Landon Buford
In the late 1980s, eight-time Grammy Award Winning artist Usher Raymond began his legendary career. Raymond was just ten years old when he joined the R&B group called the NuBeginnings, which Darryl Wheeler organized.
After recording Nubeginning, Usher and his family moved to Atlanta. He would then caught the attention of LaFace Records co-founder L.A. Reid. His single “Call Me a Mack” would be featured on the 1993’s “Poetic Justice” soundtrack. Following the appearance, the label would then release his self-titled debut project in 1994.
Raymond was on Clubhouse in the ‘Usher Party’ room and was asked when did he know he was a star.
“I, like many peopl犀利士 e who started at a young age and probably did not come from an environment of entertainers I did not have a lot to look forward to. I was like; I could either be the dude on the basketball court or the field. I really did not have all those skills. I was not tall or big enough to do it,” said Raymond.
“So, I was like I have to do something that works for me. Again, I am going to try my hardest.”
“The fact that I did not have a relationship with my father and it ultimately made me feel like, that I had to find something that defined me. He was a basketball player; this dude is 6’3 or 6’4, and I knew I wouldn’t be a basketball player. So I started watching Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson on television that made me feel I could do犀利士 that. There is something that I really do love,” Raymond said.
“I love dancing; somebody gives me a chance to sing in their group or let me in the studio. So, I would go out and sing in the streets and used to tell myself I am going to be somebody, and I’m going to make it. I believe in this, and one day, I could be the thing I saw in Bobby Brown or the things I was excited to see in those artists of really the 90s. That really led me to do something, and my mother brought us to Atlanta, and it is funny because one of the biggest songs was ‘In of the Road’ and my mother was like Babe Face, and LA Reid started a label. Maybe I will go down there and possibly make a connection.”
He would continue, “If you are willing to put things out inter-genetically, and it will become your reality. We made it to Atlanta, and I got into a talent show manage to meet the right person AJ Alexander; he introduced me to LA [Reid] in the beginning, but it really started when I was eight years I thought I could do it, and this is what I need to do. To see that my father sees me because I never met him or got to know him. I probably met him in passing as a kid, but I was one of those kids that did not know his father.”
Usher is scheduled to start his Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas on July 16, 2021.
