The king of Bling

By NICK DUERDEN


Although a certified R&B superstar whose four albums have sold upwards of 37 million copies to date, the man known simply as Usher has long been dissatisfied with the limitations of his public profile.

Despite having been in the limelight since the age of 14, he felt he wasn't as instantly recognisable as, say, Justin Timberlake, whom he believes to have stolen both his style and thunder this past year to become R&B's number-one poster boy.

And so, for album number five, he decided to rectify the problem, and create a little spice.

For starters, he has christened it Confessions, and filled it with profoundly personal songs about emotional heartache and the inconveniences that arise when you impregnate another woman behind your girlfriend's back.

All songs are sung in the first person and are therefore autobiographical. Or - and here comes the tease - are they?

Next, he demoted his manager, his mother Jonetta Patton, in favour of record-industry giant Tommy Mottola, and together they plan to take the Usher "brand", as the star likes to call it, into the stratosphere.

Humble dreams, then, but so far it seems to be working.

Both the album and first single, Yeah!, went straight to number one on both sides of the Atlantic, selling more than 1.1 million copies in America in its first week, something not even Justin Timberlake has done.

Recent developments in his private life, meanwhile, seem to be echoing the album's main lyrical themes rather neatly and so - bingo! - his profile has risen inexorably, and he has become a staple of the British tabloids.

When I meet him at his Atlanta HQ, he looks satisfied with himself, sitting behind an imposing desk like some preternaturally young CEO, his baby face framed between several awards and a large bottle of Cristal champagne.

After a quarter of an hour, he even deigns to remove his sunglasses (always a good idea when inside a windowless room).

"I wanted to make history with this album," he tells me, "and I've done just that. It's time to take the Usher brand up another level. God is going to take me to the very top and allow me to become the artist I was born to be."

I open my mouth to ask a question, but he stops me by raising an extended index finger. From his pocket he removes a small brush, and begins to run it through his David Niven moustache and the rumour of a goatee that sits on the underside of his chin.

After several moments, he speaks. "Got to look good," he smiles. "I'm on TV later."

He instructs me not to confuse this show of self-love for arrogance. Usher suffers not from arrogance: "I'm just very confident, is all."

For the next 20 minutes, his confidence runs on autopilot. Without prompting, he begins to tell me the story of his life, and requests that I don't interrupt.

"This is important. You need to know exactly who I am."

At one point during its telling, his PR comes in to remind him of his looming appointment with NBC. We can continue our chat, the PR says, in the car, en route. Usher regards him with impatience.

"Where was I ... ?"

Usher Raymond was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on October 14, 1978. He was brought up by his mother, but saw little of his natural father.

He performed poorly at school, and his slim build and lack of height (he's 5ft 7in) precluded a once longed-for career in basketball or American football. And so instead, having sung in the church choir from an early age, he concentrated on music.

His first taste of US TV exposure came at the age of 14 on a talent show called Star Search, which brought him to the attentions of record company boss Antonio "LA" Reid. Reid sent him to New York to work with Sean "P Diddy" Coombs, who became a mentor, collaborating on the teenager's first two albums, 1994's eponymously titled million-seller and, three years later, My Way, David Beckham's favourite album of all time.

In 2000, he released a third, All About U, and a year later came the huge 8701.

"I've done something very few other artists have managed," he states. "Each new record has done better than the last. That's a pretty rare achievement, and you don't get anywhere in this business without the most amazing amount of determination. I worked my ass off to get to this position, and I've had help from no one, really."

What about Coombs, Reid and his mother? "Well, sure, they've assisted along the way, but it's my determination that got me here, nobody else's."

Usher wanted Confessions to be his first truly soulful, grown-up album.

The title track sets the theme. It's about a guy, a girl and his other girl, and it's about a little accident, too. "My chick on the side said she's got one on the way," he sings.

"That's a good example, yeah," he says, "but that never happened to me, not verbatim. The song is not based on my truth." Cue confusion, because according to newspaper reports, this is precisely what happened to him. Verbatim.

Usher recently ended his three-year relationship with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, of US girl group TLC, after he had an affair which resulted in the patter of little feet. As coincidence would have it, these revelations were leaked to coincide with the album's release, and on March 18, the Sun ran the story.

Though unavailable for comment himself, someone identified as an Usher "pal" was quoted as saying: "It's been a really traumatic year [for him]. He knows he's been a silly boy. He was seeing somebody behind Chilli's back, and precautions weren't taken. Ush will make sure the child wants for nothing and is prepared to do the fatherly thing."

A week later, the singer broke his silence. "I'm a sexaholic," he declared. "I'm addicted to sex, but I'm not a sex freak. I'm a man with strong needs, I'm very physical, very hands-on." We also learned that he was not "a big breast guy". Apparently, he favours "ass".

When I raise the subject, the smile is almost textbook enigmatic. You feel he's been rehearsing it for days.

"I do not have an illegitimate child," he says. "I think maybe I should clear the air a little, because it never happened. My relationship ended because she is 33, and I'm 25. We wanted different things, and we broke up because of irreconcilable differences, not because I got somebody pregnant. Which I didn't."

And what about the claims of sex addiction? "I never said I was a sex addict. I don't even know what it means, really ... Do I enjoy it? Absolutely! If I could have more of it, I would, because it's great. It's just part of the territory: when you're famous, life can be money, women and drugs, if you're looking."

Some time later, Usher's mood has darkened. We are sitting in his US$120,000 ($191,000) Hummer, careering down the interstate towards NBC at 130km/h, the singer steering with his thighs while his hands play with the rings on his fingers.

"Too many people want too much of my time," he says, indirectly referring to my presence in his car.

It seems that when our interview had been interrupted earlier - after just 33 minutes - for him to prepare for his TV appearance, he thought it was over and that I was already heading back to London with a contented heart.

So now, in the confines of his considerably spacious motor, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. "It's just I've got so much promotion to do," he complains, "and it interferes with my creative time, which I'm not happy about.

"Over the years, people have tried to get me to do all kinds of things, bad things, in terms of promotion, and it's easy to get sucked into it all. But I must remain strategic in my approach to all this if I don't want to make mistakes. You'll never see me selling my soul."

He may never sell his soul, but he'll happily sell Nike, adidas, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

He does enjoy the fringe benefits. He rarely pays for clothes, instead employing a fleet of stylists to procure all the latest ghetto-fabulous threads from the very best fashion designers.He has a penchant for diamonds and has hired a personal jeweller.

"Never underestimate the importance of fashion," he says, holding up his sparkling, $30,000 bracelet for inspection. "It pays for me to look this good."

As he swings the Hummer into a parking space he concludes by telling me about his long-term Life Plan - capital L, capital P.

"I think I'll be ready to retire some time between 30 and 40. By that stage, I will have become one of the most successful people in the world and, because I'm very clever with my investments, I look forward to just sitting back and watching progress on the stock exchange. That's what excites me most."

He disengages the engine, and turns to look at me, the trace of lingering impatience corrugating his forehead.

"Anyway, we done here?"

We done.

- INDEPENDENT