Amerie Rogers (born January 12, 1980 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts), known professionally as Amerie, is an American R&B singer and songwriter. She is signed to Sony Urban/Columbia Records Rogers was born to an African-American father and South Korean mother. As a result of her father being in the United States military, Amerie traveled to and lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Germany and South Korea. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a degree in English and Fine Arts. She considers Washington D.C. to be her home and has a younger sister named Angela. Amerie and her sister Angela's first language is Korean. Throughout early 2002, Amerie's single, "Why Don't We Fall In Love", from her debut album All I Have received much urban radio airplay. Producer Rich Harrison wrote and produced All I Have in its entirety, except for the "Outro" which Amerie co-wrote. Amerie's album was released amid the success of her "Why Don't We Fall In Love" single, and the media immediately began to judge her successes against those of other recent female R&B artists such as Tweet and Ashanti. The album's next single, "Talkin' To Me", did not hit nearly as big at urban radio, yet its video still enjoyed strong support from MTV2. VH1 Soul has been known to play both of Amerie's videos with regularity since their debuts, and MTV Jams still occasionally spins "Why Don't We Fall In Love". Amerie returned to the music scene briefly in 2003 as a featured vocalist, first on LL Cool J's "Paradise" (Which got to #18 on the UK Charts) and later on DJ Kay Slay's "Too Much For Me". Neither single, although their videos received a lot of attention from digital music video channels. In fall 2003 she continued solo and released a cover of the classic "I'm Coming Out" as a single to the "Maid In Manhattan" movie. Around this time Amerie also spent some time as the host of a brand new show on BET called The Center, Amerie left the show before her contract was up because she had been offered a movie role. On April 26, 2005 Amerie released her sophomore album Touch. Once again the album was primarily produced by mentor Rich Harrison, who contributed seven (new) tracks to the record; additional productions came from Lil' Jon, Bryce Wilson, Red Spyda and Dre & Vidal. It debuted and peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hp-Hop Albums chart, even overtopping the success of All Have with its Gold status (500,000 copies)so far. Along with Touch Amerie's biggest hit came with the first single "1 Thing". The track was also featured on the soundtrack to Hitch, a romantic comedy film. Producer Rich Harrison sampled the distinctive main drum-and-guitar loops of the song from a 1970 version of "Oh, Calcutta!" by funk group The Meters. The song was later certified Platinum (200,000+ downloads) and became her first top ten hit, it peaked at #8 at the Bilboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the R&B charts. That song became her first #1 hit of her career. "1 Thing" earned two MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Female Video of the Year and Best Choreography in A Video. The single also earned 4 Lady Of Soul Soul Train Award nominations, 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 took home Club Banger of the Year for her hit. "1 Thing" also spawned into a variety of remixes by rappers such as Eve, Fabolous, and a newcomer named Redhead
|
