Amerie life and biography

Being a beautiful young woman with unique style and magnificent talent, Amerie actually may have developed into something else than being a singer. However, she already had an intuition of her future as she confessed: "It sounds like a cliche, but I always knew I was going to sing. I always knew that music was what I was going to do." Blending this divination along with perseverance, she has successfully developed herself to be a rising star in the American music industry. It probably just takes a little more time for her to become one of American R&B divas. This is not without reason for she has been admired by the media for possessing the same quality like Ashanti and Tweet. Some critics even considered her as the next Mary J. Blige. All of these have proven that she is indeed an extraordinary singer with a bright career waiting ahead.

Born as Amerie Mi Marie Rogers on January 12, 1980 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, little Amerie used to move from one place to another, following her African-American father who was a career military member. She also has a younger sister named Angela who would later be a lawyer. Under the nurture of her Korean mother who is a painter, singer, and classical pianist, she has developed an interest in music thus started to learn singing as well as dancing. Being determined to be a singer, she then began to enter various talent shows in her third grade. After living in Germany and Alaska, her family finally settled in Virginia. It was the time when she made a decision to go to Washington D.C. in order to pursue her dream. "Being in DC offered me more opportunities for singing and meeting other musicians," she remarked.

In her efforts to get into the music industry, Amerie often joined the local talent contests while also studying at Georgetown University. She later graduated with a degree in English and Fine Arts in 2000. In the same year, a promising opportunity came up when a friend introduced her to Rich Harrison, a notable music producer and native of D.C. These two talented people apparently felt a click toward each other, so they worked together to produce a demo material. "We just fill in each other's blanks and have this great chemistry in the studio," she recalled. "We have very similar visions as to what we think is hot and what we'd like to hear." Shortly thereafter, she was offered to record an album under Columbia Records.

During the recording process, Amerie also made collaboration with rapper Nas and Royce Da 5'9'. She then released her debut single entitled 'Why Don't We Fall in Love' in the spring of 2002. This single surprisingly became a radio hit and was included in the top 40 of Billboard Hot 100. Following this success, her first album, 'All I Have' was launched in July. Combining the unique and traditional elements of jazz, R&B, soul and hip-hop, the album strove to number 9 at Billboard 200 before eventually was established as a gold album. This attainment undoubtedly led Amerie to popularity and commercial success while gaining critical acclaim from the media. In 2003, she contributed her voice in LL Cool J's 'Paradise' and DJ Kay Slay's 'Too Much for Me.' She also hosted a television show on BET called 'The Center.'

In 2004, Amerie turned her attention from music for a while, exploring another chance to develop her talent. "I needed that time away from music in order to grow," she admitted. "Sometimes it's best to walk away and then come back." She then took a role in Forest Whitaker's romantic comedy movie entitled 'First Daughter', being in the same scene with Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton. Shortly thereafter, she returned to the studio to prepare her next album. Having solid persistence to make a better album than the previous one, she poured down all her capabilities to write songs, even decided to be the executive producer of the project. She also worked with various artists, like Dre and Vidal, Lil' Jon, Bryce Wilson, The Buchanans, Bink!, Red Spyda, Carl Thomas, Nas, Eve, and once again, Rich Harrison.

On April 26, 2005, Amerie finally came up with her sophomore album entitled 'Touch'. More self-assured and seductive, the album consisted of 13 compositions, including two remix songs of 'Why Don't We Fall in Love' and '1 Thing'. "Touch is a lot more multi-faceted and reflects where I am right now," she explained. "I learned a lot about myself. I'm in a different place in my life now, and I wanted this album to reflect that. There was definitely a specific vision in mind and I had to carry it out." To Amerie's delight, the album made an amazing sale of 124,000 copies just a week after its release while striking 5th position at Billboard 200 Albums Chart. Praise was also addressed towards the album, including from The New York Times who called it as one of the year's most anticipated R&B albums. Upon all of these, Amerie happily commented, "...even though it's only my second album, I definitely think that I've established my own lane."

Sparing only a year apart from 'Touch', Amerie began working on the new one which was named 'Because I Love It'. The CD was her first piece without collaboration from Rich Harrison. Instead, she worked with producers like Bryan Michael Cox, DJ Premier and many more. First single 'Take Control' was pulled in late 2006 but to a disappointing chart performance. It failed to enter Billboard Hot 100 and only peaked at the second half of R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. This was thought as the consideration to push the album's release date for several times although it finally got its release in U.K. in May 2007. However, its U.S. release went from summer 2007 to January 29, 2008.

Discography

2011 : Cymatika Vol. 1
2009 : In Love & War
2008 : Because I Love It
2007 : That's What U R/Some Like It
2005 : Touch
2002 : All I Have

Filmography

2004 : First Daughter
2003 : The Center (TV)

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