Usher

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Birth name Usher Raymond IV
Nationality USA
Birth 14 october 1978 (45 years) at Dallas (USA)

Usher Terry Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) known mononymously as Usher, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, "Nice & Slow". The album has been certified 6-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His follow-up album, 8701, produced the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad".

Usher's 2004 album, Confessions, established him as one of the best-selling musical artists of the 2000s decade. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide, bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one songs — "Yeah!", "Burn", "Confessions Part II", and "My Boo" — and has been certified diamond by the RIAA. His follow-ups, Here I Stand (2008) and Raymond v. Raymond (2010), debuted atop the Billboard 200 and produced the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Love in This Club" and "OMG". A follow-up EP, Versus, was released in July 2010 and produced the successful track "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". His seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself (2012), contained a more dance-pop sound and experienced lower first week sales compared to his previous efforts.

The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23 million copies in the United States alone. To date, he has sold over 75 million records worldwide. Usher has won numerous awards including eight Grammy Awards. At the end of 2009, Usher was named the number one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, with his 2004 album Confessions being ranked as the top solo album of the 2000s decade. Billboard also placed Usher at number six on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. Usher has attained nine Hot 100 number-one singles.

Biography

In 2001, Usher began dating TLC member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, who had a child with producer Dallas Austin. Their relationship lasted for two years: they broke up in December 2003, followed by a media frenzy surrounding the personal nature of Usher's fourth album, Confessions. His fans inferred the reason he and Thomas split is due to infidelity on his part, giving allusions to the lyrics of the songs. In an interview on The Bert Show on the Atlanta radio channel Q100 in February 2004, Thomas claimed that Usher cheated on her: "Usher did the ultimate no-no to me....I will never be with him again, and that is that". Usher defended: "...it just didn't work out. But cheating is not what caused the relationship to collide and crash. That ain't what broke it up".

In November 2005, Usher began dating stylist Tameka Foster, who had worked as his personal stylist for several years. Their engagement was announced in February 2007. After the sudden cancellation of a planned July wedding in the Hamptons, the two were wed on August 3, 2007, in a civil ceremony in Atlanta. This was followed by a larger wedding ceremony on September 1, 2007, held at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort outside Atlanta. Upon their marriage, Usher became a stepfather to Foster's three sons from previous relationships, one born when she was a teenager and two from her first marriage, to Atlanta clothier Ryan Glover. Usher and Foster also have two sons together: Usher "Cinco" Raymond V, born in November 2007, and Naviyd Ely Raymond, born in December 2008.

In February 2009, two months after the birth of their second son, Foster suffered a cardiac arrest in São Paulo, Brazil, when she was given general anesthesia prior to scheduled cosmetic surgery (reportedly liposuction), which was ultimately not performed. She was induced into a coma to aid her recovery and was transferred to a larger facility, the Hospital Sírio-Libanês. Usher cancelled his performance at Clive Davis's pre-Grammy Gala in order to fly to Brazil to be with Foster. After a week of recovery, Foster's surgeon issued a statement saying that she was "doing very well".

Usher filed for divorce from Foster in June 2009 in Atlanta. The divorce was legally finalized in Fulton County Court on November 4, 2009. This preceded a highly publicized child custody dispute spanning three years, which ultimately culminated on August 24, 2012, with a judge awarding Usher primary custody of his two sons with Foster.

Foster's 11-year-old son Kile Glover, Usher's former stepson, was declared brain dead on July 8, 2012, after being struck by a personal water craft on Lake Lanier the previous day. Glover died on July 21, 2012, after being removed from life support. Just over a year later, on August 5, 2013, Usher's eldest son, Usher V, was hospitalized in the ICU after he became stuck in a drain while swimming in a pool at Usher's home. The next day, Foster filed a request for an emergency custody hearing in Fulton County Superior Court, seeking temporary primary custody and citing Usher V's "near-death accident" as evidence of a lack of supervision of the children. At the hearing on August 9, 2013, the case was dismissed and Usher retained primary custody of their two sons.

Usher is a vegan. He adopted a vegetarian diet shortly after the death of his father, Usher Raymond III, from a heart attack in January 2008. After several years, Usher dropped all egg and dairy products, embracing an entirely vegan diet for health reasons.