About Travie McCoy
Travis Lazarus McCoy, better known as Travie McCoy was born on August 5, 1981 and raised in upstate Geneva, New York by his Haitian-born Israeli father, and his mother of Irish, Native American, and Hawaiian ancestry. In 2002, Travie made his television debut when he appeared on stage at the MTV beach house and won a nation-wide MC Battle.
Travie is the lead singer of the band Gym Class Heroes, which has been described as hip-hop and alternative. He met Matt McGinley, the drummer for the band in gym class (imagine that?) during high school; they became fast friends and decided to start a band. In 2004, Gym Class Heroes was formed with the addition of Milo Bonacci and Ryan Geise, but they were later replaced by guitar-player Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and bass-player Eric Roberts. With those replacements, they signed to an independent record label Decaydance Records, owned by Fall-Out Boy Pete Wentz, and Fueled by Ramen. The band has been wildly successful, with a gold-selling album and several singles that have reached the top five on Billboard and the UK Singles Chart.
While still recording with the band, Travie released his first solo album in June 2010, with the lead single from that album, Lazarus(his middle name,) peaking at #4 on Billboard and #3 on UK Singles Chart. Having dated singer Katy Perry off and on for many years, their final breakup in 2009 had a dark influence on a lot of the songs on this album. (Katy is now engaged to actor Russell Brand.)
Travie toured in North America as opening act for Rihanna during the 2010 summer, and is now in the midst of a European tour as of November,2010, playing five dates in the UK, four in Germany, and one each in Denmark, Sweden, France, and Holland.
Travie McCoy Singles
Billionaire (feat. Bruno Mars)
Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen
17 chart entries peaking at #3 on Friday 8 January 2010