Ne-Yo: Fatherhood ‘means being there’

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Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, producer Ne-Yo talked to theGrio about his Father’s Day plans and what the holiday means to him.

Ne-Yo has two young children. Madilyn Grace is two and a half-years-old, and Mason Evan is one and a half-years-old.

“I’m going to go home and just be home,” Ne-yo said. “Whenever holidays roll around where I can just be home, that’s all I really want to do.”

The “Let Me Love You” artist is busy working on a number of projects. He is currently working on his sixth studio album, which will be “predominantly R&B.” In addition, he is set to release a new single this Tuesday, June 18th, with UK pop star Cher Lloyd.  The two paired up to write a song for Fruttare Fruit Bars, based on social media responses about the company’s slogan: “It’s All Good.”

Ne-Yo has also been tapped to create original music for TLC’s comeback album.  The album coincides with VH1’s production of the TLC biopic,  Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story, due out this November.

The singer opened up about what Father’s Day means to him. “Being a man who did not necessarily grow up with his father, to me being a father is just being there,” he said. “For whatever. Being there for everything and being there for nothing.”

“I can’t tell you how many times my mom had to take on the role of dad, and I never want my kids to go through that,” Ne-Yo said.

He said that he wants his kids to have fond memories of growing up and remember it as a positive experience.

Even though he is traveling a lot for work, Ne-Yo said he wants his kids to “look back and go, ‘he wasn’t there all the time but he was there when I needed him.  That’s good enough for me.”

The “Miss Independent” singer said he looks forward to hanging out on the couch and watching TV. “[My children] just like to jump on dad with really hard soled shoes,” he said.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.