Usher Raymonds Life Milestones - Research Paper Example

English Usher Raymond’s Biography Introduction Usher Raymond is a United s based dancer, actor,songwriter and a singer famously known as Usher. Usher became famous in the late 1990’s after the release of My Way, his second album, which engendered his song “Nice and slow” that moved its way to the top 100 hit songs. This album also contained other songs that made it to the billboard to 100 songs such as “U remind me” and “U got it bad”. With his natural attractiveness and individual manifestation that isolated him from the rest musicians, Usher has ascended from sincere teen hero to an established musician (Jane 1). Usher has released numerous albums from the start of his career as a singer. Most of these albums have produced sings that have made it to the billboard top 100 hit songs. The Recording Industry Association of America ranks Usher among the bestselling singers in music history. This is because his record sales in United States alone are high at more than 20 million copies and almost 70 million copies across the world. Additionally, usher has also won countless awards. He has been regarded as the second successful artist of the 2000’s and one of his albums, Confessions ranked the best solo album of the 2000’s (The People 1). Early Life and Inspiration to sing Raymond usher was born in Dallas, Texas, on 14th October 1978 to his mother, Jonetta Patton, and father, Raymond Usher III. He spent his childhood in Chattanooga where he joined the church choir at St. Elmo Baptist Church. He had been directed by his mother to join the church choir. However, his father left the family a year after Usher’s birth. At this time, his mother was the only support that he had. Usher has been reported to indicate that his mother directed him by showing him what was right and wrong (Jane 1). As time went, his mother remarried and now usher lived with his mother, step mother and his half-brother, who was born in 1984. Usher joined an R&B local quintet, NuBeginnings, where he recorded an album with ten songs (D’Angelo 1). However, this album was only available locally and by mail order. After joining the group, his mother realized that Usher could sing professionally and that this group would be a bad experience for him. Usher’s extended family members, who included his aunts and grandmothers, loved R&B music and he entertained them with numerous vocal sounds at early age. The young Usher’s attention was caught by a classical song that had been sung by Michael Jackson “I want you back” and inspired him to sing. His mother also promoted his career at this early age by enrolling him in numerous talent shows and competitions. Usher portrayed his zeal and talent in singing by winning many of the shows (Raid 1). In the early 1990’s, Usher’s family went to Atlanta, Georgia. This was because of the city’s significance as a brooding ground for novel R&B talent at this time and his mother also hoped that this would give the young boy exposure. Usher continuously took part in talent shows and competitions. The year 1991 was one of the primary stepping stones into his career; he won the best teen male vocalist for his song “End of the road” on the nationally transmitted television broadcast, the star search. This victory awarded Usher a contract with the LaFace music label the following year (Hope 1). Groomed for Fame Usher’s singing came on the limelight at the same time the prominence of Sean “puffy” Combs was rising. Sean “Puffy” Combs was a renowned hip hop producer and promoter who was one of the pillars in the fruitful marketing of the “gangster” rap trend and was a multi-platinum retailing artist. Usher was put under training for one year by Combs. However, the relationship between the two was a little hilly and rough at times. Usher was required to act like a bad boy and put frowny faces in front of the camera, which he struggled with. Although uncertain, one of the songs, “Think of you”, that Usher made under Combs made it to the gold-selling hit single category (Raid 1). Usher’s career was growing and developing. Usher forged a new and sociable appearance on his own with Jermaine Dupri, an R&B producer. Usher took the step of taking control of his career life and stressed on writing and coming up with his own songs, an aspect that Jermaine Dupri was willing to take and partner with the young and energetic artist. The makeover in his career brought him huge bonuses with his album My Way released in 1997. This album attained high sales of more than five million copies and propelled his name and his appeal further than the R&B field. Some of the number one hit songs in this album were “you make me wanna” and “Nice and Slow” (Hope 1). This album efficiently blended hip hop and R&B styles and Usher demonstrated that he possessed the vocal hacks that matched with his attractiveness. Usher took part in numerous tours and dates with Mary J. Blige. His first concert album was released in 1999. Because of the success of My Way, Usher was named as the artist of the year by the Billboard in 1998. Usher embraced the fruits of his success and appreciated her mother’s efforts by buying her a new Mercedes 420 (Jane 1). Film Career In 1997, Usher made an acting entrance with featuring in numerous episodes on the television series Moesha and Promised Land. In the Moesha TV series, Usher played as Brandy’s boyfriend. He additionally got another chance to feature in The Bold and the Beautiful”. For the first movie task, Usher took varying teen settings. He intelligently adjusted in on the horror genus, hugely an unexploited arena for black actors but enormously famous among youth folks of all races (Jane 1). Later in 1998, Usher unveiled his presence in The Faculty, where he featured as a high school football star infatuated by aliens. This movie was a hit and it attracted clothing lines such as Tommy Hilfiger, who used some of the images of his young-looking actors in its marketing campaigns (The People 1). Musical Offerings that brought unprecedented prominence As Usher continued with his acting career, he continued to produce new hits. Music still remained a significant part of his life and in 2000, he released Live. This was an album that portrayed Usher’s progress as a performer, and featured collaborations with Shanice, Trey Lorenz, and Twista. Usher came up with another album, 8701, which had hit songs such as “U remind me” and “U got it bad”. In 2004, he released the confessions album. It had hit songs such as “confessions part II”, “Burn” and “Yeah”. In this album, Usher worked with Lil’ Jon, R. Kelly, and Omarion. “Yeah” was one of the significant songs in this album (Raid 1). It surpassed the United States Billboard hot 100 before its replacement by “Burn”. The song’s video received appraisals for its mixture of R&B and Crunk. It was also appraised for its outstanding choreography. In 2008, Usher released Here I stand. This album sold more than 5 million copies across the world. This album contained hit songs such as “Love in this club” (Jane 1). In 2010, Usher released Raymond v. Raymond. It was released after Usher’s divorce with Tameka Foster. The most significant song in this album was “OMG”. In this song, Usher collaborated with will.i.am. This was the sixth single in the Raymond v. Raymond album. This song surpassed the charts in United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. This song’s video attained varied appraisals, praising the choreography and club ambiance but critiquing the Auto-tune gist. Usher recently released Looking for Myself. The lead song in this album is the “climax”. He is currently working on his next album and is expected to collaborate with Jermaine Dupri on various songs (Hope 1). Personal Life In 2001, Usher started courting Rozonda Thomas, a previous TLC associate. Their courtship had persisted for two years when they separated in 2003. It was after this separation that usher released the emotional Confessions album. This separation also enticed media agitation and he was accused by his ex-lover for cheating. In 2005, usher courted Tameka Foster, his former personal stylist. The two got engaged and married in 2007. They held a huge church wedding on September 2007. They had two children, Ely Raymond and Usher Raymond V. Later in 2009, Usher and Tameka divorced (Raid 1). They were later involved in a tussle over the custody of their children. However, the court granted Usher full primary custody over his children. Conclusion Usher is seen as a perfectionist and a person guided by his zeal for success. He began singing when he was six years old and was supported by his mother to take on his talent. His mother’s support and participation in talent shows and competitions exposed him to the world of music. This significantly impacted on his future music career. He continuously produced songs that were a hit and were ranked among the top 100 songs in United States. He is ranked among the most successful artists in the history of United States and has sold almost 70 million copies worldwide. Works Cited D'Angelo, Joe. "Early Usher Recordings Get A Nubeginning Chattanooga quintet's 1991 tracks feature 12-year-old mack." MTV. 25 Feb. 2002. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Hope, Clove. "Usher." Billboard. 25 May 2008. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Jane, Lynda. "Usher | Music Biography, Credits and Discography." AllMusic. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. The People. "Usher Biography." PEOPLE.com. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Raid, Shaheem. "Usher: King Me." MTV. 2007. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Read More