August 5, 2021 • 34 mins
He was once a small-town choir boy. Now, Usher is one of modern pop music’s greatest artists. Usher fast tracked his way to fame with an education from one of hip hop’s most notorious producers, and with his charisma, confidence, and distinctive voice, Usher’s career skyrocketed...and so did his love life. Now, go behind the scenes, behind the backlash, and behind the music of the golden boy of R&B.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
He's the golden boy of R and B, whose voice
helped him earn a place as one of modern pop
music's greatest artists. Usher fast tracked his way to fame
with an education from one of hip hop's most notorious producers.
Usher's unflinching confidence earned him global success and won the
heart of one of pop's leading ladies. But while his
(00:28):
career skyrocketed, their storybook romance ended in betrayal. After a
public break up, Usher found himself in love again and
committed himself to marriage, but he faced a brutal public backlash.
Now R and b's biggest heart, Throck, takes us on
his romantic journey. This is Usher, the story behind the music.
(00:59):
It's Une two thousand and ten in Dusher is on
his way to shoot his new music video in Malibu, California. Yeah,
you've seen some incredible almost before, but where do you
get a load of the future? Stay tuned on set.
He is right where he is most comfortable, singing to
a beautiful woman. I love women. I love him for
(01:20):
I saw they are how precious they can be. I
love them. Ah. He has been chasing girls since the
age of thirteen, and Usher admits He made a lot
of mistakes along the way, but he says those lessons
have made him the man he is today. Life is
(01:40):
an evolution. So as I look at the reality of
who I've become, I'm very happy, you know, But at
the same time, I'm I'm humbled in every way every day.
Usher Raymond the Fourth was born October fourteenth, nine seventy eight.
He was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by his mother, Janetta.
(02:01):
I knew what my responsibility was, and that was to
take care of him, and I did that. I would
not be who I am where I am if I
didn't have her. Plusher's father was a hard living man
with a drug habit who left when Usher was just
a baby. My father had a reputation for being one
of the baddest guys in Chattan. I'd hear about him,
(02:23):
but never knew him. His father was absent, you know,
from the home. He was into drugs, into having a
great time, and that was it. Although they lived in
the same city, Usher had no contact with his father,
something that weighed heavily on him as he grew older.
(02:43):
I can remember still, you know, wondering like, am I
not good enough? Does he not want to know me?
Does he know that we have the same name. Why
didn't he want to call me or come see me?
Or does he think about me? And I would write him,
I would try to get to him, but for some
reason I couldn't make that connecttion. It just seemed like
always in arms reach, but I could never quite get
(03:04):
to it. Usher grew up singing in his mother's choir
at St. Elmo's Baptist Church. Usher was very outgoing, really energetic.
Love to sing, love to dance, love to entertain, I
was saying to anybody that would listen. Then, when he
was tad, he joined a local boy band called New Beginnings.
(03:26):
That's when I really saw star potential in Usher. I
would tell any and every person that came in contact
with me, take a patre now, and when you look
back at it and say, that kid, who's gonna be somebody.
In ninety ninety, Janetta moved twelve year old Usher to
Atlanta so he had a better chance of being discovered.
My mother entered me into this talent show. Okay, aw
(03:57):
sudden music start playing and I'm like, hold on this
and singing a song by it. So people thought he
was singing with track. That's all pitch perfect. He was.
That was all that in the audience. I was all
over the girls. I was a hymn. And he won.
He won the very first competition. Everyone started talking about
this little kid that was just the next Michael Jackson.
(04:20):
Usher soon caught the attention of Bryant Reid and A
and R rep for Atlanta's La Face Records. He blew
me away with his stage presence, his showmanship. He had
that intangible that the factor. Brian called his boss, who
happened to be his brother, l A Read. He immediately
(04:40):
asked me, can you get him here to the office.
He got down on one knee and he sang voice
to men's into the road. He really charmed the girls
in my office. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe
this little kid was doing how the things he was doing,
getting in their face, kissing their hands. He went to
the one lady and he kissed on a knee right here.
(05:01):
And later, oh next you ll stopped it, just like, yeah,
you're a really think it, but you wouldn't want to
do this. Of course, he was of her a deal
on the spot, and that was it. The beginning in August,
fourteen year old Usher released his first single on the
Poetic Justice soundtrack, called Me a Mac. Well, he always
(05:26):
thought he was a little mac. He was a ladies
man at the age of fourteen, believe it or not,
pre pubst and Rusher was already developing his patented swagger
and practicing it on anyone he could, including his label
mate Chili from TLC. I thought she was gorgeous. She
walks in the room and I went nervous as hell.
(05:48):
And I remember we were at La Face and I
showed him some little dance movie. She shows me this
one little move and they actually did it in the video.
I remember thinking that, Wow, this little boy is so cute.
Look at his dimples and you know the eyes, you know,
and I'm looking I'm one like this is weird. In
(06:09):
the winter of fifteen, year old Usher was full of
confidence as he entered the studio to begin work on
his debut album. But then nature struck. He started going
through puberty and he loses his voice. I gotta hit it,
you know, from doing on Hindes. He's singing and I'm
listening like this just does not sound like the kid
(06:30):
that we signed. I wasn't sure if it was all over. Already,
Usher's recording sessions were put on hold and the label
stopped returning his calls. They were really thinking about dropping him.
I could not understand why this was happening to me.
But more than anything, I couldn't understand why these people
are turning their back on me. Coming up next, Usher
(06:52):
gets an education in manhood from Diddy and later confessions
about what ended Usher's relationship with l When Behind the
Music continues. In early fifteen year old Usher was on
(07:15):
the verge of being dropped from La Face Records after
his voice changed during puberty. The record company felt like
their investment was down the drain, but Usher pleaded with
the label to give him time to work through his
vocal limitations. I mean, I can't help this, but I
can make it better. I can work hard, you know,
(07:37):
given the opportunity, I can beat this. And he talked
me into hanging in there, but I swear I was
really really close to it. L A. Reid wasn't sure
what to do with Usher, so we enlisted the help
of a hot young New York producer named Shaun Puffy Combs.
Puffy really loved this kid, and he said, I could
really help with him. He said, but you're gonna have
(07:58):
to send him to New York to spill some time
with me. And we collectively decided that we'd send him
to New York to what we called Flavor Camp. I
didn't really want to send him off to New York City,
but I did. I had real conversations with everyone, and
everyone knew they're about to take care of my kids.
(08:19):
In the spring of ninety four, fifteen year old Usher
moved in with Puffy and started hanging with the bad
Boy family, getting indoctrinated into the ghetto fabulous lifestyle. I
mean everything from sex, drugs, parties, the lifestyle origins it was.
It was just a wildlife. It was crazy. They got
(08:40):
strippers and you know, hookers and holes or whatever. Who
This is what the origin is, you know what I mean.
Indulged a little bit, but not too much. I always
knew you stay away from drugs. That was never my
thing because of my father, So I stayed away from
that stuff. Although Washer was still somewhat of an innocent,
Puffy had him touters play of status in his self
(09:02):
titled debut, released in the summer of ninety four. The
album was filled with racy lyrics and sexual innuendo that
went well beyond his fifteen years, and the public wasn't
buying it. I started to get calls from people saying,
he's singing about things he shouldn't even know about. Yet,
why are you doing this? I wouldn't even having sex really,
(09:25):
you know, so you just couldn't fathom a child going
through the things that Puffy had me talking about on
that first album. The album piqued at number one hundred
and sixty seven on the charts, selling less than five
hundred thousand copies. They didn't really think that Usher was
the star that they signed. It was unclear if Usher
(09:48):
would be asked to record a second album, so he
and his mother took matters into their own hands. Janetta
officially took the reins as his manager, and in the
summer of they it out on a tour booked primarily
by themselves. She was gonna be as hard as she
had to and knock on every door. We went into
(10:09):
every little hole there was to go in, and neither
where I went. I mean, I terrorized radio shows, clubs.
I mean I can remember performing a strip club, Sammy
was crazy. The crowds grew larger in every town, convincing
the label that Usher's fan base was expanding. I really
(10:31):
saw him grow, saw him getting stronger as a singer.
I saw him growing as an entertainer. The confidence was
kicking in. He had regained l A's confidence. So we
went on to recall it My Way and with My Way,
Usher did it his Way. Released in September, my Way
hit just the right note. Working with producer Jermaine dupri
(10:53):
Usher was able to write about his own emotions and experiences.
It was the first time that I began to talk
about things that were relative to where I was. The
first single, You Make Me Wanna, was drawn from Usher's
desire to hand a relationship that wasn't working out. He
had a girlfriend that he was really, really in love with,
but it wasn't really right yet, and that's how You
(11:14):
Make Me Wanta came about. It was just like you
made me want to leave the one I'm with, You
make me want. It was a story that everybody could
relate to. People made a connection, Oh wow, this is
who he is, this is what his story is. The
album's second single, Nice and Slow, shot straight to number
one and established Usher as a pop heart throb. Backed
by a loyal female fan base. The album sold more
(11:37):
than four million copies, turning Usher into a pop superstar
at the age of nineteen. I was really excited for
people to know me and people to scream my name.
I felt a sense of accomplishment like I had needed,
you know. But even at that young age, Usher was
longing for something more than fame. At heart, I was
a lover man because I'd always wanted to be in
(11:59):
every aationship, my serious relationship. By the summer of two thousand,
Usher was a platinum selling artist, performing for sold out
crowds around the world, but as he began to work
on his third album, E One, the twenty one year
old found himself yearning to settle down. I had a
longing for family. I had a longing for that because
(12:20):
of my absence of father. While he was casting the
video for the album's first single, You Remind Me, Usher
decided to reach out to his first crush, Chili from TLC.
Was she being my video? I'm thinking, I'm not just
gonna be some random girl in the video, you know.
I just said, no, man, And then he called me,
(12:41):
and so I said, as long as I'm the main girl,
and I'll do it on set. Chili didn't know what
to make of Usher. He was twenty one, she was
twenty nine, but their chemistry was undeniable. At first, you know,
he was all up on me and I'm looking at
him like, what do you doing. She had her thoughts
about her being a little bit older than me, so
(13:04):
she probably didn't want to give me all of that.
And then, you know, I remember looking back at the
the playback, I was like, oh, look at that chemistry.
I did see that chemistry and I recognize it. Wow.
We just we clicked and she was singled. I was single,
and it started up. When the album was released in
August of two thousand one, You Remind Me shot straight
(13:27):
to number one on the pop charts, and Usher and
Chili were falling in love. Despite her hesitations, she had
just come through a very turbulent relationship with music producer
Dallas Austin. She was a single mom and wasn't sure
she was ready for something serious. My spirit was tired,
it was exhausted, and then when Usher came into my life,
(13:49):
it was like it's almost like he had to put
his hand on my heart and revived me. She was
a huge fan of dance, so we would battle each
other and we just have this battle of six packs.
You know who had the better six packs. I was like,
his stomach is not gonna look better than mine. I
think she held on to it longer. We met in
(14:10):
a very passionate place. I think that she was looking
for a specific type of guy, and I was looking
for a girl who understood my world and how to
love me the way I wanted to be loved. When
Chili appeared in the video for usher second single You
Got It Bad, their romance became a source of public fascination.
It just kind of took a life of his own.
(14:31):
Chilian Usher, Chilian Usher. His fans really loved that the
fact that he was with Chili. The song became his
second straight number one, and Usher and Chili were crowned
the reigning couple of R and B. Usher believed he
had found the woman he would spend the rest of
his life with. Basically was settled. I wanted to be
(14:53):
with this woman, and I wanted to do what I
could to make her happy. But when Usher and Chili
discussed marriage and the fall of O three, he didn't
get the response he was hoping for. We talked about well,
I actually talked about marriage, and uh, it didn't work.
You know, had not at that time. I don't think
(15:13):
she was ready for it, Chili says. The scars from
her previous relationship hadn't healed and she wasn't ready to
jump into marriage. You know, I was just exhausted from
all the bull crap I had gone through before, so
I had like defense mechanisms all around me. I was
just nervous. I don't want to get hurt. What I
expected and wanted from her, she was unable to give
(15:34):
me at the time. In late two thousand three, they
decided to take a break to get some space from
each other. They agreed to remain faithful while they determined
if the relationship could be salvaged. Usher headed back into
the studio to finish recording his next album, Confessions, and
that's when Chili started hearing rumors that Usher was cheating
(15:56):
on her. I never thought of him cheating. I don't know.
I just I didn't expect anything like that from him
because of how much we loved each other. But I
kept hearing about it. Then I went to him and
I asked him, and then he he admitted it. The
cross that I had to bear was that I cheated
(16:17):
and we had a conversation about it, and from there
it didn't work. I felt like a fool. I felt
like I was tricked. I feel like everybody knew something
that I didn't, and I'm just now finding out. So
I just kind of I shut down completely. I didn't
want to see him. I just shut everything out. That's
(16:41):
the only way I could cope with it. In January
of two thousand four, just shy of their two year anniversary,
Usher in Chili called it quits for good and parted quietly,
but they both say they will always have love for
each other. We just had differences, and unfortunately, you know,
(17:02):
because of sometimes baggage that we all carry, it just
didn't work out. It was a relationship that just happened
before his time. I wish that we were able to
really work out our issues, because if we had met later,
this would be totally different. Behind the music and What
Chili Wants would be titled What Chili Has. In early
(17:27):
two thousand four, Usher was nursing a heartbreak after his
two year relationship with Chili had come to an end ed.
Definitely was a loss, and she was so much of
a friend, and I think that I missed that more
than anything. Then, on February sevent two thousand four, Chili
made their breakup public when she called into an Atlanta
(17:48):
radio show. I'm thinking, you know, I'm calling it, Hey,
what's up this Chili? And watch me on something something something,
And they hit me with the Usher single. Now I'm like, damn.
I didn't know we were like telling everybody yet, so
I was just trying to keep it cool, and then
I just lost it. I felt like, Okay, well, you
know the truth, and I know the truth, let's not
really talk about what happened. I knew that it was
(18:11):
coming from a place that was very hurt. I don't
think that she even knew how it would affect us.
In March two thousand four, Usher released his fourth album
called Confessions. The album triggered a tidal wave of innuendo
with its themes of love, lust, and betrayal. As soon
as it came out. I think people go he was
talking about that's when the personal story came in. You know,
(18:32):
was confessing that he cheated and things that were happening
in his real life. That's why everybody went out and
bought it, because he felt that there was buying a story.
The album's lyrical content stirred up gossip about a secret
mistress who was carrying Usher's baby. We got to find
out who this chick is that pregnant by Usher, and
it was a great mystery that never was solved. I
(18:55):
was actually that guy who had dealt with that situation
of getting another woman pregnant while having a girlfriend. That's
my story. Confessions was not about my relationship with Chili
at all. Confessions was nothing short of a phenomenon. It
launched four number one singles and became one of the
biggest selling albums since Michael Jackson's Thriller. For forty straight
(19:19):
weeks there was an Usher song on the top of
the pop charts. Confessions it's the last album that I
know of that that sold about fourteen million worldwide. It
was the last big album this industry has seen. It
really transcended the Usher audience and catapulted into a whole arena.
But for Usher and Chili, the album's success was bitter sweet.
(19:42):
I hated the album. I hated what it's dood for.
I hated that it was blowing up because people were
thinking that, oh my god, this is all about their
relationship and it was just too much. That was definitely
an intense moment in my life because I had just
broke up from a relationship that meant a lot to me.
But yet the drama of what that breakup is is
(20:03):
fueling the excitement for what this album is. In the
summer of two thousand five, Usher was the biggest star
in all of pop music. He had money, fame, and
the reputation as a serious ladies man. But Usher says
he was always looking for something more, and I really
wanted to have someone to call my own and have
(20:24):
a connection to someone where I could potentially raise children
with them. All these things you always what I hoped for.
That's when a new woman entered his life. In late
two thousand five, he began dating his stylist to Mika Foster,
who was a single mother eight years as senior. We
started off working together. We built a bond communication that
(20:47):
I felt was very healthy, and I felt like she
not only understood my world, but she understands how to
exist in it. But fans took an immediate dislike to
their relationship. They always thought him in a way where
he was, you know, having fun being girls party and
it kind of messes up the fantasy. This woman just
seemed like, you know, the cooper that came to town
(21:07):
and was trying to take over. That really turned people off,
and Dusher's mother was no different. I think the relationship
between me and Tamika definitely bothered my mother. Um that's
something I really don't want to talk about. She never
really chooses to speak about it, but I think that
she just didn't approve of it because she didn't want to,
(21:30):
and she just couldn't allow me to have that moment.
Usher says the weight of his mother's disapproval began to
affect their personal and professional relationship, and in May of
two thousand seven, he made a heart wrenching decision to
fire his mother as his manager. I feel like I'd
grown to a place where I wanted my mother to
just be my mother. I can have a million one managers,
(21:52):
I can only have one mother, you know, so I
wanted her to do that. I've been with him, holding
his hand since the age of thirteen, so he cound
wanted to step out into his own thing as a
man and I plauded him for that that summer, to
Mika discovered she was pregnant, Usher's dream of having a
family was finally being realized. End On September one, two
(22:13):
thousand seven, he into Mika were wed in a glamorous
ceremony at a luxury resort outside Atlanta. Usher's mother did
not attend, deepening their rift. We had our mind made up,
we want I'm do and it's kind of like a
me against the world type thing, Bunny and Clade thing.
I was like, this is my life, this is my choice,
(22:35):
and I will have it, and this is the way
it's going to be. Coming up next, Usher reunites with
his dying father When Behind the Music continues. In the
summer of two thousand seven, Usher broke millions of hearts
(22:57):
when he married his stylist to Mika Foster at the
age of twenty eight. It was very invigorating to stand
in something that you believe in, because I felt, like,
you know, so many had a warped opinion about what
it was and how our relationship came about. Samika was
pregnant with his first child, and as Usher contemplated becoming
a father, he was craving a connection to his own
(23:20):
I think, more anything, I wanted to reach him, to
just have a an understanding of what it is to
have a father, to be able to say, I know
my dad. Usher reached out, and his father finally re
entered his life after decades of drug abuse and estrangement.
I think he had come to a point in his
life where he had began to really be able to
(23:40):
look at himself in the mirror and deal with his issues.
He he simply said, I couldn't be there. I was
not there because I couldn't allow myself to be seen
that way. And I got lost. I was lost. And
he apologized, and I forgave him. I forgave him because
I ended up being okay. Just months after the reunion,
I sure had a son. November twenty six, two thousand seven,
(24:04):
Usher Raymond the Five was born. By far was one
of the most gratifying moments of my life. Was like, Wow,
I can't believe it could actually happened. But Raymond the
Five would never meet his grandfather. In late two thousand seven,
Usher learned his father was gravely ill with liver failure.
(24:24):
Here I have a man who now I'm beginning to
fall in love with as the father that I've always wanted,
and now I'm losing it. That was my fall war
in the hardest moments. Usher Raymond the Third died on
January eighteen, two thousand and eight. He was fifty two
years old. I felt like there was so much that
(24:47):
I wanted to ask him. I wanted him to be
clear about a few things with men. I wanted to
meet my son. That's the one thing that I think
I regret more than anything. After his father's death, Usher
found a new purpose in his family, and he channeled
it into his music. Released on Maight, his fifth album,
(25:08):
Here I Stand, reflected a man who had treated the
single life for domestic bliss. In promotional interviews, Usher gushed
about how marriage and fatherhood had changed him for the better,
but it was a new chapter that many fans were
not ready to embrace. People were not ready to accept
(25:29):
him as a married man. That's not something that you
promote if you want to be a sex symbol, and
at the time he was a full blown sexton. The
single Love in This Club lit up the dance floors.
It earned Usher his eighth number one single, but it
wasn't enough to save the album from disappointing sales and
(25:51):
a quick tumble from the charts, the album barely sold
a million copies. I was shot because here, I'm honest
now that I've ever been in my entire career with
my music, and it wasn't received that way. I think
the music was wrong. I think the imaging is wrong,
(26:13):
the promotion, everything was wrong. Fans and critics alike looked
the point of finger of blame, and no one bore
the brunt more than his wife. To Miko, there were
very personal attacks against him. His wife, you know, why
are you having kids? It's just like, what does an
have to do with his record? He went on TV
and defending something that wasn't necessarily there to be defended.
(26:36):
I had outburst, and I mean it just made me
look crazy. I think it was really difficult for ushers
fans to see this side of him, see this angry side,
this defensive side, because that was completely unushered. Like I
began to regret the fact that my life was so
all over the place and and everybody had an opinion
(26:57):
about it. I hated, you know, I couldn't allow myself
to be seen that way. And I've gotten lost in
two thousand eight, Usher's career was suffering at his marriage
was beginning to fall apart. He and Tamika Foster gave
birth to a second child in December of two thousand
and eight, but the external strain on the relationship was
(27:18):
proving too much to endure. The tension and pressure of
us being together became too much for me. If I
know we could not be helpful to one another and
be supporter of one another, then we would only be miserable.
And I wouldn't want her to live in that, and
I didn't want to be in it as well. In
(27:38):
June of two thousand nine, Usher filed for divorce. I
had given it all. I could try to make it work,
and when you accept that's not gonna work out, it's
very difficult, very hard. The couple's divorce became final in
November of two thousand nine, and Usher was awarded joint
custody of his two sons. I paid a lot, but
(27:59):
I had a lot out of deal to my boys.
I love him, you know, and I'll never be unavailable
for them. I'll always be there. Not having my father
be there is what makes me the father that I
am to my son's for ussher family always comes first.
He has mended his relationship with his mother Janetta, and
(28:20):
she is thrilled with her role as a full time grandmother.
Usha loves being a father. They love him too because
when they're at my house, it's daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
They make me want to get up and live. I
have a purpose that is created than this or masking
wealth and being recognized. This is real, real life now.
(28:41):
Lusher's desired to balance his private life with his public
persona inspired his sixth album. On March thirty of two
thousand and ten, he released his sixth album, Raymond Versus Raymond.
Raymond Versus Raymond is the balance between the perception of
who I am in the reality of what I have become.
Can't run from Me to one of them. The first single,
(29:02):
o MG, shot to number one and the album topped
the pop jars. To his fans, it seemed the old
Lusher was back the single and ready for the ladies.
I make music that I hope women will enjoy and
make them feel things that they never felt before. I
do it for that scream. The secret to Usher's sex
(29:25):
appeal is very simple. It's in his DNA. He doesn't
try to be sexy. He's just sexy. It's just who
he is. Usher's gone from R and b's young heartthrob
to a mentor and true pop stuff, from performing with
the Super Bowl Halftime Show to a role as a
(29:47):
coach on NBC's The Voice. Usher's career has continued to
grow and change with the times, and his family has
expanded as well, welcoming a duck in. He's continue you
to work with the biggest stars in pop music, from
John Legend to Justin Bieber, and has begun a residency
at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. But no matter how
(30:11):
big of a star he becomes, He's still one of
the hottest voices in R and B. Listen to Behind
the Music on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Want more episodes,
you can watch remastered best of the Vault and new
episodes Behind the Music only on Paramount Plus.
He's the golden boy of R and B, whose voice
helped him earn a place as one of modern pop
music's greatest artists. Usher fast tracked his way to fame
with an education from one of hip hop's most notorious producers.
Usher's unflinching confidence earned him global success and won the
heart of one of pop's leading ladies. But while his
(00:28):
career skyrocketed, their storybook romance ended in betrayal. After a
public break up, Usher found himself in love again and
committed himself to marriage, but he faced a brutal public backlash.
Now R and b's biggest heart, Throck, takes us on
his romantic journey. This is Usher, the story behind the music.
(00:59):
It's Une two thousand and ten in Dusher is on
his way to shoot his new music video in Malibu, California. Yeah,
you've seen some incredible almost before, but where do you
get a load of the future? Stay tuned on set.
He is right where he is most comfortable, singing to
a beautiful woman. I love women. I love him for
(01:20):
I saw they are how precious they can be. I
love them. Ah. He has been chasing girls since the
age of thirteen, and Usher admits He made a lot
of mistakes along the way, but he says those lessons
have made him the man he is today. Life is
(01:40):
an evolution. So as I look at the reality of
who I've become, I'm very happy, you know, But at
the same time, I'm I'm humbled in every way every day.
Usher Raymond the Fourth was born October fourteenth, nine seventy eight.
He was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by his mother, Janetta.
(02:01):
I knew what my responsibility was, and that was to
take care of him, and I did that. I would
not be who I am where I am if I
didn't have her. Plusher's father was a hard living man
with a drug habit who left when Usher was just
a baby. My father had a reputation for being one
of the baddest guys in Chattan. I'd hear about him,
(02:23):
but never knew him. His father was absent, you know,
from the home. He was into drugs, into having a
great time, and that was it. Although they lived in
the same city, Usher had no contact with his father,
something that weighed heavily on him as he grew older.
(02:43):
I can remember still, you know, wondering like, am I
not good enough? Does he not want to know me?
Does he know that we have the same name. Why
didn't he want to call me or come see me?
Or does he think about me? And I would write him,
I would try to get to him, but for some
reason I couldn't make that connecttion. It just seemed like
always in arms reach, but I could never quite get
(03:04):
to it. Usher grew up singing in his mother's choir
at St. Elmo's Baptist Church. Usher was very outgoing, really energetic.
Love to sing, love to dance, love to entertain, I
was saying to anybody that would listen. Then, when he
was tad, he joined a local boy band called New Beginnings.
(03:26):
That's when I really saw star potential in Usher. I
would tell any and every person that came in contact
with me, take a patre now, and when you look
back at it and say, that kid, who's gonna be somebody.
In ninety ninety, Janetta moved twelve year old Usher to
Atlanta so he had a better chance of being discovered.
My mother entered me into this talent show. Okay, aw
(03:57):
sudden music start playing and I'm like, hold on this
and singing a song by it. So people thought he
was singing with track. That's all pitch perfect. He was.
That was all that in the audience. I was all
over the girls. I was a hymn. And he won.
He won the very first competition. Everyone started talking about
this little kid that was just the next Michael Jackson.
(04:20):
Usher soon caught the attention of Bryant Reid and A
and R rep for Atlanta's La Face Records. He blew
me away with his stage presence, his showmanship. He had
that intangible that the factor. Brian called his boss, who
happened to be his brother, l A Read. He immediately
(04:40):
asked me, can you get him here to the office.
He got down on one knee and he sang voice
to men's into the road. He really charmed the girls
in my office. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe
this little kid was doing how the things he was doing,
getting in their face, kissing their hands. He went to
the one lady and he kissed on a knee right here.
(05:01):
And later, oh next you ll stopped it, just like, yeah,
you're a really think it, but you wouldn't want to
do this. Of course, he was of her a deal
on the spot, and that was it. The beginning in August,
fourteen year old Usher released his first single on the
Poetic Justice soundtrack, called Me a Mac. Well, he always
(05:26):
thought he was a little mac. He was a ladies
man at the age of fourteen, believe it or not,
pre pubst and Rusher was already developing his patented swagger
and practicing it on anyone he could, including his label
mate Chili from TLC. I thought she was gorgeous. She
walks in the room and I went nervous as hell.
(05:48):
And I remember we were at La Face and I
showed him some little dance movie. She shows me this
one little move and they actually did it in the video.
I remember thinking that, Wow, this little boy is so cute.
Look at his dimples and you know the eyes, you know,
and I'm looking I'm one like this is weird. In
(06:09):
the winter of fifteen, year old Usher was full of
confidence as he entered the studio to begin work on
his debut album. But then nature struck. He started going
through puberty and he loses his voice. I gotta hit it,
you know, from doing on Hindes. He's singing and I'm
listening like this just does not sound like the kid
(06:30):
that we signed. I wasn't sure if it was all over. Already,
Usher's recording sessions were put on hold and the label
stopped returning his calls. They were really thinking about dropping him.
I could not understand why this was happening to me.
But more than anything, I couldn't understand why these people
are turning their back on me. Coming up next, Usher
(06:52):
gets an education in manhood from Diddy and later confessions
about what ended Usher's relationship with l When Behind the
Music continues. In early fifteen year old Usher was on
(07:15):
the verge of being dropped from La Face Records after
his voice changed during puberty. The record company felt like
their investment was down the drain, but Usher pleaded with
the label to give him time to work through his
vocal limitations. I mean, I can't help this, but I
can make it better. I can work hard, you know,
(07:37):
given the opportunity, I can beat this. And he talked
me into hanging in there, but I swear I was
really really close to it. L A. Reid wasn't sure
what to do with Usher, so we enlisted the help
of a hot young New York producer named Shaun Puffy Combs.
Puffy really loved this kid, and he said, I could
really help with him. He said, but you're gonna have
(07:58):
to send him to New York to spill some time
with me. And we collectively decided that we'd send him
to New York to what we called Flavor Camp. I
didn't really want to send him off to New York City,
but I did. I had real conversations with everyone, and
everyone knew they're about to take care of my kids.
(08:19):
In the spring of ninety four, fifteen year old Usher
moved in with Puffy and started hanging with the bad
Boy family, getting indoctrinated into the ghetto fabulous lifestyle. I
mean everything from sex, drugs, parties, the lifestyle origins it was.
It was just a wildlife. It was crazy. They got
(08:40):
strippers and you know, hookers and holes or whatever. Who
This is what the origin is, you know what I mean.
Indulged a little bit, but not too much. I always
knew you stay away from drugs. That was never my
thing because of my father, So I stayed away from
that stuff. Although Washer was still somewhat of an innocent,
Puffy had him touters play of status in his self
(09:02):
titled debut, released in the summer of ninety four. The
album was filled with racy lyrics and sexual innuendo that
went well beyond his fifteen years, and the public wasn't
buying it. I started to get calls from people saying,
he's singing about things he shouldn't even know about. Yet,
why are you doing this? I wouldn't even having sex really,
(09:25):
you know, so you just couldn't fathom a child going
through the things that Puffy had me talking about on
that first album. The album piqued at number one hundred
and sixty seven on the charts, selling less than five
hundred thousand copies. They didn't really think that Usher was
the star that they signed. It was unclear if Usher
(09:48):
would be asked to record a second album, so he
and his mother took matters into their own hands. Janetta
officially took the reins as his manager, and in the
summer of they it out on a tour booked primarily
by themselves. She was gonna be as hard as she
had to and knock on every door. We went into
(10:09):
every little hole there was to go in, and neither
where I went. I mean, I terrorized radio shows, clubs.
I mean I can remember performing a strip club, Sammy
was crazy. The crowds grew larger in every town, convincing
the label that Usher's fan base was expanding. I really
(10:31):
saw him grow, saw him getting stronger as a singer.
I saw him growing as an entertainer. The confidence was
kicking in. He had regained l A's confidence. So we
went on to recall it My Way and with My Way,
Usher did it his Way. Released in September, my Way
hit just the right note. Working with producer Jermaine dupri
(10:53):
Usher was able to write about his own emotions and experiences.
It was the first time that I began to talk
about things that were relative to where I was. The
first single, You Make Me Wanna, was drawn from Usher's
desire to hand a relationship that wasn't working out. He
had a girlfriend that he was really, really in love with,
but it wasn't really right yet, and that's how You
(11:14):
Make Me Wanta came about. It was just like you
made me want to leave the one I'm with, You
make me want. It was a story that everybody could
relate to. People made a connection, Oh wow, this is
who he is, this is what his story is. The
album's second single, Nice and Slow, shot straight to number
one and established Usher as a pop heart throb. Backed
by a loyal female fan base. The album sold more
(11:37):
than four million copies, turning Usher into a pop superstar
at the age of nineteen. I was really excited for
people to know me and people to scream my name.
I felt a sense of accomplishment like I had needed,
you know. But even at that young age, Usher was
longing for something more than fame. At heart, I was
a lover man because I'd always wanted to be in
(11:59):
every aationship, my serious relationship. By the summer of two thousand,
Usher was a platinum selling artist, performing for sold out
crowds around the world, but as he began to work
on his third album, E One, the twenty one year
old found himself yearning to settle down. I had a
longing for family. I had a longing for that because
(12:20):
of my absence of father. While he was casting the
video for the album's first single, You Remind Me, Usher
decided to reach out to his first crush, Chili from TLC.
Was she being my video? I'm thinking, I'm not just
gonna be some random girl in the video, you know.
I just said, no, man, And then he called me,
(12:41):
and so I said, as long as I'm the main girl,
and I'll do it on set. Chili didn't know what
to make of Usher. He was twenty one, she was
twenty nine, but their chemistry was undeniable. At first, you know,
he was all up on me and I'm looking at
him like, what do you doing. She had her thoughts
about her being a little bit older than me, so
(13:04):
she probably didn't want to give me all of that.
And then, you know, I remember looking back at the
the playback, I was like, oh, look at that chemistry.
I did see that chemistry and I recognize it. Wow.
We just we clicked and she was singled. I was single,
and it started up. When the album was released in
August of two thousand one, You Remind Me shot straight
(13:27):
to number one on the pop charts, and Usher and
Chili were falling in love. Despite her hesitations, she had
just come through a very turbulent relationship with music producer
Dallas Austin. She was a single mom and wasn't sure
she was ready for something serious. My spirit was tired,
it was exhausted, and then when Usher came into my life,
(13:49):
it was like it's almost like he had to put
his hand on my heart and revived me. She was
a huge fan of dance, so we would battle each
other and we just have this battle of six packs.
You know who had the better six packs. I was like,
his stomach is not gonna look better than mine. I
think she held on to it longer. We met in
(14:10):
a very passionate place. I think that she was looking
for a specific type of guy, and I was looking
for a girl who understood my world and how to
love me the way I wanted to be loved. When
Chili appeared in the video for usher second single You
Got It Bad, their romance became a source of public fascination.
It just kind of took a life of his own.
(14:31):
Chilian Usher, Chilian Usher. His fans really loved that the
fact that he was with Chili. The song became his
second straight number one, and Usher and Chili were crowned
the reigning couple of R and B. Usher believed he
had found the woman he would spend the rest of
his life with. Basically was settled. I wanted to be
(14:53):
with this woman, and I wanted to do what I
could to make her happy. But when Usher and Chili
discussed marriage and the fall of O three, he didn't
get the response he was hoping for. We talked about well,
I actually talked about marriage, and uh, it didn't work.
You know, had not at that time. I don't think
(15:13):
she was ready for it, Chili says. The scars from
her previous relationship hadn't healed and she wasn't ready to
jump into marriage. You know, I was just exhausted from
all the bull crap I had gone through before, so
I had like defense mechanisms all around me. I was
just nervous. I don't want to get hurt. What I
expected and wanted from her, she was unable to give
(15:34):
me at the time. In late two thousand three, they
decided to take a break to get some space from
each other. They agreed to remain faithful while they determined
if the relationship could be salvaged. Usher headed back into
the studio to finish recording his next album, Confessions, and
that's when Chili started hearing rumors that Usher was cheating
(15:56):
on her. I never thought of him cheating. I don't know.
I just I didn't expect anything like that from him
because of how much we loved each other. But I
kept hearing about it. Then I went to him and
I asked him, and then he he admitted it. The
cross that I had to bear was that I cheated
(16:17):
and we had a conversation about it, and from there
it didn't work. I felt like a fool. I felt
like I was tricked. I feel like everybody knew something
that I didn't, and I'm just now finding out. So
I just kind of I shut down completely. I didn't
want to see him. I just shut everything out. That's
(16:41):
the only way I could cope with it. In January
of two thousand four, just shy of their two year anniversary,
Usher in Chili called it quits for good and parted quietly,
but they both say they will always have love for
each other. We just had differences, and unfortunately, you know,
(17:02):
because of sometimes baggage that we all carry, it just
didn't work out. It was a relationship that just happened
before his time. I wish that we were able to
really work out our issues, because if we had met later,
this would be totally different. Behind the music and What
Chili Wants would be titled What Chili Has. In early
(17:27):
two thousand four, Usher was nursing a heartbreak after his
two year relationship with Chili had come to an end ed.
Definitely was a loss, and she was so much of
a friend, and I think that I missed that more
than anything. Then, on February sevent two thousand four, Chili
made their breakup public when she called into an Atlanta
(17:48):
radio show. I'm thinking, you know, I'm calling it, Hey,
what's up this Chili? And watch me on something something something,
And they hit me with the Usher single. Now I'm like, damn.
I didn't know we were like telling everybody yet, so
I was just trying to keep it cool, and then
I just lost it. I felt like, Okay, well, you
know the truth, and I know the truth, let's not
really talk about what happened. I knew that it was
(18:11):
coming from a place that was very hurt. I don't
think that she even knew how it would affect us.
In March two thousand four, Usher released his fourth album
called Confessions. The album triggered a tidal wave of innuendo
with its themes of love, lust, and betrayal. As soon
as it came out. I think people go he was
talking about that's when the personal story came in. You know,
(18:32):
was confessing that he cheated and things that were happening
in his real life. That's why everybody went out and
bought it, because he felt that there was buying a story.
The album's lyrical content stirred up gossip about a secret
mistress who was carrying Usher's baby. We got to find
out who this chick is that pregnant by Usher, and
it was a great mystery that never was solved. I
(18:55):
was actually that guy who had dealt with that situation
of getting another woman pregnant while having a girlfriend. That's
my story. Confessions was not about my relationship with Chili
at all. Confessions was nothing short of a phenomenon. It
launched four number one singles and became one of the
biggest selling albums since Michael Jackson's Thriller. For forty straight
(19:19):
weeks there was an Usher song on the top of
the pop charts. Confessions it's the last album that I
know of that that sold about fourteen million worldwide. It
was the last big album this industry has seen. It
really transcended the Usher audience and catapulted into a whole arena.
But for Usher and Chili, the album's success was bitter sweet.
(19:42):
I hated the album. I hated what it's dood for.
I hated that it was blowing up because people were
thinking that, oh my god, this is all about their
relationship and it was just too much. That was definitely
an intense moment in my life because I had just
broke up from a relationship that meant a lot to me.
But yet the drama of what that breakup is is
(20:03):
fueling the excitement for what this album is. In the
summer of two thousand five, Usher was the biggest star
in all of pop music. He had money, fame, and
the reputation as a serious ladies man. But Usher says
he was always looking for something more, and I really
wanted to have someone to call my own and have
(20:24):
a connection to someone where I could potentially raise children
with them. All these things you always what I hoped for.
That's when a new woman entered his life. In late
two thousand five, he began dating his stylist to Mika Foster,
who was a single mother eight years as senior. We
started off working together. We built a bond communication that
(20:47):
I felt was very healthy, and I felt like she
not only understood my world, but she understands how to
exist in it. But fans took an immediate dislike to
their relationship. They always thought him in a way where
he was, you know, having fun being girls party and
it kind of messes up the fantasy. This woman just
seemed like, you know, the cooper that came to town
(21:07):
and was trying to take over. That really turned people off,
and Dusher's mother was no different. I think the relationship
between me and Tamika definitely bothered my mother. Um that's
something I really don't want to talk about. She never
really chooses to speak about it, but I think that
she just didn't approve of it because she didn't want to,
(21:30):
and she just couldn't allow me to have that moment.
Usher says the weight of his mother's disapproval began to
affect their personal and professional relationship, and in May of
two thousand seven, he made a heart wrenching decision to
fire his mother as his manager. I feel like I'd
grown to a place where I wanted my mother to
just be my mother. I can have a million one managers,
(21:52):
I can only have one mother, you know, so I
wanted her to do that. I've been with him, holding
his hand since the age of thirteen, so he cound
wanted to step out into his own thing as a
man and I plauded him for that that summer, to
Mika discovered she was pregnant, Usher's dream of having a
family was finally being realized. End On September one, two
(22:13):
thousand seven, he into Mika were wed in a glamorous
ceremony at a luxury resort outside Atlanta. Usher's mother did
not attend, deepening their rift. We had our mind made up,
we want I'm do and it's kind of like a
me against the world type thing, Bunny and Clade thing.
I was like, this is my life, this is my choice,
(22:35):
and I will have it, and this is the way
it's going to be. Coming up next, Usher reunites with
his dying father When Behind the Music continues. In the
summer of two thousand seven, Usher broke millions of hearts
(22:57):
when he married his stylist to Mika Foster at the
age of twenty eight. It was very invigorating to stand
in something that you believe in, because I felt, like,
you know, so many had a warped opinion about what
it was and how our relationship came about. Samika was
pregnant with his first child, and as Usher contemplated becoming
a father, he was craving a connection to his own
(23:20):
I think, more anything, I wanted to reach him, to
just have a an understanding of what it is to
have a father, to be able to say, I know
my dad. Usher reached out, and his father finally re
entered his life after decades of drug abuse and estrangement.
I think he had come to a point in his
life where he had began to really be able to
(23:40):
look at himself in the mirror and deal with his issues.
He he simply said, I couldn't be there. I was
not there because I couldn't allow myself to be seen
that way. And I got lost. I was lost. And
he apologized, and I forgave him. I forgave him because
I ended up being okay. Just months after the reunion,
I sure had a son. November twenty six, two thousand seven,
(24:04):
Usher Raymond the Five was born. By far was one
of the most gratifying moments of my life. Was like, Wow,
I can't believe it could actually happened. But Raymond the
Five would never meet his grandfather. In late two thousand seven,
Usher learned his father was gravely ill with liver failure.
(24:24):
Here I have a man who now I'm beginning to
fall in love with as the father that I've always wanted,
and now I'm losing it. That was my fall war
in the hardest moments. Usher Raymond the Third died on
January eighteen, two thousand and eight. He was fifty two
years old. I felt like there was so much that
(24:47):
I wanted to ask him. I wanted him to be
clear about a few things with men. I wanted to
meet my son. That's the one thing that I think
I regret more than anything. After his father's death, Usher
found a new purpose in his family, and he channeled
it into his music. Released on Maight, his fifth album,
(25:08):
Here I Stand, reflected a man who had treated the
single life for domestic bliss. In promotional interviews, Usher gushed
about how marriage and fatherhood had changed him for the better,
but it was a new chapter that many fans were
not ready to embrace. People were not ready to accept
(25:29):
him as a married man. That's not something that you
promote if you want to be a sex symbol, and
at the time he was a full blown sexton. The
single Love in This Club lit up the dance floors.
It earned Usher his eighth number one single, but it
wasn't enough to save the album from disappointing sales and
(25:51):
a quick tumble from the charts, the album barely sold
a million copies. I was shot because here, I'm honest
now that I've ever been in my entire career with
my music, and it wasn't received that way. I think
the music was wrong. I think the imaging is wrong,
(26:13):
the promotion, everything was wrong. Fans and critics alike looked
the point of finger of blame, and no one bore
the brunt more than his wife. To Miko, there were
very personal attacks against him. His wife, you know, why
are you having kids? It's just like, what does an
have to do with his record? He went on TV
and defending something that wasn't necessarily there to be defended.
(26:36):
I had outburst, and I mean it just made me
look crazy. I think it was really difficult for ushers
fans to see this side of him, see this angry side,
this defensive side, because that was completely unushered. Like I
began to regret the fact that my life was so
all over the place and and everybody had an opinion
(26:57):
about it. I hated, you know, I couldn't allow myself
to be seen that way. And I've gotten lost in
two thousand eight, Usher's career was suffering at his marriage
was beginning to fall apart. He and Tamika Foster gave
birth to a second child in December of two thousand
and eight, but the external strain on the relationship was
(27:18):
proving too much to endure. The tension and pressure of
us being together became too much for me. If I
know we could not be helpful to one another and
be supporter of one another, then we would only be miserable.
And I wouldn't want her to live in that, and
I didn't want to be in it as well. In
(27:38):
June of two thousand nine, Usher filed for divorce. I
had given it all. I could try to make it work,
and when you accept that's not gonna work out, it's
very difficult, very hard. The couple's divorce became final in
November of two thousand nine, and Usher was awarded joint
custody of his two sons. I paid a lot, but
(27:59):
I had a lot out of deal to my boys.
I love him, you know, and I'll never be unavailable
for them. I'll always be there. Not having my father
be there is what makes me the father that I
am to my son's for ussher family always comes first.
He has mended his relationship with his mother Janetta, and
(28:20):
she is thrilled with her role as a full time grandmother.
Usha loves being a father. They love him too because
when they're at my house, it's daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
They make me want to get up and live. I
have a purpose that is created than this or masking
wealth and being recognized. This is real, real life now.
(28:41):
Lusher's desired to balance his private life with his public
persona inspired his sixth album. On March thirty of two
thousand and ten, he released his sixth album, Raymond Versus Raymond.
Raymond Versus Raymond is the balance between the perception of
who I am in the reality of what I have become.
Can't run from Me to one of them. The first single,
(29:02):
o MG, shot to number one and the album topped
the pop jars. To his fans, it seemed the old
Lusher was back the single and ready for the ladies.
I make music that I hope women will enjoy and
make them feel things that they never felt before. I
do it for that scream. The secret to Usher's sex
(29:25):
appeal is very simple. It's in his DNA. He doesn't
try to be sexy. He's just sexy. It's just who
he is. Usher's gone from R and b's young heartthrob
to a mentor and true pop stuff, from performing with
the Super Bowl Halftime Show to a role as a
(29:47):
coach on NBC's The Voice. Usher's career has continued to
grow and change with the times, and his family has
expanded as well, welcoming a duck in. He's continue you
to work with the biggest stars in pop music, from
John Legend to Justin Bieber, and has begun a residency
at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. But no matter how
(30:11):
big of a star he becomes, He's still one of
the hottest voices in R and B. Listen to Behind
the Music on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Want more episodes,
you can watch remastered best of the Vault and new
episodes Behind the Music only on Paramount Plus.
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