Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 6, 1981) is
an American singer and rapper. He is the lead vocalist of the alternative
hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes. He released his solo debut album Lazarus
on June 8, 2010.
Raised in Geneva, New York, McCoy became involved with both hip
hop and punk rock scenes as a teenager. He formed the group Gym Class
Heroes with childhood friend Matt McGinley, and after several line-up
changes, the group was signed to Fueled By Ramen and released their
debut album. The group achieved mainstream success in 2006 when its
album As Cruel as School Children was released, Gym Class Heroes
are most notable for the song Cupid's Chokehold.
Gym Class Heroes took a three year hiatus from music, leaving McCoy
to focus on his solo career; McCoy released his debut solo album,
Lazarus, in 2010. The lead single from the album, "Billionaire" featuring
Bruno Mars, peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the UK
Singles Chart. The single was certified double platinum by the RIAA.
Currently, McCoy is working on Gym Class Heroes' fourth studio album,
The Papercut Chronicles II.
Travie is signed to T-Pain's label Nappy Boy Entertainment.
Contents
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[edit] Early life
McCoy was born and raised in Geneva, New York.[1] His father is
Haitian, and his mother is of Irish and Native American ancestry.[2]
As a child, McCoy was a wheelchair user for four months after a skateboarding
accident; his lack of mobility allowed him to focus on art.[3] When
he was fifteen, McCoy worked in a tattoo parlor as an apprentice,
and shortly after, he began tattooing his friends.[4]
As a teenager, McCoy was a fan of hardcore punk bands such as Snapcase
and Earth Crisis, as well as underground rap acts such as Company
Flow and the Arsonists. He says of his musical tastes "I was
never a typical hip-hop kid. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed."[5]
McCoy frequently took buses to Manhattan throughout high school to
participate in battle raps at the indie rap club Fat Beats.[5] He
played the drums in high school and created a rap group with his
father and his brother called True Life Playas, and says of the experience, "It
was so bad! The tapes exist somewhere but hopefully they'll never
be found."[6] In high school, he met future bandmate Matt McGinley
in his gym class and the two bonded over a common interest in music,
in particular 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.[7]
After graduating from Geneva High School, McCoy attended art school
at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute and majored in fine arts
and illustration.[3][6][8] However, he dropped out at age 20 to focus
on his tattoo work and his musical career.[4] At one time, McCoy
was working at a tattoo parlor and teaching art at a Boys & Girls
Club in the daytime, and working at a gas station at night.[3] He
decided to quit all three jobs and work on art full-time, opening
an art show with his friend. He lived off of the money he made from
selling paintings before Gym Class Heroes became successful.[3]
[edit] 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.[9]
[edit] Gym Class Heroes
McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley became friends at their local high
school's gym class in ninth grade in Geneva, New York.[6] They officially
came together in 1997.[4] The band formed when bassist Ryan Geise
and drummer Matt McGinley were performing at a party in an instrumental
band with no vocals. McCoy, who was in attendance at the party, took
the microphone onstage and started rapping.[10] A week later, the
group came together and started making music. A prominent opening
act for Gym Class Heroes was the critically acclaimed hip-hop group "ModifiedBlockStyle."
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
Bilboard 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!.
McCoy and Gym Class Heroes plan to release the Papercut Chronicles
II in late 2011.[11]
[edit] Solo career
McCoy in 2007.
In early 2010, McCoy announced that he would be pursuing a solo
career. He denied rumors that Gym Class Heroes had broken up, asserting
that "Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member
has had another musical outlet, if not three or four. This is just
another one of those."[12] McCoy had originally prepared to
record an introspective album of "sad and somber" acoustic
songs reflective of his state of mind following his breakup with
Katy Perry and his addiction to painkillers.[13] However, he decided
to scrap his early material and start over, calling the early material "too
personal" and saying "I didn't want that to be my first
look as a solo artist," comparing the album to Kanye West's
808s & Heartbreak.[12][13] He relocated to Miami, Florida, to
record new material and recover from his addiction, which helped
him to create a more upbeat album because he "want[ed] to do
something positive."[13]
McCoy decided to officially call himself "Travie" instead
of Travis; he explained that he has been called Travie by friends
and family for "as long as [he] can remember."[14] He believes
that the new name allows listeners to the become "that much
closer" to him and to "feel much more comfortable with
calling me Travie and being part of the family."[14]
In early May 2010, McCoy released the hit single "Billionaire" with
Bruno Mars, which has been successful in Europe and the U.S. since
its release. McCoy released his first solo album, Lazarus on June
8, 2010, after being in the works for a year and a half. He calls
the album "The longest, I think, I've spent on a record in my
whole career."[12] He stated that he wanted to keep the number
of collaborations on the album "kinda tight," but he plans
to work with other artists on remixes of the album.[12] Producers
on the album include Bruno Mars, T-Pain, The Smeezingtons, The Stereotypes,
Lucas Secon, Oligee and Josh Abraham; Mars, T-Pain and Cee Lo Green
provide guest vocals.
The album debuted at number 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with
sales of 15,000 copies.[15] On 21 August 2010 Lazarus was released
in Europe and entered the UK Album Charts at number 69, its peak
position thus far.[16] "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 United Kingdom, and has already been featured in the trailer
of Yogi Bear.[17]
In July and August 2010, McCoy supported Rihanna on some of the
North American dates of her Last Girl on Earth Tour.[17]
McCoy and Bruno Mars embarked on a 13-date tour of Europe throughout
October and November. They played five dates in the United Kingdom,
four in Germany and one each in Holland, Denmark, Sweden and France.[17]
McCoy performed at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010, on the
main stage before the program cut to a performance by N.E.R.D.[18]
In November 2010, McCoy performed on the Australian Summerbeatz tour
alongside Flo Rida, Jay Sean and Soulja Boy.
"Billionaire" was performed on the September 21, 2010,
episode of Glee.[19]
McCoy is featured on the remix of teen-pop singer Jessica Jarrell's
debut single "Up and Running," on the singer's upcoming
debut album on Island Records.[20]
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, McCoy and Joe
Budden, and is produced by Sev-One. A video released on YouTube showed
McCoy recording the song.
In mid-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 album Messy Little Raindrops.[21]
In November 2010, McCoy collaborated with English R&B artist
Taio Cruz on Cruz's single "Higher".
McCoy runs his own music imprint called The Bat Squad, which consists
of Tim William, Nicholas Scimeca, Tequila Mockingbird, The Lazarus
Project and himself. McCoy and Nicholas Scimeca formed the duo Tequila
Mockingbird which is also signed under Decaydance Records, and they
are working on a project. They recently released the songs "Brooklyn
Basement" and "Snowglobe, a track that ended in Mic Terror's
mixtaper "The Late Pass Volume 2"."[22]
[edit] Personal life
[edit] Drug problems
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.[23] The death of his cousin in 2007 led McCoy to retreat
further into his addiction, leading him to "dive into drugs
face-first."[24] He went through his second stint in a detox
program, in which his opiate receptors were cleaned. He said of the
experience, "I feel like a layer of shit has been peeled off
of my brain."[24] On his blog, he also stated that "I felt
an enormous amount of guilt for glorifying drug use in our music."[24]
[edit] Legal troubles
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.[25] 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.[25]
On October 28, 2010, McCoy was arrested while on tour in Berlin,
Germany for spraying graffiti on the Berlin Wall. He was later released
on €1,500 bail ($2,081), and continued on his European tour
in Amsterdam.[26] He later posted a picture of the artwork on his
Twitter account.[26]
[edit] Relationship with Katy Perry
McCoy dated singer Katy Perry on and off for several years; they
met in a recording studio in New York City.[27] He had given a promise
ring to Perry,[28] and when asked if this was rehearsal for an actual
proposal, McCoy shrugged with a grin. The two broke up in December
2008.[29] They began dating again in April 2009.[30] However, they
broke up once more a few months later. McCoy is allegedly the subject
of Perry's song "Circle the Drain", from her 2010 Teenage
Dream album.[31] McCoy says of the relationship "I'm over it.
There's no bad blood. I wish her nothing but the best in her future
endeavors. I'm not the type to hold grudges. Why would I? Our time
together was awesome and it's time to move on. And we both have gone
our separate ways so it is what it is.".[32]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions
US
[33] UK
[34]
2010 Lazarus
Release date: June 8, 2010
Label: Fueled by Ramen
25 69
[edit] Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold) Album
US
[35] US Pop
[36] US R&B
[37] US Rap
[38] AUS
[39] CAN
[40] NL
[41] NZ
[42] SWE
[43] UK
[44][45]
2010 "Billionaire" (featuring Bruno Mars) 4 3 76 9 5 12
4 2 17 3
AUS: Platinum[46]
US: 2× Platinum[47]
Lazarus
"
Need You" 106 36 — — — — — — — —
"
We'll Be Alright" — — — — — — 82
14 — 193
NZ: Gold[48]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were
not released to that country
[edit] Featured singles
Year Single Artist Peak chart positions Album
US
[49] US Alt.
[50] AUS
[51] UK
[52]
2006 "Snakes On a Plane" Cobra Starship — 38 — — Snakes
on a Plane: The Album
2008 "Daylight" Kelly Rowland — — — 14
Ms. Kelly (re-issue)
"
Coconut Juice" Tyga 94 — — — No Introduction
2009 "Differently" Cassie Davis — — 29 — Differently
"
Fly" Four Year Strong — — — — Explains
It All
2010 "Famo$a" Claudia Leitte — — — — As
Máscaras
"
Tattoo Girl (Foreva)" Noel "Detail" Fisher — — — — Non-Album
Single
"
Higher" Taio Cruz 24 — 25 8 Rokstarr
2011 "Move It Girl" Tim William — — — — TBA
"
Pretty Girls" Iyaz — — — — TBA
"—"
denotes releases that did not chart or were not released to that
country
[edit] Album appearances
Year Song Artist Album
2008 "Coconut Juice" Tyga No Introduction
"
This Is How It Goes Down" Pink Funhouse
"
Overdose" Mickey Factz, Drake The Leak Vol. 2: The Inspiration
2009 "Fly" Four Year Strong Explains It All
"
Grand Groove" J.J. Brown, Dezmatic Connect the Dots
2010 "Up and Running" Jessica Jarrell TBA
"
Yeah Yeah" Cheryl Cole Messy Little Raindrops
2011 "When I Approach" Livin, Joe Budden City Of Brotherly
Love
"
Snowglobe" Mic Terror The Late Pass Volume 2
"
Pretty Girls" Iyaz TBA