RAY J

'Willie Ray Norwood Jr.' (born January 17 1981), better known as 'Ray J', is an American singer who has also rapped on several of his songs, and is the younger brother of R&B singer Brandy.

Biography

Early career

He started auditioning for commercials at age eight, scoring several gigs until he caught the eye of comedian Sinbad, who was casting children for his upcoming TV show. Ray J got the role playing Sinbad's foster son until the show was canceled in 1993. From there, he began acting in movies, appearing in the films Steel and Mars Attacks! in minor roles. At the same time, he was also itching to try his hand at the music industry, inspired by Brandy's early successes.

1997-2000: Early television success

He signed with Elektra in 1995, recording Everything You Want the following year with a set of superstar songwriters and producers behind him. In 1997, he performed in a television special with his sister, but despite the mainstream attention, he was dropped by Elektra soon after. His easygoing image and boyish looks appealed to the producers of Brandy's television show, Moesha, scoring him a role on the popular UPN series starting in 1999. He also started producing, putting together the music for several commercials and a few of the demos for his second record. In 1997 he also released his debut album "Everything You Want", which spawned two singles. "Let It Go" was the lead single of the smash soundtrack for ''Set It Off'' (Brandy also appeared on the soundtrack; and her song Missing You with Tamia, Chaka Khan & Gladys Knight peaked also at number 25). It peaked number 25 in the U.S. and number 11 in New Zealand. But the second single was no big succes. The song managed only to peak at number 54 on the U.S. R&B chart. The album was a moderate success and wasn't even certified.
In 1998 he also released the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack single That's Why I Lie in UK, only. It didn't do well on the charts, peaking #71, only.
In the 1999 he began playing the role Dorian Long in the UPN sensational successful TV-series Moesha. He played the half brother of Moesha Mitchell, who is portrayed by his sister Brandy, the star of the show. The character Dorian likes to be called 'D-Money'. Frank Mitchell got Dorian's mother pregnant, but they could not take care of Dorian at the time, so they let him be adopted by his aunt. He thought his aunt was his mother, but a family secret slipped out accidentally by another family member. Dorian was mad at Frank like everyone else. In one episode, Dorian and Moesha found his birth-mother. She already had two other children, but they weren't adopted.

Ray J and Brandy in the video for Another Day In Paradise

2001-2003: Return to music

(f.l.t.r) Brandy, Lil' Kim, Pharrell and Ray J and in the video for "Wait A Minute

After the show Moesha had his last episode in 2001 he stepped back into the studio and recorded the smash hit Another Day In Paradise with Brandy which was a Top Ten succes in Austria, UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands and number 11 in Australia and France. The song was the lead single of the R&B/Hip Hop tribute Urban Renewal, in which he co-produced and performed songs.
Norwood also worked with The Neptunes, Rodney Jerkins and Lil' Kim, and several other hitmaking producers and singers for his second studio album This Ain't A Game, a pop-oriented record that featured more of his singing than his debut, in which he rapped. The album was dropped in 2001, but despite a strong promotional push from new label Atlantic Records, it wasn't the breakthrough success it seemed designed to be. The lead single Wait A Minute wasn't a big success peaking number 30 in U.S. only. It managed to peak in the lower half of the charts in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The second single did even worse peaking on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart only.
In 2002 he appeared in the video for smash-hit What About Us, which was produced by Jerkins, and was released as Full Moon's lead single during the first quarter of 2002 (see 2002 in music). While "What About Us?" managed to enter the top twenty on the majority of the charts it appeared on, it reached the top ten in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, the UK, and the United States. With the songs "Die with out You" and "Another Day In Paradise" he appeared vocally on Full Moon too.

2004-2005: New Image

Ray J in the music video for the airplay single "Let's Play House"

After a 2 years break and several album pushbacks (from fall 2004 to March, April, June and July to September 2005 finally), he returned to studio and released his album Raydiation and despite the lengthy absence, his high profile still commanded an all-star guest list. With help from Timbaland, R. Kelly, Mýa, Shorty Mack and Fat Joe, Ray J resurfaced with Raydiation (released on Sanctuary). The album was partly released under his record label Knockout Entertainment. The first single choice varied many times. At certain points Ray J himself had announced "Keep Sweatin" as his new single. "Quit Actin" was in talks, too, before "One Wish" was picked. The single became the most successful single since smashhit Another Day In Paradise was released, being a Top Twenty succes in New Zealand, UK, the U.S. and Ireland. The other singles couldn't reach that succes and failed.
In 2005, Ray J joined the cast of UPN's ''One On One'',^[1] where he played the character of D-Mack for one season.

2006-present: Tha Knock Out

In 2006 he focused on his record label Knockout Entertainment and released the second Knockout-album by Gospel-singer Willie Norwood. Willie, Ray J's father, signed in 2005 and the album is called I Believe and was available in the internet only. Artists like sister Brandy and Shorty Mack are set to be the next artists to release their albums under Knockout.
In late 2006 he produced the song Smokin' Weed with Snoop Dogg, Slim Thug, Shorty Mack and Nate Dogg for Snoop's album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. But dispite the fact that there was made a video for Smokin' Weed it didn't appear on the album. The song samples Ray J's song What I Need.
In 2007 he was seen in videos such as Fabolous' Make Me Better, Tyrese' One, US5's In The Club and Yung Berg's Sexy Lady and he's featured on the single "Beds" by B2K-rapper Lil' Fizz.
He, Shorty Mack, ''Ashton'' and Brandy were expected to team up as Tha Knock Out and release album, but due that the fact that Shorty Mack, Brandy and Ray J are working on solo album. This rumor seems very incredibly.
In 2007 many new songs leaked to the internet. Next to "Smokin' Weed", "Good Times", "It'll Be Okay"(featuring Whitney Houston), "Shake That"(featuring B2K) and "Ghost Ride Whip"(with Shorty Mack) leaked.

Political ambitions

Ray J is hoping the people of his native Carson, California will forget about his recent sex tape controversy and elect him the town's next mayor. The singer/actor has huge political ambitions and his leaked sex tape, in which he cavorted with socialite Kim Kardashian, wrecked his bid to become Carson's mayor in 2007 - but he isn't giving up. He tells Sister 2 Sister magazine, "I might do it at the next election and let all of this controversy die down and then hit them harder. "I want people to look at other things besides rapping and singing... That's why I didn't run for mayor this year... I think I can still win. "I've been through the ups and downs in Carson. They need somebody young, not only to make a statement and win all eyes from all over the world... I can bring all of the youth into being inspired to do something different in life." And Carson will only be the first stop: "Young people 18 and older don't vote. When I get people to start voting and start uplifting themselves in the political side of life... I'm making a change in the world. "I'm going to keep going. I'm going for president of the United States of America."^[2]

Controversy

In a May 2007 interview with SOHH.com, T-Pain made comments regarding R&B singer Ray J's genitalia.

“Not too many guys can go after Ray J. The man got a huge meat, ok. He’s short, the man is packing. He’s got length on him. I got the width. Shit is wide. He got a foot on him. Man have a foot on him. Much respect to Ray. Man to man. No homo. Ya’ll seen that shit. Ya’ll know the man’s swanging.”^[3]

These comments attracted much attention from the hip-hop press. T-Pain himself later revealed Ray-J did not take the comments as complimentary,^[4] though Ray-J has since stated the two are now on good terms.^[5]

Discography

Main articles: Ray J discography

Filmography

Film

★ Mars Attacks! (1996) - Cedric Williams

★ Steel (1997) - Martin Irons

★ Superstar (2007) - Ray J

Television

★ ''The Sinbad Show'' - L.J Beckley

★ ''Moesha'' - Dorian Long

★ ''One on One'' - D-Mack

★ ''Black Sash'' - Bryan Lanier

★ ''BET.com Countdown'' - Himself (Host)

Sex tape scandal

Ray J and then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian were the subject of attention due to a graphic sex tape. Prior to the release of this film, Kardashian announced her intention to pursue legal action to block distribution of the tape. This was the first public acknowledgment of the existence of the tape, which she had previously denied. Despite the impending lawsuit, adult retailers started offering the tape for pre-order in February 2007. Vivid Video made the sex tape available online in March 2007. On April 30, 2007, Kardashian settled with Vivid Entertainment, who paid $1 million to an unidentified source for the video. Vivid will hand over nearly $5 million to Kardashian and stop distributing the tape by the end of May 2007.

Notes

1. The Futon Critic, the web's best primetime television source
2. http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://images.contactmusic.com/images/artist/brandyap.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/brandy%2520mocks%252050%2520cent.s%2520driving&h=150&w=150&sz=7&hl=de&start=2&um=1&tbnid=8Ukt6fgHMVAW9M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrandy%2Bstunt%2B101%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dde%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_deDE226DE226%26sa%3DN
3. SOHH Whatchusayin. SOHH. Accessed August 17 2007.
4. T-Pain Says Ray J's Pissed at "Huge Meat" Compliment, Jermaine Dupri, DJ Clue and Others Party on in NYC. SOHH. Accessed August 17 2007.
5. Ray-J & T-Pain Word 4 Word. SOHH. Accessed August 17 2007.

External links

★ Official Ray J Site

★ Official UK Ray J Site

★

★ Ray at MySpace

References

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