Hi
there!
Canadians,
I want to know one thing. Have you
recovered from your turkey comas yet?
After all, Thanksgiving only comes once a year, and I hope that you had
a lot of fun and warm memories spending time with your loved ones.
Americans,
I want to know one thing. How was your
Columbus Day? Did you find your way
around your cities and towns today, or did you get lost and accidentally
discover a whole new world? Whatever
you did yesterday, I hope you had fun.
And
to everyone else in the world...well, I have no idea what holidays - if any -
you celebrated yesterday, but whatever it is you did yesterday, I hope you gave
it your all!
For
now, I do believe we have a Tuesday Timeline to deal with. It's October 14, and as it so happens, a lot
happened on this date in history.
Before we get to the main event though, let's look at the other things
that took place.
1586 - Mary, Queen of Scots goes on trial for conspiracy
against England's Elizabeth I
1656 - Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation
against the Religious Society of Friends - or Quakers, as they were widely
known as
1773 - Several British East India Company tea ships are
set on fire near Annapolis, Maryland
1812 - Work on London's Regent Canal begins
1884 - George Eastman is granted a patent for his new
paper-strip photographic film
1888 - "Roundhay Garden Scene" becomes the
very first motion picture ever made
1908 - The Chicago Cubs win their last World Series to
date, defeating the Detroit Tigers 2-0
1912 - President Theodore Roosevelt is shot by John
Schrank while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - amazingly he still makes
his scheduled speech despite having a bullet still lodged inside his body
1913 - 439 miners are killed in the Senghenydd Colliery
Disaster
1926 - A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" is first
published
1933 - Nazi Germany withdraws from the League of Nations
1944 - Athens, Greece is liberated by British Army
troops entering the city as the Wehrmacht pulls out during World War II
1957 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian
monarch to open up a session of the Canadian Parliament
1958 - An underground nuclear weapon test is performed by
the American Atomic Energy Commission just north of Las Vegas, Nevada
1962 - The commencement of the Cuban Missile Crisis
following an American Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane flying over Cuba and
taking photos of Soviet missiles being installed and erected there
1967 - Singer Joan Baez is arrested following her being
a part of a physical blockade outside of the U.S. Army induction center in
Oakland, California in protest against the Vietnam War
1977 - Singer Bing Crosby passes away in Spain at the
age of 74
1979 - The first gay rights march takes place in
Washington, D.C., attracting over 200,000 people
1982 - Ronald Reagan proclaims a "War on
Drugs"
1998 - Eric Rudolph is charged with the 1996 Olympics
bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as five others
2006 - A college football brawl between the University
of Miami and Florida International University leads to the suspension of 31
players from both teams
And
let's see who is celebrating a birthday today!
Happy birthday to Roger Moore, Ralph
Lauren, Cliff
Richard, Art
Shamsky, Lesley
Joseph, Justin
Hayward, Dan
McCafferty, Marcia
Barrett, David
Ruprecht, Joey
Travolta, Harry
Anderson, Greg
Evigan, Arleen
Sorkin, Thomas
Dolby, Isaac
Mizrahi, Lori
Petty, Steve
Coogan, Karyn
White, Jay
Ferguson, Natalie
Maines, Jonathan
Kerrigan, Stacy
Keibler, Daniel
Clark, Jay
Pharoah, MacKenzie
Mauzy, Max
Thieriot, Shona
McGarty, Daniel
Roche, and Rowan
Blanchard.
Oh,
I should mention that today is also the birthday of today's Tuesday Timeline
subject. And he was born exactly
thirty-six years ago today on October 14, 1978.
And
I suppose you could say that this Texas-born, Tennessee raised R&B star has
had quite the life. From the time he
began singing at the tender age of nine in a local church youth choir, many
people in his life had the belief that he was destined for stardom. And certainly after releasing seven albums
and having several chart-topping hits, he has certainly made a mark on the
Billboard charts! But would you believe
that he also founded a record label in 2002 (when he was barely twenty-four
years old), served as a judge on the hit television series "The
Voice", and founded the non-profit charity organization "New
Look"? That's mighty impressive
for anybody of any age to do!
So,
I thought that I would use this opportunity to go through each of Usher's seven
different albums, choose one single from each album that I really enjoyed, and
talk about him a little bit through each single. I'll also throw in some little pieces of trivia about him as well
throughout each video, so keep reading.
I
couldn't think of another way to celebrate Usher Raymond's birthday!
So,
let's get started with album number one!
USHER (August 1994)
Okay,
can you believe that it's been twenty years since Usher released his very first
album? That would have meant that he
was the same exact age Debbie Gibson was when she recorded her debut disc back
in 1986-1987. Unfortunately for Usher,
his disc didn't do as well as Debbie's debut.
The effort was largely unheard on the Billboard charts, with the album
itself peaking at #167 on the Billboard 200 album charts. But, I suppose that everybody has their
initial struggles at first. At least
one thing you could say about Usher was that even back then he was a gifted
singer. He did compete on "Star Search"
the year before this album was released, and was briefly a part of an R&B
quintet called NuBeginnings. So, I
suppose it was inevitable that he would release a solo album shortly after.
As
far as songs go from the album, not many made appearances on the charts. One of the only successful songs from this
album was "Can U Get Wit It", and it only made it to #59 on the
charts. However, this was just a
taste. It wouldn't be until album #2
that Usher became more than just a word to describe a ticket taker at the movie
theatre.
MY WAY (September 1997)
Sometime
after releasing "Usher", Usher formed a friendship with Jermaine
Dupri, who served as one of the main producers of Usher's second album (the
other producer was Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds). With a team of hitmakers behind the helm of
this album, it was almost expected that the album would do quite well.
And
with the opening track "You Make Me Wanna..." exploding all over MTV
and radio in the summer of 1997, it was the beginning of Usher's career. I have to admit that of all the singles from
this album, I like this one the most.
The album sold 66,000 copies during its first week, and it is estimated
that nearly seven million copies of this album have been sold since it was
released. Coincidentally, Usher was
also starring in the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" during this
time. I suppose that he was hoping to
fall back on an acting career should the singing not pan out.
8701 (July 2001)
Many
people wondered what the album title "8701" meant when it was first
released. I initially thought that it
meant August 7, 2001 which I assume was meant to be the release date of the
album (August 7 was on a Tuesday which is when almost all new albums come
out). But with the album being released
in July, that squashed that theory.
Turns out that 8701 is meant to be read as '87-'01. The '87 for the year that Usher began
singing, and the '01 for the year of the album's release. Pretty clever, huh?
And
certainly there are tons of album singles to choose from here. Myself, while I get that "U Remind
Me" and "U Got It Bad" were bigger hits, I tend to like this one
the best. Instantly gets anyone on
their feet.
Besides,
after trying to do a computer assignment in a computer lab as school and
hearing a girl singing along to "U Got It Bad" while listening to an
Usher CD in her discman (remember those), I no longer like that song
anymore.
CONFESSIONS (March 2004)
Initially,
Usher just wanted to stick with what he knew best and continued to work with
Jermaine Dupri, but was convinced by L.A. Reid of Arista Records to bring on
some more producers to add a new dimension to the record. It was a good decision on Usher's part, for
bringing on Lil Jon and Ludacris helped the album out a lot. After all, the album's first single
"Yeah!" became a massive hit in 2004 because of them.
In fact,
2004 was a huge year for Usher in general.
Of the 52 weeks of the year that made up 2004, he was #1 for
twenty-eight of them! How is that for
awesome!
Now, as far as my favourite song on the album goes? I'd have to say "Burn". It stayed on the top of the charts for eight weeks, but it is
also considered one of Usher's most personal songs. You see, this song was recorded right around the time that he
ended his relationship with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas of TLC. Listen to the lyrics closely.
HERE I STAND (May 2008)
This
record marked a lot of personal changes in Usher's life. It was the first record he made since
getting together with Tameka Foster (they would later get divorced in 2009),
the first record since his mother stopped being his personal manager, and the
record was released the same year that Usher's father passed away. Usher also became a father in late 2007 for
the first time - just a few months before this album was released.
And
perhaps all of this change in Usher's personal life reflected in this album's
promotion and reception. It's
considered to be Usher's weakest album to date. Even the singles from the album didn't do as well despite Usher
having at least one #1 hit from the disc.
This particular song didn't even make the Top 40.
It's
too bad, as this song is quite good.
RAYMOND VS. RAYMOND (March 2010)
This
album did much better on the charts than Usher's previous album, debuting at #1
on the Billboard album charts and Usher broke a record with this album for
having at least one #1 single from five consecutive albums, as well as being
one of four artists to have #1 singles in three consecutive decades!
And
here's the song that helped him achieve that feat! Can you say OMG!
And
certainly, Usher's OMG tour was considered one of the best tours of
2010-2011. He performed 92 concerts all
over the world, and it was ranked as the seventh most successful tours of the
year by Billboard Magazine in 2011.
LOOKING 4 MYSELF (June 2012)
As
of right now, this is the most recent album in the Usher chronology (though he
is currently working on finishing up album number eight), and it was released
on RCA Records following the disbandment of LaFace and Jive Records in late
2011. This album was also a bit of an
experiment album for Usher as he wanted to incorporate a brand new style of
music into the album - a style known as "revolutionary pop". And certainly, the album seemed to focus
more on a Europop sound than his previous R & B efforts. I suppose it makes a little bit of sense
that Usher would try something new, given that he had just gotten divorced
three years earlier, and had replaced Cee-Lo Green on "The Voice"
judging panel. And it was also the year
in which his former stepson Kile was seriously injured in a freak accident
involving a jet-ski and never regained consciousness. He died just a month after this album was released.
My
favourite track from the album? Well, I
figure that it would be this one.
And,
I suppose it's a good song to end off this blog entry with. After all, birthdays are meant to be
celebrated, and this song certainly makes you get on your feet!
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