Big is the fourth studio album (sixth overall) by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Macy Gray, released in the United States on March 27, 2007 by Geffen Records. It was her first studio album in four years.

Following its release, the album debuted and peaked at number thirty-nine on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 23,000 copies in its first week. In some instances, the album is marked as "explicit", despite not given an actual parental advisory warning anywhere on the artwork or packaging.

Two singles were released from the album, the international first single "Finally Made Me Happy", a duet with Natalie Cole, and the North American single "Shoo Be Doo". "What I Gotta Do" features on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. Music from this album was also featured in the I Love New York season one reunion. The album's cover art was widely illustrated on Apple iPhone's ads and featured on the first boxes of Apple's iPod touch. As of May 2010, the album has sold over 111,000 copies.http

Sample Credits

*Ghetto Love contains a sample of It's A Man's Man's Man's World by James Brown written by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome

*One For Me contains a sample of Dream by Frank Sinatra written by Johnny Mercer

*Get Out contains an interpolation of Get Out Of My Life, Woman written by Allen Toussaint

*Treat Me Like Your Money contains a sample of You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) by Dead or Alive written by Peter Burns, Steve Coy, Mike Percy & Tim Lever and It's Like That by Run DMC written by Joseph Simmons, L. Smith & Darryl McDaniels

Notes

*Natalie Hinds is a writing alias for Macy Gray

Charts

References

Category:2007 albums

Category:Albums produced by Justin Timberlake

Category:Albums produced by Ron Fair

Category:Albums produced by will.i.am

Category:Geffen Records albums

Category:Macy Gray albums

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Artist/Band Information

Macy Gray (born Natalie Renee McIntyre; September 6, 1967), also credited as Natalie Hinds in her music, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.

To date, Gray has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one live album, with her fifth studio album, The Sellout, released on June 22, 2010; and has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one. She has appeared in a number of films including Training Day, Spider-Man, Scary Movie 3, Lackawanna Blues and Idlewild. Gray is best known for her international hit single "I Try", taken from her multi-platinum debut album On How Life Is.

Early life

Macy gray.jpgthumb150pxGray in 1995

Macy Gray, along with her brother Michael, were born to Laura McIntyre, a math teacher, and Otis Jones; Laura later remarried Richard McIntyre, who adopted Macy. Gray was born in Canton, Ohio,http home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where she briefly worked at age 12, before being fired for lateness.Loveline 12-01-2003 She decided to pursue a career in music after being expelled from Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, where she had attended since age 14. However, Gray's initial success came as a surprise. While attending the University of Southern California (graduated 1990) she agreed to write songs for a friend, and a demo session was scheduled for the songs to be recorded by another singer. When the vocalist failed to turn up, Gray recorded them herself. She then met writer/producer Joe Solo at her job as a cashier in Beverly Hills. Together, they wrote a large collection of songs and recorded them in Solo's studio. The demo tape landed Gray the opportunity to sing at jazz cafés in Los Angeles, California. Despite Gray's dislike of her own voice, Atlantic Records signed her. In 1998, she landed a record deal with Epic Records. She was on one of the songs from The Black Eyed Peas' debut album, "Love Won't Wait".

Music career

On How Life Is (1999)

Gray worked on her debut album in 1999. Released in the summer of 1999, On How Life Is became a worldwide smash.http Despite the first single "Do Something" stalling on the charts, the release of the second single "I Try" made the album a success for Gray. "I Try" (which was originally featured in the Jennifer Aniston-starring vehicle, the romantic-comedy Picture Perfect in 1997) was one of the biggest singles of 1999, and subsequent singles "Still" and "Why Didn't You Call Me" ensured the album becoming triple platinum in the U.S., quadruple platinum in the UK, and triple platinum in Canada.

In 2001, Gray won the Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "I Try", which was also nominated for "Song of the Year" and "Record of the Year". She then collaborated with Fatboy Slim, The Black Eyed Peas, and Slick Rick (on the song "The World Is Yours", from the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack), as well as acting for the first time in the thriller Training Day. In August 2001, Gray was booed off the field at the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibition game after forgetting the words to the American national anthem.

The Id and The Trouble With Being Myself (2001–2005)

In the midst of the controversy, Gray's The Id became a commercial stillborn, largely stalling on the U.S. charts. The album featured appearances by John Frusciante and Erykah Badu on the single "Sweet Baby", (which was co-written with longtime collaborator Joe Solo). The album managed to peak at number eleven on the Billboard 200. Despite its failure in the U.S., it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the BPI. The underperformance in the United States, compared to her debut album, may have been attributed to the fact that The Id was released just a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In 2002, she appeared in Spider-Man as herself and worked with Santana on the track "Amoré (Sexo)", for his album Shaman.

Also in 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD in tribute to Nigerian afropop pioneer, Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. She appeared on a remake track of Kuti's classic, "Water No Get Enemy" alongside prominent hip hop and R&B artists, D'Angelo, The Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Kuti's son, Femi Kuti.

She recorded a duet with Zucchero called "Like The Sun (From Out Of Nowhere)" which featured Jeff Beck on guitar released in 2004 on Zu & Co., a duets collection.

Her song "Time of My Life" was included in the soundrack to 8 Mile. A cartoon based on Gray's childhood was being developed, but it never came to fruition.

In 2003, Gray released her third studio album, The Trouble with Being Myself, to rave reviews. The lead single "When I See You" became a radio hit in the U.S. and a top forty hit in the UK, although the album was not as well received by fans. Nevertheless, it became Gray's third top twenty album in the UK. A greatest hits collection and a live album were subsequently released: The Very Best of Macy Gray (2004) and Live in Las Vegas (2005). Additionally, Gray was featured on Marcus Miller's 2005 album Silver Rain, on a cover of Prince's 1986 song "Girls & Boys". She also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Chicago with Queen Latifah and Lil Kim on "Cell Block Tango/He Had it Comin'."

Big (2007): return to music

Macy Gray 2008.07.23 020.jpgthumbMacy Gray performs live on stage.

Gray began 2007 badly after being kicked off-stage at a concert in Barbados for profanity (which was part of the show), but she was not aware that it was against the law in that country. She gave a public apology that night to avoid arrest.

In March, Gray released her fourth studio album (sixth overall), entitled Big. Two singles, "Finally Made Me Happy" and "Shoo Be Doo", have been released from the album. "What I Gotta Do", another track from the album, is featured on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. It is largely considered Gray's comeback album, after a four-year hiatus since her last studio album. The album was critically acclaimed and seen by some as her best work to date. It featured collaborations with Natalie Cole, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, and will.i.am, who co-executive produced the album with Gray. Big was the second release from will.i.am's record label, will.i.am Music Group, after Fergie's The Dutchess.

The album was moderately successful in the U.S., where it debuted and peaked at #39 on the Billboard 200, becoming Gray's highest-charting album since The Id. Big did not achieve great success in the UK, where it reached #62 on the albums chart, her lowest-charting UK album, but it did achieve some success in several other countries including Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Finland, reaching the top forty of their albums charts.

PBS's Soundstage live concert series premiered a Gray concert on July 5. The one-hour concert included songs from Big—"Finally Made Me Happy", "Shoo Be Doo", "Ghetto Love", "What I Gotta Do", "Glad You're Here" (another collaboration with Producer/ Writer Joe Solo), "Slowly", and "Everybody". Other songs performed were "Caligula", "Why Didn't You Call Me", "Oblivion" with the set ending with "I Try".

On July 7, 2007, Gray performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gray and her band members wore clothes with politically-motivated messages. In her dress, it was written "Darfur Red Alert".

Big was later promoted on the Internet via the UK version of the Apple iPhone launch demo, due to Gray's past popularity in the UK, and the album was featured on the box of the first generation iPod touch.

In 2008, Macy launched a new campaign under the name Nemesis Jaxson, with upcoming single, "Slap a Bitch". Slap a Bitch has not been released as of June 2009, but a video featuring many people slapping each other's faces was released on the Internet around December 12, 2008.

Macy was available again in another Movie soundtrack (she is featured in more than 10 other soundtracks): Confessions of a Shopaholic, with the newest track "Don'Forget Me".

On September 9, 2009 Gray held her first concert in Bulgaria.

The Sellout (2010)

The first single from Gray's fifth studio album The Sellout, "Beauty in the World," is featured in the final sequence of the series finale, Hello Goodbye, of the ABC television series, Ugly Betty. "Kissed It" was also the official theme for the Network Channel Bravo new commercial campaign in 2010. Both singles released from the album ("Beauty in the World" and "Lately") are Top 10 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Other work

Gray appeared in the eighth season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, playing for Habitat for Humanity. She finished in third place, behind Robin Tunney and Christopher Meloni, and ahead of Joy Behar and Andy Dick.

She was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher on his reality show Punk'd.

Gray was a Neopet for a short period of time on the popular virtual pets site of the same name. She was changed into the Kau during July 2000.

In 2002, she was the voice for Seeiah Owens in the video game SSX Tricky. That same year, she made a brief appearance in the film Spider-Man as herself.

Gray sang the theme song for a cartoon show on Nickelodeon As Told By Ginger composed by Jared Faber and Emily Kapnek.

She collaborated with Ol Dirty Bastard shortly before his OD on a loose, but hilarious cover of Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking my Heart".

She appeared at the 2008 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. She stated she liked the Ferrari team and also found the Honda driver Jenson Button 'cute'.

In August 2008, Gray headlined at the 2008 Summer Sundae music festival in Leicester, England. The crowd got on their feet and helped her belt her smash-hit "I Try". She also performed cover versions of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart" and Radiohead's "Creep". For the gig, her band wore pink Andy Warhol wigs.

On September 28, 2008, Gray sang the American national anthem as part of the Israeli flag-raising ceremony at the Israeli Consulate of Los Angeles.Bloomekatz, Ari B. . Los Angeles Times. 29 Sep. 2008.Tugend, Tom. . The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. 29 Sep. 2008.

In 2008, Gray collaborated with Australian DJ and singer Kaz James on the song "Can't Hold Back". The single was released in early 2009 in Australia and is credited to Kaz James featuring Macy Gray. It is included on James' debut solo album, If They Knew. KazJames.com. Retrieved 1 May 2009.

In late 2008, Gray worked with Carmit Bachar on a few songs for her upcoming solo album. It has been reported that Bachar is also featured on Gray's new album, called "The Sellout" which was released in 2010. The album is also produced by Jared and Whitey, Caviar, Kaz James and Rodney Jerkins and will include a duet with Bobby Brown. Her first single Beauty In The World received positive reviews.

On December 21, 2010, the Zappa Family Trust, in observance of what would have been the 70th birthday of Frank Zappa, released to iTunes a recording of Macy Gray covering Zappa's 1972 song, "Your Mouth" from the album "Waka Jawaka".

Personal life

Gray was married from 1996 to 1998 to Tracy Hinds, a Panamanian, with whom she had three children: Aanisah (born January 1994), Tahmel – known as Mel (born December 1994) – also involved in the music industry, and Cassius (nicknamed "Happy") (born 1997). Gray opened up a music academy called The Macy Gray Music Academy in 2005 and it was the scene for an episode of MTV's Punk'd because of "black mold in the building". Gray has been highly praised for her work with the academy and has given underprivileged children and teenagers the chance to perform.

Gray has two tattoos—one on her right wrist with all her children's names and the other on her leg that has a rose and says "Daddy". She was an early supporter of a Barack Obama presidential campaign; almost two years before his official announcement, she wore a shirt saying "Barack Obama for President" during the Hurricane Katrina fundraisers.

Macy is the oldest of three siblings.

Discography

Studio albums

* 1999: On How Life Is

* 2001: The Id

* 2003: The Trouble with Being Myself

* 2007: Big

* 2010: The Sellout

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards and nominations

* Grammy Awards

References