Since Ne-Yo’s debut In My Own Words first dropped in 2006, I’ve been a major fan. Not just because he writes really smart songs, but interviewing him is always a pleasure. Unlike some R&B dudes, Ne-Yo has very little drama surrounding him. Indeed, for him, success has always been about writing wonderful songs as opposed to swaggering with a disrespectful attitude.

On the eve of Ne-Yo’s third album Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo sat down with Riffs & Revolutions to tell us a little about where he comes from…

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Las Vegas is a constantly changing city. A lot of people think they know that town, but you can’t really know Vegas, because its always different. One minute you’re standing in the sand, and next you’re in front of the Eiffel Tower. Most people only know the neon strip; but there is a whole world beyond what the tourists see.

There is more than bright lights and stage shows. We have condos and track houses that all look alike. Buildings in Vegas are constructed quickly, and sometimes it feels like the desert is starting to disappear.

I was born in Camden, Arkansas. My dad was a truck driver from Nevada. He met mom on his route down south. They fell in love, got married and, after I was born, moved to Vegas.

By the time I was nine, dad had bowed-out completely, so I lived with my mom, grandma, aunties and a baby sister in various neighborhoods.

My mom played Shirley Murdock and Billy Ocean records, but one day she put on a Sammy Davis Jr song, and that was it. Afterward, it was all about listening to the Rat Pack and collecting memorabilia.

After that, I got into the material and later tried to dress like Sinatra and Sammy. I almost took tap lessons, but I never did.

Kids in school told me I was living in the wrong era, but I didn’t care.

I named my new album Year of the Gentleman as a salute to those guys. I got a new Rat Pack picture for Christmas, and the whole ‘gentleman’ concept came from me studying that photo. Besides John Legend there are very few gentleman in current R&B. There are too many guys who think that gyrating on stage without a shirt is entertainment, but I disagree.

There’s nothing wrong with being clean-cut. I want to take soul back to an era of class. (Def Jam President) LA Reid has a picture of Nat King Cole in his office, and I smile whenever I see it.

My family moved around a lot, but I spent most of my younger years on the North side. The wack thing about living in Vegas is that it’s a transient town, so its hard to make friends, because they might only be there for a year before moving somewhere else.

Growing-up, my mother was the queen of odd jobs. She worked three or four to make sure we didn’t need for anything. She liked saying, ‘never need for anything.’ That was her catchphrase.

Mom worked as a Keno runner at a country ‘n’ western themed casino called Western Ho; later she was a blackjack dealer at the Sands and a cocktail waitress at the Aladdin, before it got torn down.

Just being around all that money can be tempting. You know, watching people become rich off of two quarters is crazy. My mom developed a small gambling problem for a short time. It always starts out a few quarters here, a few quarters there and next thing, you’re hooked.

The casinos might let you win a little in the beginning, but most people end up gambling it back. By the time you’re finished, you’re standing by yourself wondering where are your shoes and who has the deed to the house.

I gamble a little bit, but I don’t mess with the slot machines. All slots are put on timers; you don’t know if they’re timed for tonight or five years from now. The only thing I play is craps, because I feel like I have some control over the game.

On the North Side where I lived for about four or five years, there were a lot of Mexicans and working class people. I was a student at the performing arts high school, majoring in illustration. I went there for three years until I got kicked out for bad grades.

After that, I went to Rancho High, which was a real ghetto school. The West Side, where the Rancho was located, was the hood. It was the kind of place where guys listened to too much Cali rap, so they thought they were gangsters.

Rancho High was a tough place. You had to go through metal detectors before you could walk through the door. Young girls were feeding their babies in the lunch room. Later, when guys found out that I had gone to the school for art, they asked me to draw their portraits. A picture of them holding a gun, leaning against a stylish car. I charged ten dollars per picture.

Another thing, it was always cold in our class room. There might not be enough books, but there sure was enough air conditioning.

***

The cops who worked the Las Vegas strip didn’t like the local kids hanging out. We weren’t officially banned, but they didn’t want us over there. The only casino we could go to and not be harassed was Circus Circus; upstairs there was carnival games and a McDonald’s.

Every weekend there was always somebody new to meet. Becky and her crew of girlfriends from Minnesota were always looking to have some fun.

When I was a senior in high school, I got a gig as an understudy in a MGM Grand show called EFX, which starred David Cassidy. The guy I was understudying for, his wife had a baby, so I was soon doing two shows a night.

David Cassidy was cool. We were on stage together every night, but only officially met twice. He had the baddest black Lamborghini I’ve ever seen. Man, I just wanted to drive David Cassidy’s car.

In those days, I studied singers like Tom Jones and Wayne Newton, because those guys know how to control the stage. That’s their livelihood. It’s not about moving a million records or selling out coliseums, but when you’re performing in those rooms, you have to be so good people can’t take their eyes off of you.

Later, I joined a group called Envy. You know, NV is the abbreviation for Nevada, so we called ourselves Envy. My old friend Cory Clark (who in 2003 was disqualified from American Idol and accused judge Paula Abdul of having a sexual affair with him) was in the group. Believe me, there are only so many talent shows you can do before you finally realize you have to get out.

After performing, we used to sit in Denny’s and plan what were going to do once we left the desert behind.
Las Vegas is cool, but staying there is not going to get you anywhere.

Ne-Yo’s third disc Year of the Gentleman will be released on Aug. 5, 2008

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