| Usher |
| Written by Brad Balfour, Foreword by Rishbha Bhagi | |||
 Few child stars have been able to make comebacks and maintain public interest like Usher has. Singing professionally since he was only 11 years old, Usher has established himself as a staple of R&B, his legions of fans even referring to him as the 'King of R&B.' It's true that in the 1990s, Usher became one of the most successful and talented solo artists around, and his unique and effortless style of dancing has been mimicked by many.
In 2004, Usher came back with his album Confessions, and shot his popularity up again. And just when you kind of started to forget about him, he came back in 2010 with Raymond v. Raymond, which dominated the charts yet again. He is one of the few artists of all time to have a number one song in three decades, an admirable feat for any artist.
Being in the entertainment industry for so many years, Usher has managed to learn the ropes of the "business" aspect of the music business, and works hard to make the right choices for his career. Despite his personal strifes that have been well-discussed in the media, Usher still manages to put out hit album after hit album, always reminding everyone of how he is truly a complete package, with the voice, dance skills, and songwriting talent to validate his reign over R&B.
TimesSquare.com: Though you've had an incredibly successful music career are you afraid you won't be taken seriously as an actor?
U: To be honest with you, I try to feed off positive energy, to push me forward, and actually negative at the same time. Once there is an opinion about what I'm doing, I better gauge how much work I have to do or whether I'm moving in the right direction. The same way as an artist. Once there was a time that no one knew who Usher was. Nobody was excited about Usher as an artist and it took time to build and work the Chitlin' Circuit to be introduced to new fans. You have to work the process the same as an artist, however, there's a lot more pressure. But as I said, I thrive off positive energy. Negative energy, I keep it away from me, but I use it as motivation.
TS: You were also executive producer on this movie, what did that involve? U: My executive producer responsibility was based on my opinion and my ability to be part of a committee, selecting the actors associated with the film, I kinda of leave the directing to our director, but having a certain opinion about cuts. Once we were finished with the film, the editing, the music, the soundtrack. TS: Aren't there hundreds of scripts thrown at you; so what made you choose this one? U: One was the people that were associated with one. Lions' Gate stood strongly behind this film. Two was my theatrical agent, Holly Davis Carter, and just the idea that so many years we've been talking about the type of roles I was looking for. They don't make characters like this. When she found this, she brought it to me, and said, "What do you think about this character?" I liked it, but obviously there were a few things we had to work out, to get the right cast to act it, but it was a good point to start. Becoming involved as the executive producer and choosing the actors and actresses I would play opposite such as Chazz Palminteri, when that happened, I was like, "Oh yeah, we're definitely going to make this movie." I felt the script embodied a new character, differently from the urban character you see nowadays as a gangster, or an individual with a gun. I felt what this does is shed new light on black characters. And just looking at what Ice Cube did as a director, and my being involved as executive producer, this was my opportunity to touch in that area.
TS: Your name had come up for doing something like 'Rent." U: That was one of the first things I considered before "In the Mix." I wanted to be associated with that would embody all the elements of entertainment. To be a triple threat is similar to being compared to people like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, or even Elvis Presley, and Sammy Davis Jr. Those artists sang, danced, composed, as well as entertained. They call them triple threats to keep to the tradition, but I looked as this one, you know, it was an acting piece that had that was related to entertaining, rather than okay Usher dance. As a matter of fact, I did my best to make my character look like he couldn't dance. That goofy scene at the end when I do this rerun, I hope people will get a laugh out of it. TS: Do you think the key to longevity is understanding the business side?
U: Well certainly. You want to make smart business decisions to take care of you when you're 40 and 50 years old. You don't have to continue to do back flips. I enjoy dancing, but I don't want to have to do it at 50 or 40. I want to have the leisure of making a choice, rather than be put in a position where I have to do on stage, where my lights are going to be turned off or I'll be bankrupt. TS: Did you always have an aptitude for business? U: Well it grew out of being a hundred-aire and wanting to be a millionaire. For years, I wanted to do so much, and having a mother to watch my back the way she did, she kind of motivated me to becoming the motivating force for me to understand the business side of it more. Physically and creatively spend most of my time doing what I did and I noticed that there's business at hand that has to take place. I wanted to get more into it, so I shifted my team and said, "That's go after these types of deals. I want to know more about this. And for the meetings I began to wake up a little bit earlier Artists will wake up 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I moved that to 10 o'clock and finally moved it on down to 9. Business is important, it's more important than all of the creative if you can believe that. If you can find a creative balance between the two, I think that's really being in control of your career.
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