Artist Research - Usher

Usher's real name is Usher Raymond IV but he performs under just the name Usher as this is more mainstream. Usher has sold 45 million albums worldwide making him one of the most successful artist’s in the world. Unlike most R n B singer Usher saw success from a very young age. He recorded 10 songs with the group Nubeginnings. After his early success he competed on Star Search where he was spotted by an A&R representative from LaFace Records, who arranged an audition for Usher to L.A. Reid, the co-founder of LaFace; Reid signed Usher a contract with the record company. Usher’s self-titled album was released in 1994 selling 500,000 copies worldwide. Usher’s biggest breakthrough would have to be his collaboration with Ludacris and Lil John ‘Yeah!’ which spent many weeks at number 1. Usher’s second song ‘Burn’ took over from ‘Yeah!’ at the top of the charts and the two together gave Usher nineteen consecutive weeks as number 1. This album ‘Confessions’ had 4 consecutive number one singles which is phenomenal.
Usher brings a certain charm to his music, breaking away from traditional ways of dressing. Usher tends to wear suits when performing and in a lot of his video thus moving away from a stereotypical r & b artist.
Usher sticks to a lot of r & b connotations but does occasionally break away from the norm with his innovative storytelling music videos. This shows him in a light where he is more creative than the average r & b artist who would settle for average song that makes enough money and has a video with lots of ‘booty’ girls, Usher strives with every song and video to make it number 1.