Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Primarily performing in the R&B genre, he released his self-titled debut album Usher (1994), and 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", and the top-two singles "You Make Me Wanna..." and "My Way". His third album, 8701 (2001), produced the number-one singles "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad", as well as the top-three single "U Don't Have to Call". It sold eight million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003.
Confessions (2004) established Usher as one of the best-selling musical artists of the 2000s decade, containing four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles—"Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris), "Burn", "Confessions Part II", and "My Boo" (with Alicia Keys)—and the top-ten "Caught Up". It sold over 20 million copies worldwide and was certified Diamond by the RIAA. After splitting from his manager and mother in 2007, he released the albums Here I Stand (2008) and Raymond v. Raymond (2010), both of which debuted atop of the Billboard 200 chart and respectively produced the number-one singles "Love in This Club" (featuring Young Jeezy) and "OMG" (featuring will.i.am). The EP Versus produced the top-five single "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" (featuring Pitbull) before the release of the top-fifteen single "More". Looking 4 Myself (2012) also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart with the top-ten single "Scream". The R&B ballads "There Goes My Baby" and "Climax" received Grammy Awards in 2011 and 2013. "I Don't Mind" (featuring Juicy J) also reached the top-fifteen in 2014, while Hard II Love (2016) peaked at five on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2018, he released A, a collaborative album with record producer Zaytoven.
Referred to as the "King of R&B" by various media outlets, Usher has sold 23.8 million albums and 38.