dress sense. He is certainly rather a swish, today wearing a jaunty fedora and dramatic scarf.

“If you know me, you’ll understand that is the most ridiculous thing you could say about me,” continues Ne-Yo who, if his press clippings are any guide, is a world-class ladies man. “So yeah, I found that kind of funny.”

He’s more sober contemplating his controversial friendship with Chris Brown, the singer who notoriously beat up girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 (the couple have since reconciled, to the fury of many). When most of Brown’s friends were distancing themselves from him, Ne-Yo stayed loyal. He didn’t condone his atrocious behaviour. In fact, he was as horrified as anybody else. Nor did he cut Brown out of his life.

“That’s what being a friend is about,” he says. “I ain’t one of those fair-weather types. If you’re a friend, then you are that way through the good and the bad.”

Some stars would grow a little tetchy at such a question. Ne-Yo, however, is as smooth as the brand of cocktail he’s recently helped to launch (this isn’t a mere product endorsement either – he’s signed up with drinks company Malibu as creative director).

“I’m the kind of guy who throws a great party,” he says. “If you want to come to my house and stand in the corner… nah, that won’t do it. I want everyone to have a good time.”

With his bling and his easy manner, Ne-Yo has the air of someone born to stardom. In fact, he was born into poverty in Arkansas, and at 33 it has taken him a while to get to where he is today. His first break came as a songwriter in the 2000s when he was signed by Jay-Z’s Def Jam label and supplied hits to Mary J Blige and Faith Evans among others.

’Being a songwriter is a completely different thing from being an artist,” he says. “As a songwriter you can have the biggest selling song in America and people don’t care. It’s like, ‘who is that guy?’. It doesn’t register. So to me, they are just very separate professions.”

Ne-Yo was born in Camden, a town of 14,000 in the south of Arkansas. His parents were musicians. He was largely raised by his mother, who separated from his father while he was very young. He was still a child when his mother moved the family to Las Vegas. There, he studied at the Las Vegas Academy stage school. going by the alias ‘GoGo’.

After his first band fell apart in 2000, he changed his name to Ne-Yo and started to hustle his songs around the city.

“A lot of the people I knew from way back, I’m not in contact with any more,” he sighs. “It’s tough. You have friends who say things like, ‘oh, so now you’re Mr Famous – well give me $100,000’. And it’s like ‘come on man — you KNOW how hard I worked to get here, you saw me travelling everywhere in a tiny van, sleeping on floors. You understand what I sacrificed.’ I have to admit, it’s difficult.”

Most stars of his stature radiate super-human levels of confidence.

Ne-Yo, however, lets his vulnerable side shine through. On his new record, RED (an acronym for ‘Realise Every Dream’) he takes a long hard look in the mirror and does not always like what he sees.

“Oh man, I was on the way to becoming a celebrity,” he sighs. “I’ll admit, I got a little caught up there for a while. The industry I am in is steeped in fantasy. It’s got a smoke and mirrors side and you can struggle to stay grounded in reality.” He credits his team of assistants and managers with helping him keep his feet on the ground. “I don’t have no ‘yes men’ around me,” he says.

“When you see people surrounded by people who tell them everything they do is fantastic, then you know they are not in a good place.

“Eventually, though, the bubble is gonna pop. When it does. your landing is going to be fast and it’s going to be tough. It can take your sanity and snap it in two. I expect my team to be straight with me at all times. To call me out when they need to.”

Still, on RED, he was at pains not to sound as if he was complaining.

“I get it,” he says. “People don’t want some guy complaining about fame. I mean, really, I’ve got nothing to moan about.

“Getting up each morning and working in a warehouse — now that’s difficult.”

Speculation is swirling that Ne-Yo will be a judge on the next season of X Factor USA. While reluctant to go into details, he feels talent shows serve a valuable purpose.

“There was no X Factor or American Idol when I was starting out,” he says.

“I had to do things for myself. But if I was a kid today, would I enter one of those shows? Yeah, of course I would. I think that is a route I would definitely have tried to pursue.”

*Ne-Yo plays O2, Dublin tonight.