Releasing his sixth studio album on March 30, 2010, Usher’s Raymond v. Raymond, has already become his third consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Achieving success is nothing new to Usher, born Usher Raymond, October 14, 1978. Usher has achieved ten #1 singles worldwide, with nine on the Billboard Hot 100. He has achieved fifteen Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, thirteen as a lead artist, and two as a featured artist. In the UK he has proven himself quite successful as well with 11 Top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart. Usher is also the first artist to have a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1990s, 2000s and the 2010s.
Usher Raymond was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1978 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia when he was 12. As with many rising stars, he started singing with his church choir. While he was still in school, L.A. Reid signed him to La Face records. His self-titled debut record was produced by P. Diddy and released in 1994. Although his first album didn’t come out with a bang, Usher made a big enough impact to get noticed by Coca-Cola who asked him to record jingles for the 1996 Summer Olympics. At that time, he joined with other vocalists and formed the group Black Men United, which recorded the song “U Will Know”. The song reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1994 and No. 5 on the Hot R&B Hip Hop Charts.
Still in High School, Usher pushed forward. He produced the album “My Way” after graduating from school, co-writing six of the nine tracks. The album was released in 1997 and served as a breakthrough album for him, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the R&B album charts.
Usher followed this successful album with a number of hit singles that include: “You Make Me Wanna”(1997), “My Way” (1998), and “Nice & Slow (1998). His albums My Way and 8701 were his most successful. Usher also tried his hand at acting, 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 received his first Grammy Award nomination as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for “You Make Me Wanna”, which also won him for Best Male R&B/Soul.
On a personal level, Usher founded New Look, a non-profit charity organization which was created to provide young people with a new look on life through education and real-world experience. The charity was started to help rebuild and revitalize city blocks in New Orleans. Usher partnered with Armani Exchange in creating “Love 4 Life” dog tags to raise money for the project.
Usher’s latest album Raymond v. Raymond is expected to follow in the success of his album Confessions. The album was released only months after Usher’s divorce from Tameka Foster. The single “Papers” was released as the first promotional single for the album in October 2009 on iTunes. The single reached the top of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two consecutive weeks, becoming his tenth number one single on that chart. The song also peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
Raymond v Ramond album singles so far are seeing more success than those of Here I Stand. On March 20, 2010, Usher released his first international single and third official single “OMG”. It reached number-one in Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
Usher may have started his career in 1994, but he is still going strong now in 2010 and possibly into years to come.
Jeff Bachmeier is owner of 977music.com, an online music and <a href=”http://www.977music.com”>online radio</a> station network providing live streaming Internet Radio channels with music from the 50’s thru Today. Users can also choose to create their own customized on demand playlist through their own social media profile. For more information please visit http://www.977music.com.
