Jump to content

Amerie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 129.173.195.113 (talk) at 22:25, 17 November 2007 (→Singles). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Amerie

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers (born January 12 1980[1]), better known as Amerie, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily written and produced by Rich Harrison. "1 Thing", the lead single from her second album, Touch, introduced go-go elements, on which she expanded with the 2007 album Because I Love It.

Early life

Rogers was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts to an African-American father and a Korean mother. Her father was in the United States military, so Amerie traveled to and lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Germany, and South Korea. She has a younger sister, Angela Rogers, who is now her lawyer. She finally settled in Washington, D.C., which she considers her hometown. In 1996, she started studying at Georgetown University for a degree in English and Fine Arts and graduated in 2000.

Amerie's first language is Korean. However, after the family left Korea, Amerie's mother made a conscious effort to limit the use of Korean with her daughters out of fear that it would impede their development of English proficiency. In an interview with KoreAm Journal, Amerie stated that she is now only "conversational" in the Korean language and speaks it at home with her mother, Angela, and extended Korean family members.[2] Amerie also bears a tattoo featuring her given name in Korean script on her lower back, which can be seen in the music video for "1 Thing". The tattoo does not directly translate to Amerie, but "Emeuri" (에므리) while the Korean media pronounces her name "Eimeori" (에이머리) however. Amerie is noted for signing her name in both English and Korean when giving autographs.

Music career

All I Have

Main article: All I Have (album)

Template:Sample box start variation 1 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Amerie received her big break in 2001 when she was featured on a track from rapper Nas' fifth studio album, Stillmatic, entitled "Rule". 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 track "Outro", which Amerie co-wrote. Amerie's album was released amid the success of "Why Don't We Fall in Love", and the media immediately began to judge her success 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 received 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". The album was a success, going gold by the RIAA with 623,000 units sold in the United States.

In the fall of 2002, she once again continued solo and released a cover of Diana Ross' 1980 hit "I'm Coming Out" as a single for the soundtrack to the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan. Afterwards, in 2003, Amerie returned to the music scene briefly as a featured vocalist, first on LL Cool J's "Paradise" (a top twenty entry in the UK and a top forty single in the U.S.) and later on DJ Kayslay's "Too Much for Me" singing background. Although their videos received attention from digital music video channels, none of the singles went on to become major hits.

Around this time, Amerie spent some time as the host of a brand-new show on BET called The Center. However, she left the show before her contract was up because she had been offered a supporting role as Mia Thompson in the 2004 romantic comedy First Daughter alongside Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton, Lela Rochon, and Marc Blucas.

Touch

Main article: Touch (Amerie album)

Template:Sample box start variation 2 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end On April 26, 2005, Amerie released her second 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. Unlike her first album, Amerie co-wrote every track except "Come with Me", which Harrison wrote. Touch debuted and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album was certifed gold by the RIAA in August of that year. It received two Grammy Award nominations in 2006: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "1 Thing" and "Best Contemporary R&B Album".

Along with Touch, Amerie's biggest hit came with the album's lead single "1 Thing". The track was also featured on the soundtrack to Hitch, a romantic comedy film starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. Producer Rich Harrison sampled the distinctive main drum-and-guitar loops of the song from a 1970 version of Oh! Calcutta!'s theme song—retitled "Oh, Calcutta!"—by funk group The Meters. The song was later certified platinum for selling over 200,000 units in downloads and became her first top ten hit in the U.S., where it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. "1 Thing" also earned several awards and nominations: two nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards—"Best Female Video" and "Best Choreography"—and four nominations for the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards—"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 Jay-Z.

In the fall of 2005, Amerie went on with the second single "Touch" and "I Don't Care", the lead single of Ricky Martin's album Life in collaboration with Fat Joe. Though the latter one entered the top twenty in several European countries and Australia, the album's title track failed to reprise the success of "1 Thing". It didn't even enter the Billboard Hot 100, though it peaked at number nineteen on the UK Singles Chart. "Talkin' About", the third single, was released only for promo.

Because I Love It

Main article: Because I Love It

Template:Sample box start variation 1 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Amerie's third album, Because I Love It, was her first album not to feature production from her long-time collaborator, friend, and producer Rich Harrison. Other producers were enlisted to work with Amerie, such as Bryan-Michael Cox, The Buchanans, Tim & Bob, and DJ Premier. "Take Control", which was produced by Mike Caren and co-written by Amerie and Cee-Lo Green, was the first single from the album and was released in the U.S. in late 2006. It failed to chart on the Hot 100, reaching the lower half of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Because I Love It was released in Europe in May 2007, and it is set to be released in the U.S. in late 2007. There was a limited release of the album in Wal-Mart stores. The release of the album made the Blender magazine's list of "25 Reasons to Love '07", ranking at nineteenth.[3]

In early December 2006, it was reported that South Korean singer Se7en would collaborate with Amerie on her new album.[4] She has stated several times in interviews that she has been very eager to work with Korean pop/R&B singers, being a fan of K-pop herself. It was later confirmed that the re-worked version of "Take Control" would be featured on the Asian editions of the album Because I Love It. A limited amount of promotional albums that were released in Japan and Korea in late April included the remix featuring Se7en.

In late 2007, she was featured on Chingy's single "Fly like Me", from the rapper's fourth studio album Hate It or Love It.

Discography

Further information: [[:Amerie discography]]

Albums

Singles

Year Single Album
2002 "Why Don't We Fall in Love" All I Have
2003 "Talkin' to Me"
"I'm Coming Out" Maid in Manhattan soundtrack
2005 "1 Thing" Hitch soundtrack
"Touch" Touch
"Talkin' About"
2006 "Take Control" Because I Love It
2007 "Gotta Work"

Filmography

Year Title Role
2004 First Daughter Mia Thompson

Awards and nominations

2003

2005

  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: "Entertainer of the Year" (winner)
  • VIBE Awards: "Club Banger of the Year" ("1 Thing") (winner)
  • BET Awards: Video of the Year "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • BET Awards: Best Female R&B Artist (nominated)
  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul Single "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • MOBO Awards: Best Song "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • MTV Video Music Awards: Best Female Video "1 Thing" (nominated)

2006

  • ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards: "Top Soundtrack Song of the Year" ("1 Thing") (winner)
  • Grammy Awards: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "1 Thing" (nominated)
  • Grammy Awards: Best Contemporary R&B Album, Touch (nominated)

2007

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "Tavis Smiley transcript". PBS. July 13 2005. Retrieved 2007-01-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "25 Reasons to Love '07". Blender. January/February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Se7en to Duet with Half-Korean American Singer Amerie". KBS. December 15 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Amerie&oldid=172161588"