Travie McCoy

Travie McCoy

born on 6/8/1981 in New York City, NY, United States

Travie McCoy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Travie McCoy
Birth name Travis Lazarus McCoy
Born August 5 1981
Origin Geneva, New York, U.S.[1]
Genres Alternative hip-hop, alternative rock, hip-hop
Occupations Singer, rapper, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, drums, guitar
Years active 1997–present
Labels Decaydance, Fueled by Ramen, Nappy Boy Entertainment
Associated acts Gym Class Heroes,Tyga,T-Pain,Fall Out Boy,Bruno Mars.
Website traviemccoy.com

Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is the lead vocalist of the alternative hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes. He released his first solo album, Lazarus, on June 8, 2010. The lead single from the album, "Billionaire", peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the UK Singles Chart.

Early life

McCoy was born and raised in Geneva, New York.[1][2] His father is Haitian-born Italian and his mother is of Limerick Irish, Filipino and Native American ancestry.[3] In high school, he met future bandmate Matt McGinley in his gym class and the two bonded over a common interest in music, mostly punk rock, indie rock and hip hop. They decided to start a band and played with other musicians until Gym Class Heroes was formed in 2001.[4]

Career

Travis made his MTV debut in the summer of 2002, as he appeared on stage at the beach house, winning a standard nation-wide MC Battle that was held on the MTV show Direct Effect.[5]

After the addition of guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and bassist Eric Roberts, Gym Class Heroes was signed to Fueled By Ramen and Decaydance Records, Fall Out Boy's bassist, Pete Wentz's, own independent record label. On the label, the band released the gold-selling album As Cruel as School Children. Since that release, the band's single "Cupid's Chokehold" reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Clothes Off!!" and "Cookie Jar" peaked at #5 and #6 on the UK Singles Chart. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold". Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt, which was released on September 9, 2008 and peaked at #14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and #41 on the UK Albums Chart.

In 2009, McCoy remixed the Bring Me the Horizon song Chelsea Smile for their remixes album, Suicide Season: Cut Up!.

In July and August 2010, Travie supported Rihanna on some of the North American dates of her Last Girl on Earth Tour.[6]

Travie McCoy has recently released the hit single 'Billionaire' with Bruno Mars, which has been successful in Europe and the U.S since its release in early May 2010. McCoy released his first solo album, Lazarus on June 8, 2010. The album debuted at number 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with sales of 15,000 copies.[7] On 21 August 2010 Lazarus was released in Europe and entered the UK Album Charts at number 69, this is the albums peak position as far.[8] "Need You" was the second single from the album in the U.S, released in September 2010. "We'll Be Alright" was released on October 25, 2010 as the second single in the U.K, and has already been featured in the trailer of Yogi Bear.[6]

Through October and November, McCoy will commence on a 13-date tour of Europe, along with Bruno Mars. They played five dates in the U.K, four in Germany and 1 in Holland, Denmark, Sweden and France.[6]

McCoy and Gym Class Heroes plan to release the Papercut Chronicles II in late 2011.[9]

Travie McCoy performed at the 2010 MTV VMAs on Sept. 12, 2010 on the main stage before the program cut to a performance by N.E.R.D. [10] McCoy will be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongisde, Flo Rida, Jay Sean and Soulja Boy in November 2010.

"Billionaire" was performed on the September 21, 2010 episode of Glee.[11]

McCoy is featured on the teen-pop female singer Jessica Jarrell's debut single "Up and Running" official remix, which will be featured on the singer upcoming debut album under Island Records.[12]

Travie Mccoy is also featured on Livin's "City Of Brotherly Love" album, scheduled to be released in early 2011 on 700 Level Entertainment. The track "When I Approach" features Livin, Travie Mccoy and Joe Budden, and is produced by Sev-One. There was a video released on You Tube showing Travie recording this song and it will finally be available in 2011.

In middle 2010 he worked with producer Starsmith and british singer Cheryl Cole for her upcoming album. However he is featured on the track "Yeah Yeah" of Cheryl Cole's upcoming album Messy Little Raindrops, set to be released on November 1st.[13]

Also McCoy runs his own music imprint called "The Bat Squad" wich consists of Tim William, Nicholas Scimeca, Tequila Mockingbird, and himself. The producer Jeff "Stress" Davis is affilliated to the imprint. McCoy with Nicholas Scimeca formed the duo "Tequila Mockingbird" wich is also signed under Decaydance Records, and they are working in a project, recently they released two songs titled "Brooklyn Basement" and "Snow Globe".[14]

Personal life

In early March 2008, McCoy opened up about his battles with opioids. He stated that he had been addicted to pharmaceuticals since he was 15 years old.[15]

McCoy was arrested on July 2, 2008, after hitting a man on the head with his microphone. The man had been in the crowd at a concert in St. Louis when he shouted racial slurs at McCoy.[16] McCoy asked the man, "What did you just call me?" As security was removing the man from the venue, McCoy brought the man on stage to call him out in front of the crowd. In a statement, McCoy's publicist said that the man hit McCoy's knee, which was in a brace after he had suffered a recent strain.[16]

McCoy dated singer Katy Perry on and off for several years. He had given a promise ring to Perry,[17] and when asked if this was rehearsal for an actual proposal, McCoy shrugged with a grin. The two broke up in December 2008.[18] They began dating again in April 2009.[19] However, they broke up once more a few months later. McCoy is allegedly the subject of Perry's song "Circle The Drain", from her 2010 Teenage Dream album.[20]

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions
US UK
2010 Lazarus
  • Released: June 8, 2010
  • Label: Fueled by Ramen
  • Formats: CD, digital download
25 69

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US Pop US R&B
[21]
US Rap AUS
[22]
CAN NED NZ SWE UK IRL
2010 "Billionaire" (featuring Bruno Mars) 4 3 76 9 5 12 1 2 17 3 2 Lazarus
"Need You" 106 36
"We'll Be Alright" 51 20 193

Featured singles

Year Single Artist Peak chart positions Album
US US Pop US Mod UK AUS[22] BRA
2006 "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" Cobra Starship 32 Snakes on a Plane: The Album
2008 "Daylight" Kelly Rowland 14 Ms. Kelly (re-issue)
"Coconut Juice" Tyga 94 64 No Introduction
2009 "Differently" Cassie Davis 29 Differently
"Fly Four Year Strong 58 Explains It All
2010 "Famo$a" Claudia Leitte 3 As Máscaras
"Tattoo Girl (Foreva)" Detail, T-Pain, Lil Wayne Single Only
"" denotes releases that did not chart

Album appearances

Year Song Artist Album
2008 "This Is How It Goes Down" Pink Funhouse
2010 "Up and Running" Jessica Jarrell TBA
2011 "When I Approach" Livin, Joe Budden City Of Brotherly Love

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Heaney, Gregory (1981-08-05). ((( Travie McCoy > Overview ))). allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-09-24.
  2. Travis McCoy on. Tv.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-24.
  3. Gym Class Heroes: High Rollers. SPIN.com (2008-09-02). Retrieved on 2010-09-24.
  4. Allmusic.com Gym Class Heroes Biography Allmusic.com, July 15, 2007
  5. Gym Class Heroes history
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Travie McCoy | Official Website: Updates, Interactive and more. TravieMcCoy.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-24.
  7. Jacobs, Allen (2010-06-18). Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 6/13/2010. Hiphopdx.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  8. Travie McCoy. Chart Stats (2010-08-21). Retrieved on 2010-09-24.
  9. Travis McCoy Says Gym Class Heroes Are Getting Back To Basics. MTV News.
  10. Travie McCoy. TVGuide.com (2010-09-09).
  11. Broadcast Yourself. YouTube. Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  12. maria. Jessica Jarrell Up And Running + (Remix) feat. Travie McCoy Lyrics MP3 Song Download | The Hype Factor // Your music source for what's HOT before it's NOT!. Thehypefactor.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  13. Hot right now:     (2010-10-07). Cheryl Cole Announces Full Album Details. PopDash. Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  14. http://www.myspace.com/yeahbutididntkissher
  15. Friday March 7th, 2008. Travie McCoy blog (March 7, 2008).
  16. 16.0 16.1 Michel, Dan (2008-07-02). Gym Class Heroes Frontman Arrested For Assault After Reacting to Racial Slur. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-07-07.
  17. White, Nicholas; Jessica Herndon (2008-06-23). Travis McCoy Gives Katy Perry a "Promise Ring". People magazine. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
  18. Katy Perry & Travis McCoy Break Up People.com, January 2, 2009
  19. Katy Perry is back with Travis TheSun.co.uk, April 25, 2009
  20. By Wenn.Com (2010-10-03). Ex bites back at Katy Perry diss | Music | Entertainment. Toronto Sun. Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  21. Travie McCoy Album & Song Chart History. Billboard.com (2010-06-26). Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  22. 22.0 22.1 Australian Recording Industry Association http://www.australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Travis+Mccoy

External links

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This page was last modified 18.11.2010 13:01:21

This article uses material from the article Travie McCoy from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.