Even after an arena goes dark, Usher is still working. "I analyze every show," he says. "And anybody that's slipping, they get a note." The dancers seem to take it in stride. They poke fun at each other when they aren't sweating it out during rehearsal, and yell, "Go, Crusher!" when the star of the show hams it up.
Usher ruthlessly scrutinizes his own performance, too, but that's not to say he never kicks it. "I'm a party animal," he admits. "Before, I would deprive myself of a life because I was so focused on getting here. But you have to let go and unwind." On that rare day off, you might catch him in your local mall shopping up a storm. He used to call on his various honeys in each port when touring, but since the relationship with Chilli has blossomed, that's stopped. Still, he says, "I like to be around the fly people-see how they dress, how they talk, what's the new lingo, what everybody's listening to."
Usher doesn't mind a bit that he'll be spending months on his tour bus. It's more like a palace on wheels, loaded with DVDs; a small recording system (so he can compose on the road); two wide-screen TVs; a king-size bed; a PlayStation 2; and a kitchen fully stocked with chocolate bars to satisfy his wicked sweet tooth. He won't see the inside of his Atlanta mansion for a while, and that suits him just fine. "My dream was to be the hardest working man in show business," he says. "You're not going to get any peace out of me until I'm on that stage."
He playfully samples a line from Run-DMC to describe what it will be like on the road: "There were a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight, but I want y'all to know one thing. It's my house." He flashes a smile. "The house of Usher!"
On opening night in Seattle, a breeze from Puget Sound cools the atmosphere outside Key Arena, but inside, Faith Evans is getting hot. Usher needed extra time to rehearse, and Faith's sound check was unnervingly brief. "It took me three albums to get up here, and they tryin' to cut me short," she later tells the arena's crowd of 8,000 strong, after delighting them with a few songs.
Technical glitches notwithstanding, Faith is happy to be on her first major arena tour with Usher, a longtime friend for whose first album she cowrote seven songs. "We used to hang out every day," she says. "I would pick him up from his tutors. I don't know what we were doing together, because I was like 21, and he was about 13. I'm really proud of the turn his career has taken, so this is fun. We come, do our thing, and then on to the next place."
The crowd is charged with excitement after Usher's elaborate set goes up and the lights go down. Out of a burst of fireworks, the main man appears in the same iconic pose he strikes on his CD cover. Every high note, pelvic thrust, and slick dance move is met by ear-rattling screams. Later in the show, the romantic serenade falls a bit flat when the hottie pulled from the crowd preens more than Usher, acting like she's doing him a favor by humping him aggressively on the oversize bed. But Usher gets back on track when he pays homage to his childhood idol, Michael Jackson, throwing in a hip hop twist: instead of a glittering glove, he dons a pair of rhinestone-encrusted Air Jordans, and slips and slides across the stage. "Go 'head," hollers a girl in the 10th row insistently.
When he belts out a passionate rendition of "U Got It Bad" as an encore, folks from the back of the house rush down the aisles toward the stage. Tears are shed. Lighters are held high. Usher will no doubt be scribbling notes for improvement after this opening-night performance. But all in all, he proves to be a man of his word. He kills it.
June 27, 2003 @ 8:29 pm
SHOWSTOPPER
USHER has opened for the biggest names in R&B, but he was still a virgin headliner before Evolution 8701. Erica Kennedy checked in with the swivel-hipped superstar as he hyped, rehearsed, and got his mind right for the U.S. leg of his maiden tour.
P>It's true what Usher says on "I Don't Know," one of three hit singles off his triple-platinum fourth release, 8701. Ghetto girls, suburban girls, international girls-they all smell him, and then some. When he strolls onto the set of BET's 106 & Park singing that tune, it's clear the hormones are in overdrive. The mostly female crowd claws, whimpers, and weeps as they try to get a better look at the singer. A 40ish woman in the back row shouts, "We love you, Usher!" and "I need a man!" disrupting the interview until security has a word with her. The 23-year-old superstar stays cool behind his oversize Prada shades. He carefully declines a caller who asks him to her prom, and later launches into Michael Jackson's "Rock With You," wading into the sea of groping fans. Even during the commercial break, they keep the love flowing, continuing to sing the entire song in unison.
The following day on MTV's TRL set-another stop on the mission to promote the Evolution tour-the shrieks are just as piercing. "I love you, Usher!" one girl screeches in a register high enough to be heard over the pandemonium. "I love you, too," Usher volleys back.
An excited Latina waves him down on his way out, and he requests a pen to autograph her tank top. "Pick a spot," she says, and sticks out her preteen chest. Then he's on his way back to the green room, where his "very good friend"-TLC's Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas-is waiting.
The squeals will reach a fever pitch when he begins his two-month, 42-city U.S. tour (with Nas and Faith Evans) two weeks from now, on May 8. He finished the European leg last winter; now Usher Raymond IV, the self-described perfectionist, is determined to get every part of this massive production just right before setting it off on his home turf.
At Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles, on a cavernous soundstage, Usher soaks through several T-shirts from Girbaud (which is sponsoring the tour), while whirling and gliding up and down the tall, curvy, makeshift stage with seven dancers. He's scheduled to rehearse here eight hours a day until the tour kicks off in Seattle. After discussing wardrobe with a stylist, he goes into a production meeting with his mother and manager, Jonnetta Patton. Like a behind-the-scenes wizard who keeps this Oz-like production running smoothly, JPat (as the crew calls her) observes rehearsal when she's not on her laptop or working the phones. Usher has opened for P. Diddy, Mary J. Blige, and Janet Jackson, so this-his first headlining tour-has been a long time coming.
"I remember when we went out with P. Diddy and were paid $5,000 a night," says the fortysomething Patton, whose son nets many times more than that when he takes the stage these days. "A lot of acts that we wanted on this tour felt like they should have equal billing with Usher-and there's no way. A lot of artists aren't taught that it doesn't happen overnight."
Usher now faces the daunting task of filling arenas that hold 15,000 or more night after night, and his mother says he's a "worry wart about every detail." But you'd never know it from talking to him. "I feel like Ali," Usher says, resting in his private lounge at the soundstage. "I'm the greatest. There's not an artist whom I fear out there. I'm not saying that I'm the bestÂ…. Well, actually I am. I'm the best in my category. This is what I do. This is my life."
Rage. Love. Hate. Determination. Usher says those are the emotions that course through him as he stands in the spotlight before thousands of die-hard fans. "It's almost like you're mad but you're loving it. In my mind, I'm like"-he bites his lower lip as if he's about to ravage a wom-an-"You want this! I'm trying to kill it. Murder it."
The title of his current album, 8701, is meant to represent his journey since starting in the business in 1987 until this album's release in 2001. Evolution 8701 will chart Usher's growth by showcasing all of his earlier hits and showing video footage of his public transformation from scrawny teenage new jack to well-toned, chart-topping heartthrob.
Usher will pluck a lucky lady out of the audience during "Twork It Out" for an onstage serenade and a shower of rose petals. That bit is sure to ignite the fantasies of his female admirers, who often take their fanaticism too far. "I've had a lot of fans stick their tongue in my mouth," he says. "You'll be nice enough to give them a kiss on the cheek, and they'll turn their head and just go for it! It's gross." Nonetheless, he still drops his pants during every show, a ma-neuver Mom could do without. "I hate it!" Patton says with a shake of her head. "I've asked him, Please take that out of the show? But he's in control."
Even after an arena goes dark, Usher is still working. "I analyze every show," he says. "And anybody that's slipping, they get a note." The dancers seem to take it in stride. They poke fun at each other when they aren't sweating it out during rehearsal, and yell, "Go, Crusher!" when the star of the show hams it up.
Usher ruthlessly scrutinizes his own performance, too, but that's not to say he never kicks it. "I'm a party animal," he admits. "Before, I would deprive myself of a life because I was so focused on getting here. But you have to let go and unwind." On that rare day off, you might catch him in your local mall shopping up a storm. He used to call on his various honeys in each port when touring, but since the relationship with Chilli has blossomed, that's stopped. Still, he says, "I like to be around the fly people-see how they dress, how they talk, what's the new lingo, what everybody's listening to."
Usher doesn't mind a bit that he'll be spending months on his tour bus. It's more like a palace on wheels, loaded with DVDs; a small recording system (so he can compose on the road); two wide-screen TVs; a king-size bed; a PlayStation 2; and a kitchen fully stocked with chocolate bars to satisfy his wicked sweet tooth. He won't see the inside of his Atlanta mansion for a while, and that suits him just fine. "My dream was to be the hardest working man in show business," he says. "You're not going to get any peace out of me until I'm on that stage."
He playfully samples a line from Run-DMC to describe what it will be like on the road: "There were a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight, but I want y'all to know one thing. It's my house." He flashes a smile. "The house of Usher!"
On opening night in Seattle, a breeze from Puget Sound cools the atmosphere outside Key Arena, but inside, Faith Evans is getting hot. Usher needed extra time to rehearse, and Faith's sound check was unnervingly brief. "It took me three albums to get up here, and they tryin' to cut me short," she later tells the arena's crowd of 8,000 strong, after delighting them with a few songs.
Technical glitches notwithstanding, Faith is happy to be on her first major arena tour with Usher, a longtime friend for whose first album she cowrote seven songs. "We used to hang out every day," she says. "I would pick him up from his tutors. I don't know what we were doing together, because I was like 21, and he was about 13. I'm really proud of the turn his career has taken, so this is fun. We come, do our thing, and then on to the next place."
The crowd is charged with excitement after Usher's elaborate set goes up and the lights go down. Out of a burst of fireworks, the main man appears in the same iconic pose he strikes on his CD cover. Every high note, pelvic thrust, and slick dance move is met by ear-rattling screams. Later in the show, the romantic serenade falls a bit flat when the hottie pulled from the crowd preens more than Usher, acting like she's doing him a favor by humping him aggressively on the oversize bed. But Usher gets back on track when he pays homage to his childhood idol, Michael Jackson, throwing in a hip hop twist: instead of a glittering glove, he dons a pair of rhinestone-encrusted Air Jordans, and slips and slides across the stage. "Go 'head," hollers a girl in the 10th row insistently.
When he belts out a passionate rendition of "U Got It Bad" as an encore, folks from the back of the house rush down the aisles toward the stage. Tears are shed. Lighters are held high. Usher will no doubt be scribbling notes for improvement after this opening-night performance. But all in all, he proves to be a man of his word. He kills it.
Even after an arena goes dark, Usher is still working. "I analyze every show," he says. "And anybody that's slipping, they get a note." The dancers seem to take it in stride. They poke fun at each other when they aren't sweating it out during rehearsal, and yell, "Go, Crusher!" when the star of the show hams it up.
Usher ruthlessly scrutinizes his own performance, too, but that's not to say he never kicks it. "I'm a party animal," he admits. "Before, I would deprive myself of a life because I was so focused on getting here. But you have to let go and unwind." On that rare day off, you might catch him in your local mall shopping up a storm. He used to call on his various honeys in each port when touring, but since the relationship with Chilli has blossomed, that's stopped. Still, he says, "I like to be around the fly people-see how they dress, how they talk, what's the new lingo, what everybody's listening to."
Usher doesn't mind a bit that he'll be spending months on his tour bus. It's more like a palace on wheels, loaded with DVDs; a small recording system (so he can compose on the road); two wide-screen TVs; a king-size bed; a PlayStation 2; and a kitchen fully stocked with chocolate bars to satisfy his wicked sweet tooth. He won't see the inside of his Atlanta mansion for a while, and that suits him just fine. "My dream was to be the hardest working man in show business," he says. "You're not going to get any peace out of me until I'm on that stage."
He playfully samples a line from Run-DMC to describe what it will be like on the road: "There were a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight, but I want y'all to know one thing. It's my house." He flashes a smile. "The house of Usher!"
On opening night in Seattle, a breeze from Puget Sound cools the atmosphere outside Key Arena, but inside, Faith Evans is getting hot. Usher needed extra time to rehearse, and Faith's sound check was unnervingly brief. "It took me three albums to get up here, and they tryin' to cut me short," she later tells the arena's crowd of 8,000 strong, after delighting them with a few songs.
Technical glitches notwithstanding, Faith is happy to be on her first major arena tour with Usher, a longtime friend for whose first album she cowrote seven songs. "We used to hang out every day," she says. "I would pick him up from his tutors. I don't know what we were doing together, because I was like 21, and he was about 13. I'm really proud of the turn his career has taken, so this is fun. We come, do our thing, and then on to the next place."
The crowd is charged with excitement after Usher's elaborate set goes up and the lights go down. Out of a burst of fireworks, the main man appears in the same iconic pose he strikes on his CD cover. Every high note, pelvic thrust, and slick dance move is met by ear-rattling screams. Later in the show, the romantic serenade falls a bit flat when the hottie pulled from the crowd preens more than Usher, acting like she's doing him a favor by humping him aggressively on the oversize bed. But Usher gets back on track when he pays homage to his childhood idol, Michael Jackson, throwing in a hip hop twist: instead of a glittering glove, he dons a pair of rhinestone-encrusted Air Jordans, and slips and slides across the stage. "Go 'head," hollers a girl in the 10th row insistently.
When he belts out a passionate rendition of "U Got It Bad" as an encore, folks from the back of the house rush down the aisles toward the stage. Tears are shed. Lighters are held high. Usher will no doubt be scribbling notes for improvement after this opening-night performance. But all in all, he proves to be a man of his word. He kills it.
Article tags: Usher
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