Okay, let's unpack this. We often throw around
the word icon in the music industry. It gets,
you know, plastered on anyone who has a couple
of number one hits or manages to stay famous
for more than five years. It's true. It gets
a little diluted. Right. But then you look at
the stats we have in front of us today and you
realize there are levels to this game. We are
talking about someone who headlined the Super
Bowl Elevate Halftime Show in 2024. Yeah. And
drew in 123 million viewers. Yeah. I mean, that
is just a staggering number. It really is. And
to put that 123 million into perspective, that
is more people than the entire population of
most countries. Wow. In an era where media is
completely fractured, where, I mean, getting
5 million people to watch the same thing is a
miracle, he commanded the attention of a huge
chunk of the planet. And what's wild is that
he didn't just show up to wave to the crowd or,
you know, do a nostalgia lap. He commanded that
stage with the same energy he had 30 years ago.
He was skating. He was stripping his shirt off.
He was singing. Exactly. And that performance
coincided with the release of his ninth album,
Coming Home. But if you look at the trajectory,
this isn't just a simple comeback story. This
is a story of a guy who has sold over 100 million
records worldwide. 100 million. We are talking
about the king of R &B, a savvy business mogul,
and the man who, let's not forget, helped discover
Justin Bieber. So today we are doing a deep dive
into the life and career of Usher Raymond IV.
It is a massive career to cover. We've got extensive
biographical data, career stats, and a lot of
analysis on his artistry and his business ventures
to get through. Yeah, a lot to cover. But what's
our angle here? Because I don't want to just
read a Wikipedia page out loud. What is the core
mission of this deep dive? The mission is to
answer one specific question. How? How does a
kid from Chattanooga, Tennessee, navigate the
most volatile industry on Earth for three decades
and remain on top? We're looking for the mechanics
of his adaptability. That is the big question,
because think about it. He started in the era
of New Jack Swing and cassette tapes. He moved
through the CD boom, survived the Napster piracy
crisis, which we definitely need to talk about.
Oh, absolutely. Conquered the digital download
era and is now thriving. In the streaming age,
he went from R &B to pop to EDM and back again.
And he did all of it while dealing with some
incredibly intense personal volatility, divorces,
lawsuits, tragedy. But if we want to understand
the king of R &B and how he built this kind of
armor. We have to go back to the very beginning.
I don't mean the yeah era. I mean the church
choir era. Right. Let's go back to the roots.
He was born in Dallas in 1978, but raised primarily
in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father left when
he was just one. So he was raised by his mother,
Jeanetta Patton, and his stepfather. And like
so many greats, Whitney, Aretha. It all starts
in the church. It does. He joined a youth choir
at Agent Ballen. And this wasn't just a show
up on Sunday kind of thing. His mother was the
director. But there's this great detail in the
source material about his grandmother, who he
called Nanny. She was actually the one who first
discovered his singing ability. It's always the
grandmother, isn't it? They have that ear. They
just know. They do. But interestingly, she didn't
think he could go professional right away. It
wasn't until he joined a local singing group
that she realized, OK. This kid has something,
something special. But his mom, Janetta... She
wasn't just a passive observer in all this. She
saw the talent and made a huge move, a life -changing
move. They moved the family from Tennessee to
Atlanta, Georgia. Yeah. Now, we know Atlanta
today as the absolute capital of hip -hop and
R &B, but back then in the early 90s, was it
really that established? It was just bubbling
up. It was becoming the place to be, but it wasn't
the empire it is now. That move was so strategic.
Janetta felt a bigger city would provide a better,
more conducive environment for singers. She basically
uprooted the family for this dream. And he attended
North Springs High School there. But this is
where it gets really interesting for me. At age
12, Usher joins an R &B quintet called New Beginning.
New Beginning. New Beginning. I love that name.
It is so painfully 90s. Please tell me they had
matching... oversized silk outfits. Oh, almost
certainly. And they were actually doing real
work. They recorded an album in 1991. It was
available regionally and, get this, by mail order.
A mail order. Yeah. Can you imagine? There were
probably some rare copies of that floating around
that are worth a fortune now. But this brings
us to the first really pivotal moment in his
career management. His mother, Janetta, pulls
him out of the group. Wait, why? They had an
album. They were doing the thing. For a 12 -year
-old, that's the peak. You've made it. She called
it a bad experience. The sources don't really
go into the nitty gritty of the drama, but she
just felt he was better off as a solo artist.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a 13 -year
-old usher. He was terrified. He thought that
was it. His dream was completely over. He didn't
understand that his mother was actually clearing
the deck for something much, much bigger. She
told him, your world is only beginning. That
is some serious foresight. Most parents would
just be thrilled their kid has a hobby that keeps
them out of trouble. She was playing 4D chess
from the start. Absolutely. So she pulls him
out and then he hits the talent show circuit.
And this leads to Star Search. For those who
are too young to remember, Star Search was basically
American Idol before American Idol. It was the
gatekeeper. And Usher didn't just compete on
the show. He set a record. He held a note for
12 seconds. That is the longest note ever held
by a child in the show's history. 12 seconds.
Try just holding your breath for 12 seconds while
doing anything, let alone projecting a melody
to a live audience and a TV crew. It just shows
that the raw instrument was there from the beginning.
That kind of breath control at that age is, it's
absurd. But the real breakthrough happened because
of a connection. He met a guy named A .J. Alexander,
who was Bobby Brown's bodyguard at the time.
No way. Yeah. Alexander gets him an audition
with L .A. Reid from LaFace Records. L .A. Reid,
a legend. You can't tell the story of 90s music
without him. So Usher walks in, sings Boys II,
Men's End of the Road. and success reed signs
him on the spot but and this is a huge but it
was not smooth sailing from there this is the
part of the story that i think really truly shaped
usher's work ethic right after signing he hits
puberty oh no the voice change the enemy of every
child star and the voice change hit him hard
he lost his voice while he was supposed to be
preparing for his debut album he literally couldn't
hit the notes anymore wow So L .A. Reid got skeptical.
He actually put the album on hold and considered
dropping him from the label. Imagine being 14
or 15. You just got signed. You think you've
made it. And now the label boss is thinking,
maybe this kid is broken. That is brutal pressure
for a kid. So how did they salvage it? Did they
send him to a vocal coach? What happened? Well,
Reid didn't really know what to do with him while
his voice was settling. So he made a pre -radical
decision. He sent him to something called Flavor
Camp. Flavor Camp. Please explain. That sounds
like a reality TV show. It was real life. He
sent Usher to New York City to live with Sean
Puffy Tomes Diddy. This was 1994. The bad boy
era was just exploding. Wait, wait, wait. He
sent a teenager to live with Diddy in 1994. That
sounds intense. What was the actual goal there?
Was Diddy supposed to teach him how to sing?
No, and that's the key distinction. Usher already
knew how to sing. The choir taught him that.
Diddy was there to teach him how to be a star.
Oh, OK. This is the era of bad boy records. It's
all about flash. It's arrogance. It's streetwear.
It's a lifestyle. Usher described it as a total
culture shock. He wasn't just observing. He was
embedded in it. He had to wake up early, do chores,
but also navigate this incredibly adult, high
stakes hip hop world. So it was essentially a
boot camp for swagger. Precisely. He called it
the hardest days of his life because he had to
shed that polite southern skin and develop a
real edge. He had to learn how to walk into a
room and command it before he even opened his
mouth. Right. Without Flavor Camp, I don't think
you get the Usher we know today. You might get
a great vocalist, but you don't get the icon.
That makes so much sense. He had the church vocals,
but he needed the New York attitude. So he comes
back from camp, and they finally release the
debut album, simply titled Usher, in 1994. Executive
produced by Combs. Did it work? It was complicated.
He was 15 years old, but the songs were explicitly
about sex. Yeah, that's a tough sell. I'm 15.
Let me tell you about the bedroom. It's just
not going to fly. Exactly. The public had a really
hard time believing it. It felt inauthentic.
It sold about 500 ,000 copies, which is gold.
Not bad at all. But it wasn't the blockbuster
that LeFace had hoped for. It received backlash.
People were like, why is this child singing these
lyrics? Right. But it set the stage. He had the
voice. He had the flavor from the Diddy Camp.
And enter Jermaine Dupri. This is the partnership
that changes everything. For his second album,
My Way. Released in 1997, he links up with Dupree
and suddenly he just clicks. You make me wanna
hits number one in the UK. Nice and Slow becomes
his first U .S. Billboard Hot 100 number one.
Nice and Slow is a classic, an absolute classic.
And My Way went 7X platinum. That is a massive
jump from the debut. So what did Dupree bring
to the table that Diddy didn't? Dupree understood
Atlanta. He understood the bounce, the rhythm
of the South. He grounded Usher in a sound that
was smoother, more melodic. And honestly, it
just fit his voice better. It felt authentic
to who he was at that age. And the timing was
perfect. Late 90s. Usher is also pivoting to
acting. He's on Marcia. He's in the faculty.
She's all that. He was establishing himself as
a multimedia threat. He wasn't just a singer.
He was a teen heartthrob who could act. He was
everywhere. I remember in the faculty, he was
great. But musically, he was heading toward an
even bigger peak. We get to the 8701 era. Now,
I read in the notes that this album had a bit
of a drama with the release, something about
a leak. It was a massive drama. The album was
originally titled All About You, but this was
the early 2000s, the dawn of the internet leak.
Napster. The Wild West. Napster, exactly. And
multiple tracks got out on Napster and radio
before the album was even finished. Now, for
the younger listeners, you have to understand
the mechanics of 2001. Today, if a song leaks,
an artist might just drop it on Spotify the next
day to capitalize on the buzz. Right, you lean
into it. You lean into it. But back then, the
entire industry relied on physical CD sales.
A leak was a potential death sentence. It meant
people had the music, but the stores didn't have
the discs yet. So the demand is there, but the
supply chain isn't ready. You can't monetize
it. Exactly. So Usher and his team did something
very smart and very risky. They delayed the album.
They scrapped a bunch of the leaked tracks. They
went back into the studio and retooled the whole
project. And then they renamed it 8701 because
it was released on August 7th, 2001. That is
a clever pivot. It's like saying you stole the
old version. Fine. The real version is coming
later and it's even better. And it gave us You
Remind Me and You Got It Bad. Both number one
hits. And this is where the critical acclaim
really starts to match the commercial sales.
He won consecutive Grammys for Best Male R &B
Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003. That's a
huge deal. It is. The only other artists to ever
do that were Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder.
That is elite company. That's not just pop star
territory. That is vocal legend territory. It
solidified him as a vocalist, not just a performer.
But speaking of performance, 8701 is where the
Michael Jackson comparisons stopped being just
hype and started feeling real. He was singing
and dancing simultaneously at a level nobody
else was even touching at that time. We see people
dance now, but usually they are lip syncing or
they have a heavy backing track doing most of
the vocal work. Usher was doing full choreography
and hitting every single note. Precisely. He
was filling the void that MJ left. But if 8701
was him becoming a superstar, the next phase
was him becoming... Well, a legend. We have to
talk about Confessions. Confessions, 2004. This
is the magnum opus. The numbers alone are just
mind boggling. 1 .1 million copies sold in the
first week. Diamond certification. That's over
10 million sales in the U .S. alone. It's the
highest first week sales number ever for a male
R &B artist. And frankly, with the way streaming
works now, we will probably never see a male
R &B artist hit 1 .1 million pure sales in a
week ever again. It's just not possible. We have
to talk about why it's sold like that. It wasn't
just the music. It was the narrative. The album
was driven by. These songs about infidelity,
having a mistress, getting that mistress pregnant,
Confessions Part Two. The drama. Well, the drama
was everything. Everyone assumed this was Usher
confessing to cheating on Chili's from TLC, right?
That was the story. That was absolutely the assumption.
And it fueled the sales fire. It was the main
topic of conversation on every radio station,
every TV show in America. But here is the deep
dive reality check. The stories were largely
fiction. What do you mean? Or rather, they were
inspired by Jermaine Dupri's personal life, not
Usher's. Okay, hold on. Confessions part two.
This is the song where he admits to getting his
mistress pregnant while his girl is at home.
At the time, everyone thought this was him confessing.
But you're telling me that was all smoke and
mirrors? Yeah. Because that feels a little manipulative,
doesn't it? leveraging your real -life breakup
to sell records based on a lie. It feels manipulative
because it was manipulative, and it was brilliant
marketing. Dupree and Usher made a calculated
decision not to correct the record. They monetized
the ambiguity. Wow. Dupree knew that if people
thought they were getting a voyeuristic look
into Usher's real -life tragedy, they would buy
the album. He basically admitted it later. He
said he saw the public chatter and told Usher,
we're not going to say anything. So they just
let the audience believe the lie. They let them
run with it, exactly. Chilly even clarified later
on the radio that Usher never cheated on her,
despite the lyrics, but at the time. The ambiguity
was worth millions. You don't sell 1 .1 million
copies in a week just on catchy melodies. You
sell them on gossip and narrative. That is genius,
devious, and incredibly effective. And the singles
run from that album. I mean, yeah, Lil Jon and
Ludacris? Burn. Confessions Part II. My boo was
Alicia Keys. All number ones. In the year 2004,
Usher spent 28 weeks at number one on the Hot
100. 28 weeks. That's more than half the year.
More than half the year. And he became the first
artist since the Beatles to have two singles
occupy the top two spots on the year -end Hot
100 chart, was number one for the year, and Burn
was number two. That is just total dominance.
Critics called it the thriller of our generation.
And in terms of commercial impact... They aren't
wrong. It might have been the last true blockbuster
in pop music before the industry completely fractured
into streaming. It was an event album that everyone,
regardless of genre preference, bought. Your
mom bought it. The club DJ bought it. The hip
hop heads bought it. So you reach the absolute
top of the mountain. Diamond album. A shelf full
of Grammys. Where do you possibly go from there?
This brings us to his reinvention phase because
he didn't just keep making confessions over and
over again. No, and that's the key to his longevity.
And this is where that theme of adaptability
really kicks in. He released Here I Stand in
2008, which was a much more mature album. He
had married Tamika Foster. He fired his mom as
his manager. It was a really transitional time
for him. But then came Raymond v. Raymond in
2010. This was a divorce album, right? In a way,
he was dealing with his newly single status.
But musically, this is where he starts charging
headfirst into what he called revolutionary pop.
Just look at OMG with Will .im. That song was
everywhere. I mean, you couldn't escape it. But
I remember at the time, R &B purists hated it.
They absolutely hated it. It was auto -tuned.
It was a fist -pumping club track. It sounded
nothing like Burn. You're right. The purists
hated it. But Usher read the room. R &B was taking
a backseat on Top 40 radio, and EDM electronic
dance music was taking over everything. Right,
that was the big sound. If he had stayed in his
lane, he might have faded. Instead, he jumped
lanes. OMG made him one of the very few artists
to top the Hot 100 in the 90s, the 70s, and the
10s. So he risked... alienating his core bass
to gain the globe. And it worked. Then you have
Looking for Myself in 2012, where he worked with
Diplo on the song Climax. Climax is such a fascinating
track. It's the opposite of OMG. It doesn't have
a big drop. It's quiet, it's all falsetto, it's
electronic, but it's incredibly soulful. And
critics hailed it as one of his best vocal performances
ever. It showed he wasn't just chasing trends.
He was blending his R &B roots with electronic
music in a way that felt sophisticated and new.
He proved he could do the cool indie electronic
thing just as well as the pop blockbuster thing.
And while he's dominating the charts, he's also
making these huge moves behind the scenes. We
have to talk about Usher the Mogul. Because I
think people forget he discovered Justin Bieber.
This is arguably one of the most profitable discoveries
in music history. But the real deep dive takeaway
here isn't just that he found Bieber. It's how
he structured the deal. Right, because usually
an artist just gets a finder's fee, right? Thanks
for the tip. Here's 50 grand. Exactly. But Usher
didn't settle for that. He co -founded a whole
new company, Raymond Braun Media Group -RBMG,
with Scooter Braun specifically for this purpose.
So he didn't just introduce Bieber to a label.
No, he became a partner. By creating a joint
venture, he ensured he was a part owner of the
entire Justin Bieber enterprise. Think about
the revenue streams involved there. Touring,
merchandise, licensing, publishing. By positioning
himself as an owner rather than just a mentor
or a producer, he secured a passive income stream
that likely rivals his own music royalties. That
is a masterclass in leverage. He used his credibility
to launch the product Bieber, but kept a stake
in the IPO, essentially. A perfect analogy. And
he didn't stop there. In 2005, he was part of
a group that bought the Cleveland Cavaliers for
$375 million. Is that just a vanity project?
Like, I want to sit courtside and own the team.
Or is there more to it? It creates a different
level of access. Being a celebrity gets you into
the VIP section. Being an owner gets you into
the boardroom with billionaires. He became only
the third pop artist to own a large stake in
an NBA team. And when the Cavs won the championship
in 2016. He got a ring. Usher got a ring. That
is a flex. I got Grammys and an NBA championship
ring. Exactly. And he's invested in title. He
has successful fragrance lines. He's invested
in tech and catering startups. He understands
that fame is fleeting. but equity is forever.
He also has a strong philanthropic side. His
foundation, Usher's New Look, has been around
since 1999. And it's really impressive. It focuses
on education and real world experience for youth.
They boast a 100 percent graduation rate for
participants who go through their program. It
circles back to his own youth. He understands
that mentorship matters. And he's been active
politically campaigning for Obama and addressing
social justice issues with projects like his
interactive video chains, which dealt with racial
profiling. So he's not just Mr. Entertainment.
He's engaged with the world around him. Absolutely.
Which brings us. the recent era a few years ago
i think people might have thought usher was winding
down maybe heading for that legacy act status
where you just play the state fairs every summer
but then he hits las vegas the residency model
has completely changed and usher is a big part
of why it used to be where careers went to die
where you went when you couldn't tour the world
anymore usher flipped that script he started
at caesar's palace in 2021 then moved to park
mgm These shows were massive, massive successes.
I saw the clips all over social media. It looked
like a party. It wasn't just a concert. It felt
like an immersive experience. He reminded everyone
that he can still dance and sing live at an absolutely
elite level. In an era where so many performers
are kind of low energy, he brought the spectacle.
And that momentum, that buzz, led directly to
the Super Bowl. It was the perfect storm, really.
The residencies proved he was still a top -tier
performer. The Super Bowl gave him the biggest
platform in the world, and he used it to launch
his new album, Coming Home. He described the
Super Bowl as the honor of a lifetime. But it
hasn't all been smooth sailing, personally. We
mentioned the volatility earlier, and it's been
significant. Yeah, we have to address the elephant
in the room. His personal life has been messy.
It has, and it's important to acknowledge that
because it highlights his resilience. He's been
through very public divorces with Tamika Foster,
with Grace Miguel. He's now married to Jen Goikuchea.
But there have been real tragedies. His stepson,
Kilglover, passed away in a tragic accident.
That was awful. And his eldest son, Usher V,
nearly drowned in a pool drain accident back
in 2013. I remember that story. He jumped in
to save him, but the boy was stuck in the drain.
It was just terrifying. And it led to a very
public custody hearing right after. The media
was scrutinizing his parenting while he was dealing
with this near tragedy. Then, of course, there
were the herpes lawsuits in 2017. He was sued
by three different claimants. It was a media
frenzy. One case was eventually dismissed. One
accuser admitted to testing negative. It was
a messy, ugly period for him publicly. For a
lot of artists. That kind of scandal, the lawsuits,
the tabloid fodder would be a career ender or
at the very least it would permanently taint
their brand. Yeah. How did he survive it? He
kept the focus on the work. He didn't go on a
Twitter rant. He didn't do a tell all interview
crying about it. He went to Vegas and he performed.
He let the art speak louder than all the noise.
And that is a very, very difficult discipline
to maintain. But he did it. He really does seem
Teflon in that way. And the work does speak for
itself. We keep talking about his voice, but
let's get technical for a second. The notes say
he is a leggero tenor. What does that actually
mean for us non -singers? A leggero tenor is
basically a light, agile tenor voice. It means
he has the high range of a tenor, but with a
lot of flexibility and speed. His range spans
three octaves and four notes. It allows him to
do those rapid fire runs. Think of the end of
Confessions Part Two, but also hit those high,
soft falsetto notes you hear in Climax. So it's
a voice that's built for both power and speed.
Exactly. And when you combine that instrument
with his dance ability, which is heavily influenced
by Michael Jackson, Prince, Bobby Brown, you
have a weapon that very, very few people in history
possess. So as we wrap up this deep dive, let's
just look at the scoreboard again. It's pretty
incredible. Eight Grammys, 18 Billboard Music
Awards, nine number one singles on the Hot 100.
He was named the number one Hot 100 artist of
the entire 2000s decade. The whole decade. The
whole decade. And again, he's one of the only
artists to have a number one single in the 90s,
the Dulles, and the 10s, alongside legends like
Madonna and Janet Jackson. That is wild. That
longevity is the real story here. It's the through
line for everything. It really is. He's Mr. Entertainment.
His legacy is secure, not just because he sold
records, but because he adapted. When the world
wanted R &B ballads, he gave them nice and slow.
When they wanted drama, he gave them confessions.
When they wanted club bangers, he gave them,
yeah, an OMG. He read the room every single time.
Yeah. For 30 years. Precisely. So here's what
provocative thought to leave you with. We look
at Usher's influence, you know, Justin Bieber,
Chris Brown, Drake, they all cite him. He created
this blueprint of the singing, dancing heartthrob
who can cross over into global pop. But looking
at the fractured music landscape today where
everyone is in their own niche, is Usher the
last true pop blockbuster star? Or has he created
a code that modern artists are still trying to
crack but just haven't figured out yet? That
is the question. We haven't seen a confessions
-level moment, a moment where the entire world
stopped to listen to one album in a very long
time. It might just be that the era that created
Usher has gone for good, which makes his survival
even more impressive. Something to think about.
That's it for this deep dive into the world of
Usher. Thanks for listening. Keep listening.