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Usher Biography:
Usher, whose full name is Usher Raymond IV, was born on October 14, 1978. Usher was raised by his mother, Jonetta Patton, who relocated the family from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Georgia when he was a child. Usher started singing in the church choir, and soon his singing talents were noticed. As early as junior high school, Usher began entering local talent shows. At age 13, Usher was performing at a Star Search audition when he was spotted by an A&R rep from LaFace Records who arranged an audition with L.A. Reid. A record contract with the company soon followed and in late-1993, "Call Me a Mack," a song recorded for the movie soundtrack of John Singleton's Poetic Justice, entered the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Chart.
In August 1994, LaFace released Usher's self-titled debut album. Heavily involved in the project was Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, who produced several of the albums tracks and co-executive produced the album. Usher peaked at number twenty-five on the R&B Albums chart - spinning off three singles: "Can U Get Wit It," "Think Of You," and "The Many Ways." Though the album was moderately successful and garnered Usher attention with urban listeners, it wasn't a runaway hit.
Usher developed a friendship with Jermaine Dupri, with whom he co-wrote and produced several tracks for his sophomore album, My Way. The advance single, "You Make Me Wanna" was released to radio in the summer of 1997 and hit number one in its second week out - the same week that My Way was released. "You Make Me Wanna" stayed on top of the R&B/Hip-Hop track charts for a total of 11 weeks and at #2 on the Pop charts for 7 weeks (second only to Elton John's "Candle In the Wind" tribute to Princess Diana). The single eventually remained on the R&B chart for an astonishing 71 weeks and became Usher's first platinum single.
Into 1998, it segued into another hit, "Nice & Slow", which reached #1 on both the R&B Pop charts for several weeks. "My Way", whose title tune single extended into the summer of 1998 went on to earn 6x platinum album sales in the U.S. alone. Usher received his first Grammy Award nomination as "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" for "You Make Me Wanna," which was also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award.
Usher’s next album was titled 8701-named for the years of his career at that point, and for its release date of August 7, 2001, or 8/7/01. The song "Pop Ya Collar", produced and co-written by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, was released in Europe in early 2001 and became a #2 hit in the UK. In the US, "U Remind Me" was chosen as the album's first single. Exactly one month before the album's release, "U Remind Me" hit number one on the U.S. Hot 100, staying on top of the charts for 4 weeks.
One month after the album's release, "U Got It Bad," a "slow jam" written by Usher, entered the charts and eventually peaked on the top of the charts, (where it stayed for the next 6 weeks), while staying at #1 of the R&B/Hip-Hop tracks chart for 7 weeks. "U-Turn" was the fourth international single followed by "U Don't Have To Call". "U Don't Have To Call" was the third U.S. single and one of two album tracks produced by the Neptunes, which kept the heat on the singles charts into 2002, reaching the top 3. To date the album had past 4x platinum, selling more than 8 million copies worldwide.
Due to the Grammy's deadline peculiarities of eligibility, "U Remind Me" was able to win the Best Male R&B Vocal award at the ceremonies in February 2002; and "U Don't Have To Call" won the same award at the ceremonies one year later, making Usher the only artist besides Luther Vandross (more than a decade before) and Stevie Wonder (in the 1970s) to win that award in consecutive years.
Usher’s fourth album Confessions was released on March 23, 2004 - just as the Lil Jon produced single "Yeah!" was in its sixth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifth week on top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. The album's 1.1 million unit first week was not only the highest first week numbers ever scanned by a male R&B artist in Soundscan's 13-year history– but also the highest first week scans by any male artist since Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP (in 2000, with 1.7 million units). Following this, Confession’s became one of the most successful records of the year, eventually selling more than 15 million copies.
This success was simultaneously extended by the releases of the album's second single, ("Burn"), and third single, ("Confessions Part II") which once again topped Billboard's Hot 100 and made Usher the third artist in pop music history - but the first solo artist - to have three singles inside the Hot 100's top 10, since The Beatles in 1964 and the Bee Gees in 1978. In September 2004, "My Boo", Usher's collaboration with Alicia Keys, peaked at number one and gave him a total of twenty-eight weeks on top of the U.S. charts in 2004. In the December of the same year another single made its way to the top 10, when the album's final single "Caught Up" peaked at number 8.
Usher was recognized with a number of awards, including two MTV Awards for "Best Male R&B Artist", three World Music Awards, two Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, a Nordic Music Award, three Radio Music Awards, four American Music Awards and two more MTV Europe Music Awards. At the 2005 Grammy Awards ceremony, Usher also won three Grammy awards, including "R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals" ("My Boo" with Alicia Keys), "Rap/Sung Collaboration" ("Yeah!") and "Contemporary R&B Album" (Confessions).
In spring 2005 Usher's work entered the top 5 of Billboard's Hot 100 when "Lovers and Friends", with Ludacris and Lil Jon, was released as the second single from Lil Jon's album Crunk Juice.
Usher's next album is scheduled for a mid 2007 release. The album will feature production from Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Rich Harrison, Dre & Vidal, Robin Thicke, Ryan Leslie, and Swizz Beatz.
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