NE-YO BECOMES SENIOR VP AT MOTOWN RECORDS A&R – LEAVES DEF JAM

After almost 10 years at Def Jam Records Ne-Yo has decided to leave the label to further his success and his career as he is appointed Vice President of A&R over at Motown Records. Ne-Yo has thus far had a successful career with 4 studio albums 3 of which all hitting No.1 on the Billboard US R&B charts with sales of platinum status and above. It was his last album Libra Scale that caused confusion amongst fans with the difference in sound and weird videos paying homage to Michael Jackson in his day which caused his last album to be a disaster. More on his move to Motown after the jump

Ne-Yo will have his work cut out not only will he still be an artist but he will now take up the role of finding fresh talent for the label and producing for the team.

In that role, Ne-Yo will serve as a producer and mentor to the label’s artists and also discover and sign new talent. Ne-Yo, who co-stars in the current George Lucas-produced film “Red Tails” about the Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots, will appear on the upcoming season of NBC-TV’s “ The Voice” as a mentor for Cee Lo Green’s team. Ne-Yo will mark his debut as a Motown artist with his fifth studio album, slated for this summer.

The label goes on to say;

“We are committed to discovering, developing and nurturing R&B/soul superstars here at Motown,” says Habetemariam in the co-announcement with Weiss. “In Ne-Yo we have both a global superstar and arguably one of the best songwriters in music. His presence on the executive team only strengthens our commitment to be the very best in R&B.”

This should be a good fit for Ne-Yo and at the right time, it seems like many big names are leaving Def Jam at the moment since LA Reids departure to Epic. Lets see what 2012 holds for Ne-Yo now with this major move.

Billboard