Five-time Grammy award winning American R&B artist, Usher’s popularity has been on the rise since the 1990s. His last album ‘Confessions’ (2004) sold a record breaking 1.1 million copies in its first week in the US alone – the most number of albums sold by an R&B artist in the first week. It topped the Billboard Top 200. His single, “Yeah!” which featured Lil’ Jon and Ludacris has been a chart topper worldwide and is typical of his crunk style.
Born Usher Raymond IV, Usher’s also known as Big Ush, Big Tyme and Mr. Entertainment. Usher was primarily raised by his mother who is his best friend, and has been managing his career for some time now. Usher recorded and released his debut album when he was 14, with LaFace which was co-produced by Bryant Reid and Sean “P.Diddy” Combs. “Think of You” from this album went on to become quite popular; in fact it reached gold status. After this, he released ‘My Way’ when he was 19, and “You Make Me Wanna” from this album became an instant hit and was at the No.2 position of the Billboard Top 200 for a number of weeks. “Nice and Slow” was the second smash hit from this album.
Apart from “Yeah”, songs like “Burn” and “Confessions Part II”, from ‘Confessions’, topped the US charts as well and stayed there for a number of weeks. “My Boo”, his duet with Alicia Keys was a chart topper in the US for 6 weeks. “Caught Up”, another single from ‘Confessions’ reached the No. 8 position on the US charts. Apart from the US, all of these singles have been on the top of the charts in the UK, Australia and other place world over.
Usher remains true to his R&B tradition and uses songwriting skills of the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland when he uses a bit from a famous Dionne Warwick song in “Throwback”. He also features songs written by Jermaine Dupri and an upcoming R&B artist Thicke. He says that he was inspired by Augustine of Hippo in making ‘Confessions’. He says that most songs are quite personal and are as though he is confessing to someone or something. Speaking of his album, Usher says “All of us have our Pandora's boxes or skeletons in our closets. I let a few of them out, you know. And with everything that's been happening in my life, I've got a lot to say. I've got a lot of stuff built in me that I just want to let go of."