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SeXyReDMIA817

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Born in Chattanooga on October 14, 1978, Usher Raymond was raised by his single mother (and manager) Jonnetta Patton, who moved him and his younger brother to Atlanta when Usher was 12. Mom brought up her sons within the foundations of faith and family afforded by St. Elmo's Missionary Baptist Church, for which she served as choir director. As early as junior high school, Usher began entering local talent shows. He was performing at a "Star Search" competition at age 13 when he was spotted by an A&R rep from LaFace who arranged an audition with L.A. Reid. A record contract soon followed. "I have been building my career since I was a little boy," Usher explains, "because singing had always been what I wanted to do. At first I thought about playing [professional] football, then I wanted to play basketball, but in the end it was all about the music. It's my biggest passion and my biggest joy."Usher was one month shy of his 15th birthday when his modest debut LaFace single made the R&B chart in late-'93, "Call Me a Mack," from the movie soundtrack of John Singleton's Poetic Justice. One year later, Usher, his self-titled debut album arrived, co-executive produced by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. It rose to #25 on the R&B chart on the strength of three singles: "Can U Get Wit It," "Think Of You" (top 10, written and produced by label mate Donell Jones, with a rap by Biz Markie), and "The Many Ways" (with Al B. Sure on backing vocals).I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!

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Confessions Setting chart records and winning a truckload of industry awards might have given another artist an excuse to rest on his (or her) laurels. In addition to his two Grammys, there were three Soul Train Music Awards, a BET Award, a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award, two Teen Choice Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, three R&B Hip Hop Conference Awards, three ASCAP Awards, a Blockbuster Music Award, not to mention countless other international awards from several countries. But true to his nature, Usher's drive would enable him to outdo himself once again as 2004 began.Confessions was released just as "Yeah!" was in its 6th week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 5th week at #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. The album's 1.1 million unit first week was not only the highest first week numbers ever scanned by a male R&B artist in Soundscan's 13-year history (breaking R. Kelly's record of 540k for TP-2.com back in 2000) – but also the highest first week scans by any male artist since Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP (also in 2000, with 1.7 million units). As icing on the cake, Usher's success marked the biggest debut week in the 30 years of Arista's existence, breaking the 689k record held since 1997 by Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous "Life After Death."Confessions obliterated several other long-standing chart records:The highest overall R&B (non-Hip-Hop) debut in the Soundscan era, surpassing Destiny's Child's Survivor in May 2001 (#1, with 663k units); The highest solo R&B (non-Hip-Hop) debut in the Soundscan era, surpassing Alicia Keys' Songs In A Minor in June 2001 (#1, 618k units); The highest overall debut in BMG and Arista history, surpassing Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death in March 1997 (#1, with 689k units); The highest single-week scan in Arista history, surpassing the 2nd week of The Bodyguard soundtrack in December 1992 (#1, with 1.061 million); The highest overall debut of 2004, surpassing Norah Jones' Feels Like Home in February (#1, with 1.022 million). That was in March – by April, sales were past 2 million and shipments past 3 million, "Yeah!" was still at #1 and the second single, "Burn," was moving up the top 5 – and the word phenomenon was on the tip of everyone's tongue. By May 1st, when Usher appeared as the musical guest on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," Soundscan sales were past 3 million and a third single, "Confessions II," was working its way towards the top 10.The final week of May began in Los Angeles, with the announcement of the 4th annual BET Awards nominations, as Usher was named in four categories: Best Male R&B Artist, and Video Of The Year, Best Collaboration, and Viewers' Choice, all for "Yeah!" Two days later, the chart news was official: With "Burn" in its second week at #1, "Yeah!" at #4 (after 12 weeks at #1), and "Confessions II" at #9, Usher became only the third lead artist in pop music history – but the first solo artist – to have three singles inside the top 10 on the Hot 100, since the Beatles in 1964 and the Bee Gees in 1978.At the June 29th BET Awards telecast (with Confessions past 4 million sales), Usher won the Best Male R&B Artist award and "Yeah!" won the Viewers' Choice award. Exactly two months later on August 29th, Usher interrupted his sold-out North American tour (with Kanye West and Christina Milian) to pick up the first two MTV VMAs of his career. After opening the show's first-ever broadcast from Miami Beach with a live performance of "Yeah!", Usher went on to win Best Male Video and Best Dance Video for the hit.On September 16th, the World Music Awards departed from its traditional site in Monaco to stage its first global telecast from Las Vegas. The show, broadcast on the ABC network in the U.S., found Usher on the receiving end of three awards: Best Male Artist, Best Male Pop Artist and Best R&B Artist. Confessions had now moved past the 5 million mark.With Tuesday, October 5th set as the release date for Confessions (Special Edition), a special event was arranged at the Virgin Megastore Union Square in New York City. A limited number of fans who had pre-paid on the Friday before, for their copy of the album, were given exclusive passes to meet Usher at the store on Monday night, as the Soundscan numbers officially started to total at midnight. Six days later, at the annual Source Hip-Hop Music Awards in Miami on October 11th, "Yeah!" won as the R&B/Rap Collaboration of the Year and Usher was named Male R&B Artist of the Year. (His "My Boo" partner Alicia Keys was named Female R&B Artist of the Year.)Two weeks later and an ocean away, Usher was named Top Male Artist at the first annual Nordic Music Awards broadcast on October 25th, as fans in Norway, Denmark and Sweden cast their votes by sending cell phone text messages to a specific number. The very next night, at the Aladdin Hotel-Casino back in Las Vegas, Usher was on hand to perform and pick up three Radio Music Awards, as he was named Artist of the Year – Hip Hop/Rhythmic Radio, Cingular Artist of the Year, and "Yeah!" won as Song of the Year – Hip-Hop/Rhythmic Radio.The awards season barreled on November 15th at the ABC network telecast of the 32nd annual American Music Awards from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, hosted by Jimmy Kimmell. Usher's avalanche of awards continued, as he won all four categories in which he was nominated, including Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album (Confessions) in both the Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B categories. Four nights later at the MTV Europe EMAs in Rome, Usher added two more awards to his stash, for Best Male and Best Album.On Thanksgiving Day – never a holiday for the charts! – Billboard announced that Usher was starting his 6th week at #1 with "My Boo" featuring Alicia Keys. That gave Usher a total of 28 weeks at #1 in 2004 – the week before, he became the only artist in history ever to top the Hot 100 for more than half a year. The 2004 Billboard Music Awards special is set to air live on the Fox network on December 8th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.With a career that keeps taking him to new heights of achievement and accomplishment, Usher remains – in his own words – "the master of the moment. I feel like I'm in the prime of my life, physically, emotionally, spiritually – and musically. And knowing there is still love for me in the marketplace, that gives me energy." Indeed, there is love for Usher and his music the world over and that's one "confession" he can make without a doubt. Usher is The Ultimate Entertainer.