Grammy Award winner Ne-Yo will perform the pre-game show and US national anthem at the NFL's Pepsi Max International Series game between the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on Sunday October 27.
Ne-Yo, one of the best-selling artists of the past seven years, will showcase some of his biggest hits before singing "The Star Spangled Banner" prior to kickoff of the NFL's second regular-season game in London this season.
Nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, NE-YO carried off the prize for Best Contemporary R&B album in 2008 for 'Because of You' and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song in 2009 for 'Miss Independent'.
"We are very excited to have NE-YO performing at our game," said Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFLUK. "Having an artist of his calibre and track record will continue the event's record of showcasing some outstanding music acts. I know he will get the evening off to memorable start."
Since releasing his debut album, 'In My Own Words,' in 2006, NE-YO has seen two of his five albums reach number one in the US charts, four reach the top of the US R&B charts and three achieve US platinum status for more than one million sales. His third CD release, 'Year of the Gentleman' reached number two in the UK album charts in 2008. He has also had four number singles in the UK – 'So Sick', 'Closer', 'Beautiful Monster' and 'Let Me Love You'.
NE-YO, who performed the US national anthem at Wembley before the 2008 International Series game, has acted in several movies, produced numerous albums and written songs for artists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Carrie Underwood, and Cheryl Cole. In 2012, he was awarded the Songwriters' Hall of Fame's Hal David Starlight Award.
Previous pre-game artists in the International Series have been: The Feeling (2007), Stereophonics (2008), Calvin Harris (2009), Goo-Goo Dolls (2010), My Chemical Romance (2011), Train (2012) and Tinie Tempah (2013).
The UK national anthem will be sung by best-selling soprano Laura Wright, who performed 'God Save The Queen' at last month's International Series game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings.
The 49ers-Jaguars game will kick off at 5:00p.m. UK time (1:00p.m. ET) and will be aired live in the UK on Channel 4, Sky Sports and Absolute Radio 90s and in the US on FOX.
