Amerie

Biography

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers Nicholson (born January 12, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and writer. She has released four studio albums to date: All I Have (2002), Touch (2005), Because I Love It (2007), In Love & War (2009). She is best known for her 2005 single "1 Thing".

== Early life and education == Rogers was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to a Korean mother named Mi Suk and a Black American father, Charles Rogers. A few months after she was born, the Rogers family moved to South Korea, where Amerie lived for three years. Her father was a chief warrant officer in the U.S. military, so the family lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Virginia and Germany. She has a younger sister, Angela Rogers, who is now her lawyer. Amerie has described her parents as conservative, protective, traditional Christians. Growing up, she and her sister were forbidden to leave the house or use the phone on school days. The singer enrolled at Georgetown University to study literature, and was in Navy ROTC: "My dad didn't force me into it or anything. I joined so I could afford an education." She quit ROTC after her sophomore year and graduated with a B.A. in English and a Fine Arts minor in design. While studying at Georgetown, Amerie befriended a Washington, D.C., club promoter who eventually put her in touch with producer Rich Harrison. During an interview with Maxim Magazine, Amerie said she agreed to meet up with Rich at a public location because she did not know Rich. The chosen location was a McDonald's parking lot, where Rich played his tracks and Amerie sang along. Harrison, who had just worked on Mary J. Blige's albums Mary and No More Drama, began recording and developing demos with Amerie. This led to her first record deal with Columbia Records. According to Amerie, she and Harrison immediately hit it off. In a 2002 Interview with Hip Online, she said: "For some reason we had a very special chemistry. When we would work together something great would happen."

== Career ==

=== 2001–2003: All I Have ===

Amerie recorded the chorus for the 2001 single "Rule", performed by Nas. The single peaked at number 67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in the United States. She recorded a song with Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9", titled "Life", the third and final single from his album Rock City (Version 2.0). In 2002, her debut single, "Why Don't We Fall in Love", was released and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a top ten hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Dance Club Play charts. The song was an urban top-20 hit in Australia and reached the top 40 in the UK. Amerie's debut album, All I Have (produced and co-written in its entirety by Rich Harrison), was released in 2002 to generally positive reviews. It peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling 89,000 copies in its first week of release; the album has since been certified gold by the RIAA and had sold 657,000 copies by 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan. To promote the album, Amerie went on tour with Usher and Nas—on the former's Evolution 8701 Tour—and with rapper Nelly. The second and final single from All I Have was "Talkin' to Me", a top-20 entry on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, although it peaked outside the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, Amerie won the Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist and was also nominated for Best R&B/Soul Album (All I Have) and Best R&B Soul Single – Female ("Why Don't We Fall in Love"). She received a BET Award nomination for Best Female R&B Artist and an Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist. Amerie lent her vocals to the LL Cool J song "Paradise", which reached number 14 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and became the singer's second top-40 Hot 100 entry. She was featured on DJ Kayslay's "Too Much for Me", on his 2003 album The Streetsweeper Vol. 1, which peaked at number 53 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Amerie appeared on Bow Wow's third album, Unleashed, singing the hook on the song "To My Mama". She was also featured on the Rodney Jerkins-produced track "When I Think of You" from the soundtrack to the Jessica Alba dance film Honey.

=== 2004–2005: Touch ===

Amerie gained additional recognition from her first acting role, in the 2004 film First Daughter (directed by Forest Whitaker), in which she starred alongside Katie Holmes. Also in 2004, she began working on her second album, Touch. As with All I Have, the album was co-written and produced by friend Rich Harrison, who contributed seven new tracks to the record; additional production came from Lil Jon, Bryce Wilson, Red Spyda, and Dre & Vidal. Unlike her first album, Amerie co-wrote every track but one, "Come with Me", which Harrison wrote. She assumed more creative control over the visual imagery accompanying the album, such as videos and artwork—"I feel like when you do a record, you have a vision in your mind and you want to carry it across and it doesn't end with the studio", she has said. In 2005, Amerie released the album's lead single, "1 Thing". The dance-pop song, which sampled The Meters's 1960s funk recording "Oh, Calcutta!", became Amerie's biggest hit to date. In the United States, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The RIAA certified the single gold. The song was a top-five hit in the UK, where it became one of the year's best-selling singles, and attained top-ten and top-twenty positions across Continental Europe. Touch was released in 2005 and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 124,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, having sold 406,000 copies in the United States as of 2009. The album's title track, "Touch", was released as the second single and peaked at number 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the United States, although it was a top-20 entry in the UK. A third single, "Talkin' About", was released in America only; an official music video was planned but eventually scrapped. Later in 2005, Amerie was featured alongside Fat Joe on "I Don't Care", the lead single from Ricky Martin's album Life. The single entered the top 20 in several European countries and Australia. The success of "1 Thing" and Touch led to two Grammy Award nominations for Amerie in 2006: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (for "1 Thing"), and Best Contemporary R&B Album (for Touch). "1 Thing" earned nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards—for Best Female Video and Best Choreography—and Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards— for Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo; R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year; Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video; and Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut. At the 2005 VIBE Awards, Amerie won Club Banger of the Year for her hit. "1 Thing" was adapted into a variety of remixes by rappers such as Eve, Fabolous, and Jay-Z. In 2009, "1 Thing" was sixth on The Root's list of Top 10 Hip-Hop/R&B Songs of the 2000s.

=== 2006–2007: Because I Love It ===