Ne-Yo to play London

After hitting the UK top spot earlier this year with Closer, the first single from his forthcoming album Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo returns with Miss Independent released on the 29th of September on Def Jam.

The sweet sounding aroma on Miss Independent combined with Ne-Yo's smooth and stylish vocals encapsulates the kind of R&B the Grammy Award-winning artist is trying to establish. Ne-Yo slows the tempo down on Miss Independent as it becomes the perfect song to play the summer out, inspired by this gentlemen's love for an independent women he confesses he wants and needs.

With Year of the Gentleman, the Las Vegas native and premier songwriter has constructed a suite of songs that shows exactly what he means by class. Written over the course of travels through Europe last year and influenced by his own fascination with the Rat Pack, Ne-Yo explains, "For me, the sharpness of Sammy and Sinatra is the kind of style I strive for in clothes and music. Year of the Gentleman is named in honor of those guys."

In addition to penning this new collection, Ne-Yo has shown his writing prowess penning lyrics for Rihanna, Beyonce, Mario, Celine Dion, Leona Lewis, Linday Lohan, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston to name a few. This, with the opinions of those who saw his recent performance at Indigo2 in London, is further testament to this mans growth as an artist and rise to becoming a world class song-writer and performer.

Ne-Yo returns to our shores with a one-off London date at the Hammersmith Apollo on the 22nd September to celebrate the release of Year of the Gentleman. Tickets are £28.50/£35, on sale at 9.30am on Friday 22nd August below.

www.defjam.co.uk/neyo