Usher Super Bowl Special: His Career to Date
The countdown is on. Super Bowl 58 is right around the corner, and this year, we get to see R&B legend Usher perform at halftime. He’ll be tasked with filling the gargantuan shoes of Rihanna, who performed last year to great success.
If you’ve noticed a trend towards hip hop acts the last few years, you’re not imagining it. Ever since 2019, the NFL has partnered with Jay-Z’s entertainment management company, Roc Nation, to put on shows that are more relevant to the event locations and improve the musician selection process.
This year’s Super Bowl is set to take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which is very fitting for Usher. The eight-time Grammy Award winner has been all about Vegas in the twilight of his career. He just wrapped up his second Vegas residency last December; the 100-show stint took place at Park MGM and started back in July 2022.
Usher has been up to more than just live Vegas performances in recent times. In August 2023, he released a new music video called “Boyfriend” that stirred up some controversy. The video is made with actress/singer Keke Palmer and is a tongue-in-cheek reaction to Palmer’s boyfriend, Darius Jackson’s public comments criticizing Palmer’s outfit choice when she was getting ready to go out to an Usher show. In the video, Usher and Palmer poke fun at Palmer’s “boyfriend” and finish it with a comment on her being a mother—a direct snide at Jackson’s criticism.
The video is well timed to bring Usher back to forefront of the music industry as he prepares for his Super Bowl performance. This won’t be his first time performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. In 2011, he was a guest appearance for the Black Eyed Peas show. After they played “Let’s Get it Started,” Usher ziplined onto the stage and performed “OMG” with Black Eyed Peas member, will.i.am singing backup vocals. Although the Black Eyed Peas put forth an uninspiring performance that day, Usher nailed his cameo and was invited back.
There’s so much to get excited about for the upcoming halftime show. Usher is dropping a new album (newest since 2016) right before the Super Bowl. The album is called Coming Home and will include his 2023 single “Good Good”—a collaboration with 21 Savage and Summer Walker. The single peaked at 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 weekly chart.
Whether or not Usher will be performing classics or new material at the Super Bowl halftime show is anyone’s guess. Usher Super Bowl specials are buzzing in our sportsbook. Browse the Super Bowl betting options and see all of the different ways you can get in the action. It’s going to be a massive show and you won’t want to miss out on the extra betting opportunities. To get you primed, we’ll recap Usher’s impressive career to date.
Birth of Usher
Born in Dallas, Texas but raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee by his mother, Usher showed a talent for singing and dancing from a young age. His mother signed him up for their local church choir and encouraged him to compete at a wide range of talent shows. When it became clear that he had a real gift for performing, he and his mother relocated to Atlanta—a bigger base to showcase his talents.
One such talent show was Star Search—a televised talent competition from the ’80s and ‘90s. At 13 years of age, Usher broke a record for child singers when he held a note on the competition for 12.1 seconds. He may not have won, but he got an audition with a record label (LaFace) that turned into a contract.
After experiencing some vocal challenges that accompanied puberty, Usher found his own rhythm and released a self-titled debut album with LaFace Records and Arista Records at the age of 16. It included the track “Think of You” and although it wasn’t the immediate success that the record owner hoped for, it has since sold over 500,000 copies.
Usher’s second album (My Way) was released in 1997 and began his rise to fame. My Way went 7X Platinum in the US and debuted at No. 15 on Billboard 200. The track “You Make me Wanna” earned him a nomination for the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the Grammys the following year.
Usher: Prime Time
By the time Usher dropped his third album (8701), he was appearing on tours with major artists such as Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson. Simultaneously, he branched out to begin an acting career. You may remember him as Jeremy Davis in the TV series Moesha, which led to a film role in The Faculty. He also played a role in the soap, The Bold and the Beautiful before returning to film, where he had a brief role in She’s All That. Usher’s first star role was in the 1999 movie Light It Up.
Usher’s 8701 album (2001) was one of his greatest and most intimate, as it explored his personal relationships. Two singles made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, including “U Got It Bad” and “U Remind Me.”
Usher’s Confessions album came out three years later in 2004 and became his biggest overall seller. In the first week, 1.1 million albums were sold; overall sales exceeded 10 million. Usher won a Grammy the following year for Best Contemporary R&B album. Four songs on the album became No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 list.
Although Confessions is considered by many to be Usher’s best album, he released four albums subsequently, two of which (Here I Stand, Raymond v. Raymond) went Platinum (as per RIAA). A brand-new studio album entitled Coming Home is the artist’s ninth and is expected to be released just in time for Usher’s Super Bowl performance in Vegas.
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