"Stay" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

, taken from his debut studio album, ''

In My Own Words ''In My Own Words'' is the debut studio album of American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. It was released by Def Jam Recordings on February 28, 2006. Conceived following his songwriting breakthrough with " Let Me Love You" for fellow R&B singer Mario ...

'' (2006). It was written by Ne-Yo, Ron "Neff-U" Feemster, Ray Blaylock, Solomon Ridge Jr., and rapper

Peedi Peedi Pedro Louis Zayas (born September 25, 1977), known as Peedi Crakk and Peedi Peedi, is an American rapper of Puerto Rican descent. He is a member of State Property and is currently signed to Amalgam Digital and G-Unit Philly. Career The North P ...

, who is also featured on the song. Production on "Stay" was overseen Feemster. The song incorporates an interpolation of American musical group

DeBarge DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1979 and 1989. The group originally consisted ...

's " Stay with Me" (1983). Due to the inclusion of the sample, writers

Mark DeBarge Mark "Marty" DeBarge (born June 19, 1959) is an Americans, American Contemporary R&B, R&B/soul music, soul singer-songwriter, drummer, percussionist, and plays a variety of wind instruments, such as the saxophone, flugelhorn, trumpet, and flute. H ...

, and

Etterlene Jordan Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge (born March 10, 1955) is an American soul singer–songwriter and the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She was the lead vocalist on the R&B ballad "A Dream", from the group's '' In a Special Way' ...

are also credited as songwriters. The video for "Stay", directed by

Jessy Terrero Jessy Terrero (born October 7, 1972) is a List of people from the Dominican Republic, Dominican Film director, film and music video director. Career Terrero appeared as an extra on the 1992 film ''Juice (1992 film), Juice'' starring Tupac Shakur ...

, premiered on the

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

and VH1 networks in September 2005, and on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

TRL TRL or trl may refer to: Arts * Temporary Residence Limited, a record label * ''Total Request Live'', a former MTV show * TRL Awards (''Total Request Live''), an Italian music award Libraries * Tampines Regional Library, a regional library in Ta ...

'' in November 2005. The single failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 when it was released in the US, however, the song proved to be a success on ''Billboard''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, peaking at number 36, Ne-Yo's first single to do so as a solo artist. "Stay" also reached the top ten of the

Finnish Singles Chart The Official Finnish Charts ( fi, Suomen virallinen lista; sv, Finlands officiella lista) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiell ...

Track listings

Charts

References

2005 debut singles 2005 songs Def Jam Recordings singles Ne-Yo songs Peedi Crakk songs Song recordings produced by Theron Feemster Songs written by Ne-Yo Songs written by Theron Feemster {{2000s-single-stub