Usher

Usher Raymond (born October 14, 1978) has been a popular R&B/pop musician since the early 1990s. His 2004 album Confessions best song sold over a million copies in the US in its first week of release, selling the greatest amount of records in one week for any R&B artist, and has topped the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The first single from the album "Yeah" featuring Ludacris and Lil Jon has topped the US Billboard Hot 100, European, Australian, World, US and World R&B charts, World Adult, Norwegian, Swiss, and the UK charts in 2004, and it also reached number 2 in Canada. Usher won a Grammy Award for "Best Male R&B Vocal" in the Grammy Awards of 2001 for "U Remind Me" off his 8701 album.
Usher on the cover of his popular album Confessions

Early career

Usher Raymond was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1978 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia when he was 12. He started singing in a church choir and his singing talents soon became obvious. L. A. Reid signed him to La Face records after an audition while still in school.

His self-titled debut record was executive produced by P. Diddy, then known as Puff Daddy and was released in 1994. It made a modest impact on the charts peaking at number 167 on the Billboard 200 Album charts although it did reach number 4 on the Heatseeker charts for prospective stars. There were three singles released in the US from the album namely:

"I Think Of You" Number 8 Hot R&B/Hip Hop charts, No 58 Billboard Hot 100;
"Can U Get Wit It" Number 13 Hot R&B/Hip Hop Charts, No. 59 Billboard Hot 100;
"The Many Ways" Number 42 Hot R&B/Hip Hop Charts.
Usher continued to build a national profile by recording jingles for Coca-Cola and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He also formed a vocal group with other vocalists called Black Men United which recorded a song called "U Will Know" from the Jason's Lyric soundtrack. This song proved to be his most successful to date reaching number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1994 and reaching number 5 of the Hot R&B/hip Hop Charts.

My Way - Topping the Charts

Usher produced his sophomore album My Way after graduating from high school. Usher co-wrote 6 out of the 9 tracks on the album and recruited leading producers Jermaine Dupri, Babyface and P. Diddy to ensure its success. When released in 1997, My Way was the breakthrough album for Usher reaching number 4 on the Billboard 200, number 1 on the R&B album charts, and number 13 on the Canadian charts. The album would eventually go multi-platinum on the back of the hit singles from the album such as:

"You Make Me Wanna" (1997) Number 2 Billboard Hot 100, number 1 US R&B (11 weeks), Rhythmic Top 40 and Dance charts number 6 Canada;
"My Way" (1998) Number 2 Billboard Hot 100, number 4 R&B, number 5 Rhythmic Top 40, number 20 Canada;
"Nice & Slow" (1998) Number 1 Billboard Hot 100, R&B and Rhythmic Top 40, number 2 dance number 6; and
"Nice" number 12 dance and number 22 Top 40 mainstream.

Usher also commenced an acting career appearing in TV series such as The Bold and the Beautiful and Moesha and movies such as The Faculty and She's All That. Usher released a live album that failed to achieve the success of My Way, only reaching number 73 on the Billboard 200 and number 30 on the R&B/Hip Hop Charts. The live album was widely perceived as a stopgap measure while he recorded his follow-up album, scheduled for release in early 2001. However, this album to be called All About U was extensively leaked on Napster, leading to new material being recorded for release later in the year.

The 8701 album so called because of the date of its release proved to be another success. It reached number one in the UK and Canada, number four on the Billboard 200 and number three on the R&B charts. This album started to build a market for Usher outside his traditional markets in Canada and the US. 8701 contained a number of hit singles including:

"Pop Ya Collar," which reached number two in the UK, and top 30 in Australia;
"U Remind Me" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B/Hip Hop charts, number two on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart, number three in Canada and the UK, and number four in Australia;
"U Got It Bad" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B/Hip Hop charts, number three in Australia and number five in the UK;
"U Don't Have To Call" reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the US R&B chart; and
"U Turn" reached the top 10 in Australia and top 20 in the UK.
He won a Grammy for best male R&B vocal for his work on "U Remind Me".

Usher continued in his acting career, appearing in Texas Rangers in 2001 and in Geppetto in 2000. He will play soul singer Jackie Wilson in Ray, a 2004 movie.

Usher was in a relationship with fellow R&B singer Rozonda Thomas (Chilli of TLC), but it was over as of 2004.

Usher released the Confessions album on March 23, 2004. Confessions sold 1.1 million records in its first week of release, the most first-week sales by any R&B artist and the highest sales by any artist in three years. Along with the success of the Norah Jones album Feels Like Home, it was seen as a sign that record sales were slowly recovering after three straight years of decline in the US. The album topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic as well as topping US R&B charts and Internet albums charts and reaching number 2 in Australia. "Yeah" features contributions by Ludacris and Lil Jon and was released as the first single. Confessions has so far spawned the following hits:

"Yeah" has topped the Billboard Hot 100, European, World, US and World R&B charts, World Adult, Australian, Norwegian, Swiss and the UK charts and reached number 2 in Canada;
"Burn" has so far reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and US R&B/Hip Hop charts as well as the Rhythmic Top 40 charts, and also topping the UK and Australian charts;
"Confessions Part II" has so far topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the US and World R&B Charts, and reached number five in the UK and Australia (as a double A-side with "My Boy", see below). It is Usher's 6th number 1 single since 1998; and
"My Boo", a duet with Alicia Keys, has reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured on a re-release/repackaged version of Confessions, giving him a total of 7 number 1 singles in the US.
Confessions has so far been certified 7x platinum in the US selling over 6 million albums by November 2004.

Usher is the only artist to have spent over half of a year (28 weeks) atop the Hot Billboard Hot Singles Chart in one year with "Yeah" (12 weeks), "Burn" (6 weeks), "Confessions Part 2" (5 weeks), and "My Boo" (5 weeks).

Discography

Usher (1994)
My Way (1997)
Live (Usher album) (1999)
8701 (2001)
Confessions (2004)

Acting career

So far, Usher has appeared in the following television shows and movies.

Moesha as Jeremy (TV series 1997-98)
The Faculty as Gabe Santoro (movie 1998)
The Bold and the Beautiful as Raymond (TV series 1998)
She's All That as Ron James, campus DJ (movie 1999)
Light It Up as Lester Dewitt (movie 1999)
"Sabrina The Teenage Witch" as The Love Doctor
Geppetto as Ring Leader (TV movie 2000)
Texas Rangers (movie) as Randolph Douglas Scipio (movie 2001)
Ray as Jackie Wilson (movie 2004?)