Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Usher's musical career began at the age of 12 when his mother entered him into local singing competitions, after which he eventually caught the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. In 1994, he released his self-titled debut album, Usher. He rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his sophomore album My Way (1997), which spawned his first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "Nice & Slow", amongst top-two singles "You Make Me Wanna..." and "My Way". 8701 (2001) produced the number-one singles "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad", and top-three single "U Don't Have to Call". It sold 8 million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003.
