Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) is an American R&B singer-songwriter and recording artist. He was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, until moving to Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. He released his self-titled debut album Usher (1994), and rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way (1997). It spawned his first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single “Nice & Slow”, and the top-two singles “You Make Me Wanna…” and “My Way”. His third album, 8701 (2001), produced the number-one singles “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad”, as well as the top-three single “U Don’t Have to Call”. It sold eight million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003.

Confessions (2004) established him as one of the best-selling musical artists of the 2000s decade, containing four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles—”Yeah!” (featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris), “Burn”, “Confessions Part II”, and “My Boo” (with Alicia Keys)—and the top-ten “Caught Up”. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide and was certified Diamond by the RIAA. After splitting from his manager and mother in 2007, he released the albums Here I Stand (2008) and Raymond v. Raymond (2010), both of which debuted atop of the Billboard 200 chart and respectively produced the number-one singles “Love in This Club” (featuring Young Jeezy) and “OMG” (featuring will.i.am). The EP Versus produced the top-five single “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” (featuring Pitbull) before the release of the top-fifteen single “More”. Looking 4 Myself (2012) also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart with the top-ten single “Scream”. The R&B ballads “There Goes My Baby” and “Climax” received Grammy Awards in 2011 and 2013. “I Don’t Mind” (featuring Juicy J) also reached the top-fifteen in 2014, while Hard II Love (2016) peaked at five on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2018, he released A, a collaborative album with record producer Zaytoven.

Referred to as the “King of R&B” by various media outlets, Usher has sold 23.8 million albums and 38.2 million digital songs in the United States. Internationally, he has sold 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. At the end of 2009, Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the decade, the number-one Hot 100 artist of the decade, and ranked Confessions as the top solo album of the decade. The same magazine placed him at number 6 on their list of “Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years” and number 14 on their “Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists” list. Usher has earned 9 number-one singles. Considered an icon and sex symbol, he has been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Usher has won numerous awards and accolades including eight Grammy Awards, 34 ASCAP Awards, nine Soul Train Music Awards, and eight American Music Awards. With 18 awards, Usher is the fifth-most awarded artist at the Billboard Music Awards. He owns the record label Raymond-Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture with talent manager Scooter Braun that includes Canadian singer Justin Bieber. Alongside a successful music career, Usher is also acclaimed for involvement in humanitarian causes and is the founder of Usher’s New Look foundation.

Usher Raymond IV was born on October 14, 1978, in Dallas, Texas. His parents were Jonetta Patton (née O’Neal; from Tennessee) and Usher Raymond III. He spent the majority of his young life in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father left the family when Usher was a year old. Usher grew up with his mother, then-stepfather, and half-brother James Lackey (born 1984). Directed by his mother, Usher joined the local church youth choir in Chattanooga when he was nine years old. There, his grandmother discovered his ability to sing, although it was not until Usher joined a singing group that she considered he could sing professionally. Believing that a bigger city would provide greater opportunities for showcasing his talent, Usher’s family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where there was a more conducive environment for beginning singers.[16] While in Atlanta, he attended North Springs High School.

At age ten, Usher joined an R&B local quintet called the NuBeginnings, which was organized by local music promoter Darryl Wheeler. Usher recorded ten songs with the group in 1991, and the ensuing album, Nubeginning Featuring Usher Raymond IV, was only made available regionally and by mail order. However, Patton took him out because, according to her, it was a “bad experience”. The album was re-released nationally in April 2002 by Hip-O Records.[18][19]

At age 13, Usher met A.J. Alexander at a local talent show in Atlanta. Alexander, who at the time was Bobby Brown’s bodyguard, would take Usher around and have him perform in parking lots and talent shows. Alexander invited Bryant Reid, an A&R representative from LaFace Records to see Usher perform on the television talent show Star Search. Following the performance, he arranged an audition for Usher with L.A. Reid, the co-founder of LaFace; Reid signed Usher on the spot to a contract with the record company after Usher sang Boyz II Men hit record “End of the Road”. Usher’s mother left her job as a medical technician to manage his career. Usher was introduced to the public on “Call Me a Mack”, a song he recorded for the soundtrack album to the 1993 drama-romance film Poetic Justice. During this time period, the young Usher first met Chilli of TLC, his label-mate whom he would later date.

Preparing for his debut album, Usher lost his voice. Usher was going through puberty and had a difficult time adjusting his voice. LA Reid became skeptical of Usher and put his album on hold; he thought about dropping him from the label. Usher pleaded with the label to keep him and they did. From this point Reid didn’t know what to do with Usher so he sent him to New York in the spring of 1994 to live with record executive Puff Daddy to “attend” what Reid called “Flavor Camp”. Usher quickly adapted to the lavish lifestyle of Puff Daddy although in an interview with Rolling Stone, he described this period as the “hardest days” of his life. “I had to knuckle up, figure shit out in New York” he said.

On August 30, 1994, LaFace released Usher’s self-titled debut album behind the co-executive production of Sean “P Diddy” Combs. Usher peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was accompanied by three singles: “Can U Get wit It”, “Think of You”, and “The Many Ways”. The album has sold over 500,000 copies, to date. The album received backlash because Usher was singing about sex, and him only being 15 years old, the public had a difficult time believing that this was so. Again LaFace had their reservations about signing Usher because the album wasn’t as successful as they anticipated. At this time Usher’s mother took control of his career and put him in more talent shows the summer of 1995 building Usher a larger fan base and ultimately giving L.A. Reid more confidence in Usher.

After graduating from high school, Usher continued to develop his skills as a stage performer and laid the groundwork for his second album. He also appeared on LaFace’s version of “Let’s Straighten It Out”, a 1995 duet with fellow Atlanta teen recording artist Monica; and on “Dreamin'”, from LaFace’s 1996 Olympic Games benefit album Rhythm of the Games. He was also featured on “I Swear I’m In Love” off the soundtrack to the 1996 film Kazaam.