Ne-Yo is a brilliant artist. But did you know that Ne-Yo is also a brilliant songwriter? If you’re a Ne-Yo fan, you know this already. However, if you’re just a casual fan of songs like “Sexy Love” “So Sick” and “Because of You,” you may not know that Ne-Yo actually started his career as a songwriter. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of Ne-Yo’s career, he earned his first ever #1 song with Mario’s “Let Me Love You.” The song was released in 2004 and as Ne-Yo explained in his documentary on Youtube, he then became known as the “kid who wrote the Mario song.”
That song got Ne-Yo a lot of attention. Attention from Jay Z and LA Reid specifically…which got Ne-Yo the record deal that would introduce him to the world. He would then go on to record his debut solo album. “In My Own Words,” was released in 2006 and would eventually go on to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. After releasing his debut album, he’d go on to record several more hit albums of his own. But Ne-Yo didn’t stop there. He continued to write songs for other artists that would go on to become big hits. According to Ne-Yo “there is power in music, there is world saving, life changing power in music. And when you realize that, you can’t look at it the way you did anymore.” Ne-Yo would go on to write hit songs for some of the world’s biggest artists. That list includes Beyonce, Rihanna, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend and the list goes on and on. Although we know Ne-Yo will continue on releasing albums on his own as a solo artist, it’s still nice to take a look at all of the amazing hit songs he’s written for others. Let’s take a look.