7/22/2023 0 Comments Usher albums from 1997Reid, who signed the gospel choir boy to a recording contract. The 14-year-old auditioned for LaFace co-founder L.A. After a LaFace A&R representative spotted him on Star Search, his career took off. More than anyone else, as a singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, and all-around entertainer, Usher has been the successor to Michael Jackson.īorn Usher Terry Raymond IV in Dallas, Usher spent much of his childhood in Chattanooga, and eventually moved to Atlanta for the sake of his budding music career. Usher's achievements since then include his 12th and 13th number one R&B/hip-hop hits, "Climax" (2012) and "I Don't Mind" (2014), the Top Five album Hard II Love (2016), and the surprise release "A" (2018), followed by a handful of singles into the 2020s. It also started a streak of four releases, including another Grammy winner for Best Contemporary R&B Album, Raymond v Raymond (2010), that simultaneously topped the Billboard 200 and R&B/hip-hop charts. That LP generated four straight number one pop hits, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and joined the ranks of Thriller, Whitney Houston, and CrazySex圜ool by reaching diamond platinum status - over ten million copies sold in the U.S. ![]() Remarkably, he hadn't yet peaked, not until the arrival of his landmark fourth album, Confessions (2004). He achieved platinum status for the first time with My Way (1997), and soon won Best Male Vocal R&B Performance Grammy awards in consecutive years with "U Remind Me" (2001) and "U Don't Have to Call" (2002). As part of the thriving LaFace label roster, he then had an instant impact on the post-new jack swing era and successfully rode mainstream songwriting and production trends across three decades. "One Day You'll Be Mine" contains a sample of "Footsteps in the Dark" by The Isley Brothers.One of the most successful pop-R&B artists of the late 20th century and the early 21st century, Usher scored his first charting single as a fresh-faced teenager with "Call Me a Mack" (1993)."Come Back" contains a sample of "Woman to Woman" by Joe Cocker.credited the album for Usher's breakthrough into the music industry, and lauded the production of the three singles. Keith Harris, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), gave it three-and-a-half stars and said that, although Dupri's combination of hi-hat hits, acoustic-guitar arpeggios, and occasional guest raps from him and Lil Kim can inhibit the album, My Way was the work of a significant, enterprising artist. In a 2002 review, Q magazine also gave it four stars and wrote that it established Usher's reputation as a young and skillful performer of R&B slow jams. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave My Way four out of five stars and praised Usher's vocal restraint, but noted inconsistency in quality. He gave My Way a one-star honorable mention, indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like." In a negative review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke felt that the album has too many downtempo songs, and criticised the writing and production quality. Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, cited "Just Like Me" and "You Make We Wanna." as highlights and quippedly called Usher "the sweetest nonvirgin a mama could ask". Hunter from Vibe said that Usher is sensual through his mild tone gentle tone and tasteful, refined lyrics. In a contemporary review, The Source magazine said with My Way, "Usher proves that he's aiming to become more than just R&B music's best kept secret". ![]() My Way has sold 6,000,000 copies in the US, and has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). My Way peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200, and lasted seventy-nine weeks on that chart. The album rose to number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums on Januit topped the chart for three consecutive weeks, and remained on the chart for a total of seventy-five weeks. It entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number 4 on that same week. My Way sold 66,000 copies in its first week in the United States, to debut at number 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart dated October 4, 1997.
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