Usher

Usher Raymond (born October 14, 197 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.



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.