Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. He was born in Dallas, Texas, but raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee until moving to Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions, before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. He released his self-titled debut album, Usher (1994) but rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way (1997). It 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.
