Usher nearly quit the music business after his records started to flop 20 years ago.
Usher nearly quit the music business after his records started to flop 20 years ago
The 45-year-old ‘U Got it Bad’ rapper is now set to headline this Sunday’s (11.02.24) Super Bowl halftime show, but admitted he was stricken with fears about his future in entertainment since 2004, when he started thinking about going into acting instead of singing.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “I hadn’t had a successful record as successful as (2004’s) ‘Confessions’, and there was this analysing, like, ‘Man, should I continue to do this, or should I pivot and become an actor?’”
The rapper added he then told himself: “No, I want to do what I really love” and pressed on with his rap career.
He went on to launch his ‘My Way’ residencies in Las Vegas from 2022, which became a phenomenal success.
Dad-of-four Usher – born Usher Raymond IV – added: “I went to Las Vegas with no promise in a time when the world was not going anywhere because we were in a pandemic, and (I) had the hope that I could arouse people enough to come to Las Vegas and celebrate with me.
“And it turned into, not only the most successful moments of Las Vegas history, but one of the most successful moments in my life.”
Usher said about feeling honoured to be playing the Super Bowl: “That right there is a virtuous story of belief in self, man.
“I’m a 45-year-old artist who has found my way into an incredible moment as a result of belief in myself and the fact that I didn’t let anything deter it, no matter what it looked like, no matter what the comparison to previous albums were.
“I didn’t care about none of that. I was like, ‘I believe in making quality and quality performance matters. I want to go to Las Vegas where I can spread my wings and be creative and do things the way I want to do them; not just wait for a successful album in hopes that I’m going to be able to put together a tour and travel the world’… the crescendo of that is the Super Bowl.
“Man, I’m so happy and blessed.”
Usher will perform at the halftime show at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, where the defending Super Bowl champions The Kansas City Chiefs – who include 34-yaer-old Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, also 34 – will take on the San Francisco 49ers.
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