Monday, July 4, 2011
Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 6, 1981) is an American singer and rapper. He is the lead vocalist of the alternative hip-hopband 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.
McCoy was born and raised in Geneva, New York. His father is Haitian, and his mother is of Irish and Native American ancestry.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.When he was fifteen, McCoy worked in a tattoo parlor as an apprentice, and shortly after, he began tattooing his friends.
As a teenager, McCoy was a fan of hardcore punk bands such as Snapcase and Earth Crisis, as well as underground rap acts such asCompany 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."McCoy frequently took buses to Manhattan throughout high school to participate in battle raps at the indie rap club Fat Beats. 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."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.
After graduating from Geneva High School, McCoy attended art school at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute and majored in fine arts and illustration. However, he dropped out at age 20 to focus on his tattoo work and his musical career. 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. 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.
Career
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.They officially came together in 1997. 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. 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.
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