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"If
you loved the last record, you'll definitely love this one. I
think it's innovative. Life imitates art and I think this is
my best work yet. It's a complete picture musically - I feel
like when people listen to this record, it's like listening to
an audio movie..." Usher
International superstar Usher has sold
twenty-four million albums Worldwide, which makes him a true
crossover success. His fourth album appropriately titled CONFESSIONS
debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts selling 1.1 Million albums the
first week and setting an amazing seven Soundscan sales
records. He is an extremely rare performer being the first
solo artist to land three hits inside the top 10 in the same
week, matching The Beatles in 1964 and The Bee Gees in 1978.
Those three hits being "Burn" at #1 on the Hot 100
for 2 consecutive weeks, "Yeah" featuring Lil'Jon
& Ludacris at #4 and "Confessions II" at #8.
Co-written with Brian Michael Cox and Jermaine
Dupri, who also produced the song, "Burn" is a
beautiful slow jam that he considers "a signature Usher
track. After doing this many albums, there's a sound people
know me for and you can hear that on ‘Burn.' It's a real
'heartbreak' kind of song in which you know a relationship is
falling apart, you know you want to just be friends but it's
rough. Every time you talk to her on the phone, you get this
feeling in the pit of your stomach, like an ache. There's that
feeling of loneliness - it's over and you can't get it
back."
No Usher album would be complete without at
least one or two all-out party songs and "Yeah!"
(featuring Ludacris) fits the bill. Produced by Li'l Jon, the
track is the first single from CONFESSIONS. Notorious
for turning out non-stop hits, such as Grammy-winning "U
Remind Me," "U Got It Bad" and "U Don't
Have To Call", Usher ensures his place as one of today's
most successful recording artists.
Whether he's being playful on tracks like
"Yeah!" or serious on the album's title cut, "CONFESSIONS"
Usher is confident that the album will be a classic.
Considering where he's at this juncture, he says, "The
mission in my career before now was to 'get' to the party! Now
I feel I'm at the party!"
The Usher "party" really began in
1993 when at the age of 13 he and mother/manager Jonnetta
Patton moved to Atlanta. Usher was performing at a local
"Star Search" competition and was approached by an
A&R rep from Atlanta-based LaFace Records. Usher soon
landed his first record deal with the label.
After signing him to LaFace, Reid commissioned
music midas Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to produce Usher's
self-titled debut, which was released less than 12 months
later. The ambitious project, which spawned the synth-heavy
club single "Think of You," written by Arista label
mate Donell Jones, provided the youngster with his first Top
10 hit. Teaming up next with hip-hop hit maker Jermaine Dupri
and veterans Teddy Riley and Babyface in 1997 to produce his
sophomore album, the seven-times platinum My Way, Usher
converted a whole new legion of fans with chart-topping
monsters like the saucy "You Make Me Wanna" and the
romantic groove "Nice & Slow."
Armed with an arsenal of producers, including
Philly newcomer Edmund "Eddie Hustle" Clement and
Mike City, as well Dupri, The Neptunes, and Jimmy Jam and
Terry Lewis, Usher dropped 8701 on August 7, 2001.
Quickly heralded by critics as Usher's most definitive work to
date, the project not only earned him his first Grammy win but
it also helped to cement his role as one of the world's most
multi-faceted ambassadors of groove. Blasting into the new
millennium with the eight-times platinum album, Usher hit the
top of Billboard's pop charts with the party groove "U
Remind Me" and the confessional "U Got It Bad."
Over the span of his career he has acquired a
bevy of awards including 2 Grammy Awards, 3 Soul Train Music
Awards, a BET Award, a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award, 2 Teen
Choice Awards, 3 Billboard Music Awards, 3 R&B Hip Hop
Conference Awards, 3 ASCAP Awards, a Blockbuster Music Award,
not to mention countless other international awards from
several countries.
With
a career that keeps taking him to new heights 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." There
is love indeed for Usher and his music the world over and
that's one 'confession' he can make without a doubt.
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