Trey Songz

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Trey Songz

Background information
Birth name	Tremaine Aldon Neverson
Also known as	Trey Songz, The Prince of VA
Born	November 28, 1984 (1984-11-28) (age 23)^{[citation needed]}
Origin	Petersburg, Virginia , U.S.
Genre(s)	R&B
Years active	2005–present
Label(s)	Atlantic Records, Songbook
Associated acts	Plies, Rick Ross, Drake, Scarface
Website	http://www.treysongz.com/

Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984^{[citation needed]} in Petersburg, Virginia), better known by his stage name Trey Songz, is an American contemporary R&B singer and songwriter. Inspired musically by R&B artists from the 1960s and 1970s such as Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin as well as contemporary artists such as Luther Vandross and R. Kelly, the young star debuted in 2005. His debut album Gotta Make It, was released by Atlantic Records in 2005.

1 Biography and music career
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Solo singles
3 Awards and Nominations
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography and music career

Trey was born in Richmond, Virginiaand has a 4 brothers from a different dad but he was raised in Petersburg, Virginia. He also spent about 7 years living in Baltimore, Maryland due to his mother marrying a man in the army. When he was a child, he did not receive any rigorous voice or piano lessons but instead was engaged in the normal activities for a child of his age. His mother, however, seeing his ability, encouraged him to develop his singing talent by entering him in local talent shows, many of which he won. With these victories, he began to make a name for himself. By age 15 Trey’s fame enabled him to meet his producer and mentor Troy Taylor (producer), a veteran music producer who has worked with artists such as Patti Labelle, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston. Impressed by the tenor's voice, Taylor encouraged him to focus on a career in popular music. During the summer, Troy and Trey would go to New York and New Jersey to work on songs and recordings. Trey Songz moved to Jersey City, New Jersey after graduating from Petersburg High School to focus solely on music. Taylor, in turn, focused on teaching his protégé music history. "We would go to the New York studio every day, and during the drive, he’d play me all sorts of stuff, like Steely Dan," recalls Trey. "When it came time to learn about falsetto, he’d play me Prince. When it came time to learn about soul, he’d play me Motown." Trey eventually became Taylor’s vocal production assistant. Working with other artists in the studio gave Trey valuable technical experience, and prepared the young singer for his own career.

In 2004, Trey inked a deal with Atlantic Records, whose rich R&B history made it the ideal home for his unique blend of contemporary R&B and classic soul. Atlantic founding chairman Ahmet Ertegün, who co-founded the label in 1947, hailed the young singer as one of the most promising stars to ever sign with the label and an heir to the legacy of such Atlantic greats as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Redding.

"Gotta Make It", the first single released off of Trey's 2005 debut album I Gotta Make It, peaked at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and only number 21 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally. Trey's debut album, I Gotta Make It, also saw the release of a second single, "Gotta Go". After the release of his debut album, Trey was featured on "Girl Tonite", a song from Twista's album The Day After which reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally.

He also wrote and co-produced music for soca artist Kevin Lyttle’s self-titled debut in 2004 and was featured on the Soundtrack to Coach Carter and albums by Trick Daddy, Gerald Levert, and Juvenile.

In April 2006, Trey collaborated with bilingual Japanese R&B/Hip-Hop artist AI on her single Believe, with the track "Beautiful feat. Trey Songz". The duo even performed this track live at the MTV Awards in Japan, where AI won the award for 'Best R&B Music Video' for her ballad-single, "Story".^[1] The song was later remixed and appeared on AI's album, What's goin' on A.I., released September 2006.

By the end of 2006, Trey made a collaboration with the ex-member of Kabah (the Mexican pop band) Maria Jose. The single is called "Quien eres tu" and Trey Songz can be heard practicing a little Spanish. The song has gained much airplay and digital sales in Mexico and Latin America and has grown to become Trey's most successful song in the Spanish-speaking world.

Trey Songz next began work on his sophmore album Trey Day, which is a follow up to I Gotta Make It and is his second album released under Atlantic Records. It was released on October 2, 2007. The first single, "Wonder Woman", was shot on April 4th and features Angel aka Lola Luv as Trey's love interest. Trey's album "Trey Day" sold slightly under 75,000 records in his first week, despite having a high bullet on his biggest hit to date, second single "Can't Help but Wait", which peaked in the top 5 on the Billboard R&B charts and in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, both of which are first for Trey.

Trey also appeared on Obie Trice's second album, Second Round's on Me on two songs called "Ghetto" and "Mama". He was also expected to appear on Young Buck's second album Buck the World, but failed to make the final cut. Because of the new connections with such Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit associated artists, it is possible Trey will be featured on future projects from these artists too. He is also featured on Yung Joc's single "First Time".