![]() ![]() Can this new King of Pop, who hails from a working-class southern family and grew up without knowing his father, avoid the temptation to gorge on the good life? He insists he can. (For years Usher dated TLCmember Rozonda Thomas.) Michael Jackson, Usher's boyhood idol before Jackson was shamed by child-molestation allegations, earned more than half a billion dollars over the course of his career but has been forced to borrow heavily against his assets. Usher's own label-mates at BMG, the hit R&B act of the 1990s known as TLC, were forced to file for bankruptcy protection, despite being one of the most successful girl groups ever, with 23 million records sold. Hammer, the whirling-dervish rapper who sold 30 million records by the early 1990s, ran through a $30million fortune and filed for bankruptcy in 1996. "I've learned so many lessons from other entertainers. "I know how shady this business is, how cutthroat it is,"Usher says. It takes only a little too much lavish spending, bad financial advice or dealings with unscrupulous financiers to leave them broke even before their fleeting fame ends. Usher is getting very rich very fast-but will he stay rich? With flashy jewelry, private jets, lavish homes and huge entourages as the required symbols of success, young entertainers can go bankrupt as quickly as they go platinum. He is set to star in two other films, including an updated version of the Elvis Presley hit Jailhouse Rock. Days later he headed to Hollywood to begin shooting Lions Gate Films' Dying for Dolly. ![]() "I'm coming off a whirlwind of success," Usher said, right after completing his tour in the U.S. And Usher, the name by which he is widely known, is about to renegotiate his music contract, aiming for a rich (and pretty much nonrefundable) advance of more than $50 million. He earned more than $20 million on a 64-city tour that just ended, and he now has deals to star in films, at a fee of $8 million each. His record company, now known as Sony BMG, has paid him $20 million in 12 years. He owns a stake in the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, occupying a courtside seat where he high-fives the phenom LeBron James after spectacular slam dunks. He lives in Atlanta in a $2.8 million mansion once occupied by the music mogul Antonio (L.A.) Reid, who signed Usher to his first record deal at age 14. He is all of 26 years old, but everything he could ever dream of already sits right at his Fred Astaire feet. This is the world of Usher Raymond IV, the top-selling performer in the music business today. And when he decides to spring for a new car, it's a $500,000 chauffeur-driven Maybach. He stars on the silver screen, hangs out with Hollywood legends and dates supermodels. He tours the globe singing and dancing before sellout crowds. A sudden hip-hop superstar in a world of excess, Usher balances the urge for blingīehold the young urban music superstar: He sells millions of compact discs worldwide.
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