Usher – Telling It All
Photo Attribution: Georges Biard
The last year has been a challenging one for mega-star Usher.
He’s had to endure relentless media scrutiny and deal with very personal matters — getting engaged, canceling the Wedding only to finally see it through, falling out with his mother, and seeing the death of his father shortly after becoming one himself.
Usher has also learned to change his lifestyle and settle down.
“I was going out night to night, having a different woman in my bed every time I chose, and I began to wonder: Am I really being a playa or am I a whore?”
Usher (Usher Raymond IV) was born on 14 October 1978 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1994, he released his debut album, Usher.
Usher was able to break into super-stardom with the release of his sophomore album, My Way in 1997. Containing the hit songs You Make Me Wanna and My Way, the album gave Usher a handful of awards including a Soul Train award and 2 Billboard awards.
After a four year break, Usher finally returned with the much anticipated 8701 album, which became multi-platinum and gave Usher his first two Grammys.
In 2004, Usher released Confessions, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts, setting seven Soundscan sales records and selling 1.1 million albums in the first week alone.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Usher feels that he finally has a chance to tell his side of the story and tell all what really happened in both his professional and private life.
”This should be the last time that I have this type of dialogue about my wife or my family, and it’s because I’ve never really had the opportunity to speak,” he says, answering a question that hasn’t even been asked, his smooth Southern drawl infused with a hint of combative aggression. ”But I really don’t wanna make my business the focus of what this is.”
Usher’s new CD, Here I Stand (out May 27), which mirrors the singer’s transformation from carefree bachelor to devoted husband and father.
The album’s first single, the sleek and seductive ”Love in This Club,” is already a ubiquitous dance-floor staple that’s hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and notched 1.5 million digital sales.
Ames Friedman, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
