Travie McCoy

Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career.

McCoy became involved with punk rock scenes as a teenager.

He formed the band Gym Class Heroes with childhood friend Matt McGinley; after several line-up changes, the group was signed to Fueled by Ramen, which released their debut album.

They decided to start a band and played with other musicians until Gym Class Heroes was formed in 1997.

After graduating from Geneva High School, McCoy attended art school at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY 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, 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.

They officially formed the group in 1997.

The band originated when bassist Ryan Geise and drummer McGinley were performing at a party in a 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, Pete Wentz's 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 Billboard 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".

He denied rumors that Gym Class Heroes had broken up, asserting that "Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member has had another musical outlet, if not three or four. This is just another one of those."

McCoy had originally prepared to record an introspective album of "sad and somber" acoustic songs reflective of his state of mind following his breakup with Katy Perry and his addiction to painkillers.

McCoy made his MTV debut in the summer of 2002, as he appeared on stage at the beach house, winning a standard nationwide MC battle that was held on the MTV show Direct Effect.

McCoy and Matt McGinley became friends at their local high school's gym class in ninth grade in Geneva, New York.

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!.

Gym Class Heroes took a three-year hiatus from music, leaving McCoy to focus on his solo career; McCoy released, under T-Pain's label Nappy Boy Entertainment, his debut solo album, Lazarus, in 2010.

The lead single from the album, "Billionaire" (featuring Bruno Mars), peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the UK Singles Chart.

In 2022, McCoy signed with Hopeless Records, with whom he released his second studio album, Never Slept Better.

McCoy was born and raised in Geneva, New York.

His father is Haitian and his mother is of Native American and Irish descent.

As a child, McCoy used a wheelchair for four months after a skateboarding accident; his lack of mobility allowed him to focus on art.

When he was 15, 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 as Company 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 down to Manhattan, New York, throughout high school to participate in battle raps at the indie rap club Fat Beats.

McCoy 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.

McCoy began a solo career in 2010.

McCoy and Gym Class Heroes released a new album, The Papercut Chronicles II, in November 2011.