Beginnings Gibson's career began when he auditioned for a Coca-Cola commercial at the suggestion of his high school music teacher. An appearance in a 1994
Coca-Cola advertisement, singing the phrase "Always Coca-Cola", led to bigger fame. It also led him to other appearances, such as for
Guess and
Tommy Hilfiger.
1998–1999: Tyrese Gibson was signed as an artist to
RCA Records in 1998, releasing his debut single "
Nobody Else". It quickly rose on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 36. On September 29, 1998, he released his self-titled album
Tyrese at the age of 19. It debuted on the
Billboard charts at No. 17. In late 1998, Gibson became the new host of the weekday music video show
MTV Jams on
MTV and a host and
VJ for the channel. Afterwards, he released the second and highest-charting single "
Sweet Lady" which became the album's biggest hit, reaching No. 9 on the R&B charts. The single earned Gibson a Grammy nomination for
Best R&B Male Vocal Performance. Afterwards, he released the third single from the album "
Lately". It made it to No. 56 on the
Billboard charts. The album eventually went on to be
certified Platinum. Gibson, along with singers
Ginuwine,
RL of
Next, and
Case, were featured on the soundtrack of
The Best Man on the single "
The Best Man I Can Be".
2000–2001: 2000 Watts On May 22, 2001, Gibson released his second studio album
2000 Watts. The first single off the album was "
I Like Them Girls", which reached No. 15 on the
Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album went on to be certified
Gold, selling over 500,000 copies. The third single off the album, "Just a Baby Boy", with
Snoop Dogg and Mr. Tan, was featured on
the soundtrack to the film
Baby Boy, Gibson's first major acting role.
2002–2004: I Wanna Go There After
RCA Records was disbanded, Gibson went on to sign to
J Records, where he released his third studio album
I Wanna Go There on December 10, 2002. His first single from the album and arguably his most successful single to date "
How You Gonna Act Like That" debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 7.
2005–2010: Alter Ego and hiatus On December 12, 2006, Gibson released his fourth studio album,
Alter Ego, his first double-disc album. It was also the first album in which he showcased his rapping persona. The first single off the album was "One" debuting on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 26. The album itself is considered Gibson's lowest selling album to date. In 2007, Gibson,
Ginuwine, and
Tank founded
TGT.
2011–2012: Open Invitation After taking time from music to focus on his family and acting career, Gibson returned to music in 2011, when he signed himself to
EMI and released his fifth studio album
Open Invitation on November 1. The album debuted on the US
Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 9, sold 130,000 copies in its first week and has gone on to sell over 400,000 copies. It was preceded by the lead single "Stay" and peaked on the US
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 11. The second single "Too Easy" featured fellow actor, friend and rapper
Ludacris. It peaked on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 38. The third single "Nothing On You" peaked on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 61. In 2013, the album earned Gibson his third
Grammy nomination at the
2013 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album.
2013–2017: TGT and Black Rose In early 2013, it was announced and confirmed after much speculation that Gibson,
Ginuwine, and
Tank would be releasing their debut collaboration album, to be distributed by
Atlantic Records. In 2014, Gibson released the album
Black Rose. A double album set was released in 2015. On July 10, 2015,
Black Rose was released and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 77,000 copies, making it Gibson's first number one album of his career. It received positive reviews. However, his Fast & Furious co-star
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson called it "the biggest piece of dogshit that I've ever heard".
2017–present: Beautiful Pain In October 2017, Gibson announced he was working on a project titled
Identity Theft and returning to his alter-ego Black Ty.
Identity Theft was supposed to focus more on his hip-hop roots, with Gibson predicting that it would "change hip-hop." The project however was shelved and retooled into an R&B album titled
Beautiful Pain, rumored to be released in late 2023. A single titled "Don't Think You Ever Loved", which features Lenny Kravitz and background vocals by Le'Andria Johnson, was released in February 2023. A remix of the song (featuring
2 Chainz and
Jeezy) leaked on YouTube later that month. "Love Transaction", a second single from the album, was released on August 25, 2023. When Gibson competed on
season five of
The Masked Singer, interim host
Niecy Nash introduced his character as "Porcupine" only for Gibson to tell her that his character preferred to be called "Robopine". ==Acting career==