Usher Biography

While still only a fourteen-year old choirboy, Usher Raymond was signed to La Face Records after only one audition. His debut album, Usher, introduced Usher Raymond to the world in 1994. His very first single, “Think of You,” went to gold status, even before the young Usher had graduated from high school. After that milestone event, Usher released his second album, My Way, on which he co-wrote many of the songs, in 1997.

“You Make Me Wanna,” the album’s first single, went double platinum and charted on both R&B and Pop. “My Way” and “Nice & Slow” also went platinum, with the latter becoming his first number one pop single. An acting career was next for Usher, with an appearance in The Faculty (1998) and Light It Up (1999.) Returning to music, Simply Live, a concert recording, was released in the same year, and All About U was released in 2000.

8701 followed in 2001, and brought Usher out of the “teen pop” genre and into the more mature R&B genre. Confessions arrived in 2004, and is considered by many to be the most mature of Usher’s albums. The album earned Usher a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album and topped over one million sales in its first week. The singles “Confessions Part II” and “Burn” also found a home on the Billboard charts, making Usher the first artist to top the charts with four number-one singles in succession. Ultimately, the album went on to earn numerous MTV Awards, World Music Awards, and American Music Awards in addition to the Grammy Awards. As if that wasn’t enough for 2004, Usher also recorded the duet “My Boo” with Alicia Keys. In the years following, he would also collaborate with Lil’ Jon, R. Kelly, Omarion, and Mary J. Blige, all to critical acclaim.

Over the course of the last decade, Usher has continued to perform, record, and act in films with little sign of slowing down. He returned to the screen for In the Mix in 2005, and in 2006 he began a run in the Broadway musical Chicago, as Billy Flynn. Between 2013 and 2017, he appeared in the films: Scary Movie 5 (2013), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), Hands of Stone (2016), People You May Know (2017), and Burden (2017.) He also released the albums: Here I Stand (2008) Raymond v. Raymond (2010), Looking 4 Myself (2012), and Hard II Love (2016), featuring the hits “Love in this Club,” “Moving Mountains,” “Trading Places,” “Papers,” “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home),” “Lil Freak,” “OMG,” and “Climax.”

Although Usher has multiple professional obligations on the table for the coming year, he recently wrapped an extensive tour and returned to the studio. The year 2018 will also see him appear in the film Last of the Showmen, scheduled for release in the spring or summer.