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Tyrese
Tyrese
Background information
Birth name	Tyrese Darnell Gibson
Also known as	Black-Ty
Born	December 30, 1978 (1978-12-30) (age 29)citation needed Zodiac= Capricorn
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Genre(s)	R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Rap
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, rapper, model, VJ, screenwriter, film producer, television producer
Years active	1998–Present
Label(s)	J Records
Website	www.tyrese.com

Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978), also known simply as Tyrese, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, former fashion model and MTV VJ. After releasing several albums, he transitioned into films, with lead roles in several Hollywood films, including Waist Deep, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Flight of the Phoenix, Four Brothers, Baby Boy, Death Race and Transformers.

Biography

Early life

Tyrese Gibson was born in South Central Los Angeles. His mother, Priscilla Murray Gibson (née Durham), raised him and his three older siblings as a single parent after Gibson's father left in 1983.¹

Gibson's career began when he won a talent show at the age of fourteen. An appearance in a 1998 Coca-Cola advertisement, singing the phrase "Always Coca-Cola",² led to wider fame, and at seventeen looks paved the way for him to model for Tommy Hilfiger.

Music career

Initially an MC, Tyrese performed under the alias of Black-Ty and was a member of an underground group called Triple Impact.² He decided the opportunity to launch a career in R&B. Tyrese released his self-titled debut album, which went platinum, in 1998.¹ His second album, 2000 Watts, shares the name of the organization he founded to help inner city children. Gibson sang background vocals in Tupac's "Never Call You Bitch Again", and co-wrote the song "2000 Watts" for Michael Jackson's 2001 album Invincible with Teddy Riley and The King of Pop.

Tyrese says he prefers his music career to acting,¹ but will continue to focus on both areas. He released the album Alter Ego on December 12, 2006, with one disc featuring R&B (as Tyrese) and one disc featuring hip hop (as Black-Ty).²

In 2007, Gibson decided to be an independent recording artist and got out his contract with J Records. This is the first time in his musical career in which he was not signed to a label.

He has also started his own company, Headquarter Entertainment. This is a multi-faceted company, and features new artist Life Nine and his producers The Frontline Boyz.

Gibson was picked as one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men of the Year in 2000.

TGT

Tyrese Gibson has been attached to a new R&B supergroup called TGT with Ginuwine and Tank. He is quoted as saying "With all the support our fans have given us individually over the years for our distinct signature styles, collectively we felt our fans deserved to hear great music in a way that they could never have imagined. I've known these guys for years and they truly are like brothers, so it only felt right to come together as a trio to make history". The group is first featured on Tank's remix to the song "Please Don't Go". They also plan an international tour entitled "The Shirts Off Tour" which is set to start in February 2008.³

Acting

Gibson was given the role originally intended for Tupac Shakur in the 2001 film Baby Boy, and he subsequently appeared in the 2003 film 2 Fast 2 Furious (opposite Paul Walker with whom he formed a close friendship), as well as Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Four Brothers (2005) and Annapolis (2006).

In 2006, Tyrese starred in Waist Deep; his co-stars in the film, Meagan Good and Larenz Tate, are personal friends of Gibson's in real life.² Like several of his previous roles, the film is set in an urban environment, but Gibson has said that he does not view the role as a "step back", rather seeing the film as taking "another direction" due to some of its themes and action sequences.²

His most recent role was in the action film, Transformers. The film's director, Michael Bay, had Gibson in mind for the role before he was cast, and thus Gibson did not have to audition for the part.⁴ Gibson may also star in a film version of the superhero Luke Cage; as of 2006, the script was being re-formatted.⁴

In 2008, he reprised his role Air Force Technical Sergeant Robert Epps in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Fear of owls

During a 2003 appearance on the New Tom Green Show it was revealed that Gibson has an immense fear of owls. On the show he confessed that he has such a fear of owls that looking at a picture would make him "freak out". Knowing this, Tom Green began to draw a picture of an owl causing Gibson to go into a panic and threaten to leave the stage.⁵

Discography

Albums

• 1998: Tyrese RIAA: Platinum (3/99)
• 2001: 2000 Watts RIAA: Gold (8/01)
• 2002: I Wanna Go There RIAA: Gold (2/03)
• 2006: Alter Ego

Singles

Guest features

Gibson also features on:

• Better Dayz by Tupac
• Hoodstar by Chingy
• Unrestricted by Da Brat
• U Turn by Brian McKnight
• After The Storm by Monica
• Blue Streak soundtrack
• Why Did I Get Married? soundtrack
• Untitled 3rd Studio Album 2008 by Beyonce

Filmography

• Baby Boy (2001) - Joseph "Jody" Summers
• 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - Roman Pearce
• Flight of the Phoenix (2004) - A.J.
• Four Brothers (2005) - Angel Mercer
• Annapolis (2006) - Cole
• Waist Deep (2006) - O2
• Transformers (2007) - USAF Tech Sergeant Epps
• The Take (2008) - Adell Baldwin
• Death Race (2008) - Machine Gun Joe
• Legion (2009) - Kyle Williams
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - Sergeant Epps
• Fast and Furious (2009) - Roman Pearce (cameo)
• Luke Cage (2009) - Luke Cage

Awards/nominations

• American Music Awards
  • 2000, Favorite New R&B/Soul Artist: (Winner)

• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Waist Deep (Nominated)

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2006, Best Ensemble: Four Brothers (Nominated)
  • 2002, Best Song: "Just a Baby Boy" from Baby Boy w/ Mr. Tan & Snoop Dogg (Nominated)
  • 2002, Best Actor: Baby Boy (Nominated)

• Grammy Awards
  • 2004, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "How U Gonna Act Like That" (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Sweet Lady" (Nominated)

• Image Awards
  • 2002, Outstanding Hip-Hop Artist: 2000 Watts (Nominated)
  • 2002, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Baby Boy (Nominated)
  • 2002, Outstanding Performance in a Variety Show: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Nominated)

References

External links

• Tyrese Gibson at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Tyrese at MySpace
• Tyrese on LyricWiki