USHER

Biography

Usher Raymond IV was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on October 14, 1978. His mother, Jonnetta Patton, was a choir director at the local church and enrolled him in the choir when he was 6 years old. When Usher was 12, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia along with his mother and younger brother James.

usher is discovered

The experience Usher had gained at church gave him a taste of what it was like to entertain and so, after relocating to the Peach State, he began participating in several talent shows. At one such competition, an A&R rep from LaFace Records took notice of the young boy's voice and smooth dance moves, and arranged for Usher to meet famed producer and then LaFace Records chief, Antonio "LA" Reid.

usher signs to laface

At the meeting, Reid was very impressed with Usher and, in no time at all, he signed him to LaFace Records. Still in school, Usher found time to work on his debut album. His mother left her job in order to become his manager on a full-time basis, a position she fulfills to this day.

The 1994 self-titled record came out less than 12 months after Usher received the contract, and featured the Top 10 hit "Think of You." More importantly, Usher established a close relationship with producer Sean "P. Diddy" Combs -- a relationship they would both benefit from for years to come.

usher becomes star with my way

In 1997, the recently graduated Usher was again backed by established producers like Combs, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Jermaine Dupri for his sophomore album, My Way. Featuring the hits "You Make Me Wanna...", "Nice & Slow," and the title track, the album showcased Usher's radio-friendly, versatile voice and his songwriting abilities, as he wrote five of the nine tracks. When all was said and done, My Way was certified platinum seven times over and Usher took home two Billboard Awards (including one for R&B Artist of the Year), as well as a Soul Train Award (for Best R&B/Soul Single, for "My Way").

usher appears on moesha and in film

To his hectic schedule of touring and studio time, Usher added acting in 1997. First, he appeared in Brandy's comedy series Moesha (in 1997-'98), and then hit the big screen with the films The Faculty (1998), She's All That (1999), Light It Up (1999), and Texas Rangers (2001). In the meantime, Usher put together a compilation of his best live tracks and released Usher Live in 1999.

8701 is released

The live album was followed by Usher's third album, All About U, released in 2000. The only work in Usher's repertoire to not become a smash success, the album served up the minor hit "Pop Ya Colla." More importantly though, All About U served as a prelude to Usher's upcoming album, 8701 (released in August of 2001), which featured some of the same songs, but received more attention due to tracks like "U Remind Me" and "U Don't Have To Call." It received so much attention, in fact, that those two hits won Grammys for Best Male R&B Performance in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

usher gets grammys and tlc

By this time, Usher was on top of the world. In addition to his awards and slew of No. 1 hits, he also had the pleasure of dating the beautiful Chilli from the R&B/pop group TLC for quite a while. Though the relationship fizzled, life still got better for Usher, as his most recent album, Confessions, has topped all his previous successes.

these are usher's confessions

Thanks to the prerelease of the club hit "Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris), Confessions sold 1.1 million copies in its first week, making it the highest-selling album debut since 2001. When the singles "Burn" and "Confessions, Pt. 2" joined "Yeah!" in the Billboard Top 10, Usher matched the Beatles in 1964 and the Bee Gees in 1978 as the most recent artists to have three hits in the Top 10 at the same time.

Touring across North America in the summer of 2004, this young dancer/singer/songwriter has many more years of hits, awards and record-breaking sales figures to look forward to. As for his acting career, Usher playing Jackie Wilson in 2004's Ray, a biopic of music legend Ray Charles.