Travie McCoy
Travie McCoy |
|---|
Travis McCoy (born August 6, 1981) is the lead vocalist of the alternative hip-hop group Gym Class Heroes. He released his first solo album, Lazarus, on June 8, 2010 under the name Travie McCoy. The lead single, "Billionaire", peaked at #4 on the Hot 100.
Early life
McCoy was born and raised in Geneva, New York. His father is Haitian and his mother is of Irish and Native American ancestry.[1][2] In high school, he met Matt McGinley in his gym class and the two bonded over their love of music. They decided to start a band and played with other musicians until Gym Class Heroes was formed in 2001.[3]
Musician
Travis made his MTV debut in the summer of 2002, as he appeared on stage at the beach house on a standard nation-wide MC Battle that was held on the MTV show Direct Effect.[4]
McCoy was arrested on July 1, 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.[5] 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.[5]
In 2009, McCoy remixed the Bring Me the Horizon song Chelsea Smile for their remixes album, Suicide Season: Cut Up!.
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.[6]
McCoy dated singer Katy Perry on and off for several years. He had given a promise ring to Perry,[7] and when asked if this was rehearsal for an actual proposal, McCoy shrugged with a grin. The two broke up in December 2008.[8] They began dating again in April 2009.[9] However, they broke up once more a few months later.
McCoy is a vegetarian.[10]
He is also the cousin of rapper Tyga who is signed to Lil Wayne's record label Young Money Entertainment.[11]
McCoy is the godfather of Bronx Mowgli Wentz, who is the son of Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz.
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | UK | ||
| 2010 | Lazarus
|
25[12] | 69 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Pop | US Rap | AUS [13] |
CAN | NED | NZ | SWE | UK | IRL | |||
| 2010 | "Billionaire" (featuring Bruno Mars) | 4 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 3 | 2 | Lazarus |
| "Need You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
Guest singles
| Year | Single | Artist | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Pop | US Mod | UK | AUS[13] | BRA | ||||
| 2006 | "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" | Cobra Starship | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | Snakes on a Plane: The Album |
| 2008 | "Daylight" | Kelly Rowland | — | — | — | 14 | 43 | — | Ms. Kelly (re-issue) |
| "Coconut Juice" | Tyga | 94 | 64 | — | — | — | — | No Introduction | |
| 2009 | "Differently" | Cassie Davis | — | — | — | — | 29 | — | Differently |
| 2010 | "Famo$a" | Claudia Leitte | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | As Máscaras |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
References
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/music/10gym.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all
- ^ http://www.spin.com/articles/gym-class-heroes-high-rollers
- ^ Allmusic.com Gym Class Heroes Biography Allmusic.com, July 15, 2007
- ^ Gym Class Heroes history
- ^ a b Michel, Dan (2008-07-02). "Gym Class Heroes Frontman Arrested For Assault After Reacting to Racial Slur". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Friday March 7th, 2008". Travie McCoy blog. March 7, 2008.
- ^ White, Nicholas (2008-06-23). "Travis McCoy Gives Katy Perry a 'Promise Ring'". People magazine. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Katy Perry & Travis McCoy Break Up People.com, January 2, 2009
- ^ Katy Perry is back with Travis TheSun.co.uk, April 25, 2009
- ^ 11 Questions With Travis McCoy Popeater.com, December 28, 2008
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1586134/20080423/tyga.jhtml
- ^ Lazarus - Travie McCoy Billboad.com
- ^ a b Australian Recording Industry Association http://www.australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Travis+Mccoy
External links
- Official Gym Class Heroes Web site
- Template:MySpace
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- Travis McCoy's blog