USHER

One of the most successful contemporary R&B artists of all time, Usher is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He has sold over 80 million records worldwide, released several #1 singles and multi-platinum albums–including one diamond album–in his decades-long career.

Born Usher Terry Raymond IV in Dallas, Texas on October 14, 1978, he was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he began singing in the church choir when he was nine years old before he and his “momager” Jonetta Patton moved down to Atlanta, Georgia. At ten years old, Usher joined the group Nu Beginning but eventually left after recording a few songs. At 13 years old, he appeared on the talent show Star Search and in 1993, L.A. Reid signed him to LaFace Records with Usher’s debut single “Call Me a Mack” being released the same year on the Poetic Justice soundtrack. L.A. Reid sent Usher to New York to live and work with up-and-coming producer Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, who helped produce Usher’s debut album.

In the summer of 1994, 15-year-old Usher released his self-titled debut album but it didn’t make much noise. His 1997 sophomore album My Way put him on the map as he connected with Atlanta producer Jermaine Dupri, who produced seven of the album’s 10 songs, including the platinum singles “You Make Me Wanna,” “My Way” and “Nice & Slow,” which became Usher’s first #1 pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His third album, 8701, was released in 2001 and was another multi-platinum success as the album’s first two singles, “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad,” both topped the pop charts, while “U Don’t Have to Call” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Usher reached superstar status in 2004 with the release of his fourth album Confessions, which sold 1.1 million copies in its first week. The singles “Yeah!,” “Burn,” “Confessions Part II” and “My Boo” all reached the top of the pop charts, which helped the album sell over 20 million copies worldwide and reach diamond status in the US with more than 10 million sales. He followed that success with two platinum albums, 2008’s Here I Stand, which features the #1 single “Love in This Club,” and 2010’s Raymond v. Raymond, which features the #1 pop hit “OMG” and the #1 R&B hit “There Goes My Baby.” He released more singles such as his #1 R&B quadruple platinum non-album track “I Don’t Mind” with Juicy J and albums such as his 2018 collaborative album A with producer Zaytoven. He has also collaborated with many artists such as Lil Jon, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, J Balvin, Jung Kook (정국) and Justin Bieber, who Usher and Scooter Braun signed to their Raymond Braun Media Group in 2007.

Usher has appeared in several movies such as The Faculty, She’s All That, and Light It Up, and he also appeared in TV shows such as Moesha, where he played a love interest of fellow R&B singer Brandy. He also appeared as a judge on the NBC singing competition The Voice for three seasons. He has won numerous awards and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 7, 2016. He also became a minority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005 and celebrated the team’s first championship in June 2016.

In 2020, Usher began residency performances in Las Vegas, starting at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace before he moved to Dolby Live at Park MGM in 2022. In 2023, Usher received an honorary doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music, and in 2024, he was announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show in Las Vegas with his performance coinciding with the release of his ninth album, Coming Home.