AMERIE
R&B beauty Amerie was born Amerie Mi Marie Rogers, on January 12, 1980, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to a father of African American descent and a mother of South Korean descent. The Rogers family lived in several different locations to accommodate Amerie’s father’s job with the United States military; including Alaska, Texas, Germany, and South Korea. Amerie's first language is Korean; however, her mother made a concerted effort to improve her children’s English skills after the family moved from Seoul, South Korea, where they had lived for several years.
After earning a degree in English and fine arts at GeorgetownUniversity, Amerie pursued a career in the recording industry. She released her debut, All I Have, in 2002; having already been well-received one year prior when she was featured on a track from Nas' album, “Stillmatic.” Amerie’s debut received much radio play, eventually going gold with 623,000 copies sold in the U.S. Amerie was immediately compared to her R&B contemporaries, Tweet and Ashanti Later in 2002, Amerie released a cover of Diana Ross's 80s anthem, “I'm Coming Out,” which was featured on the soundtrack to the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan, starring Jennifer Lopez
Amerie has also contributed her single “1 Thing” to the soundtrack of the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch, starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes “1 Thing” earned several award nominations for Amerie, including: two nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards (Best Female Video and Best Choreography), and four nominations for 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 the award for Club Banger of the Year for “1 Thing,”which was also re-mixed by rappers such as Eve, Fabolous, and Jay-Z.
In 2003, Amerie was featured on LL Cool J's “Paradise,” as well as DJ Kayslay's “Too Much For Me.” She also began hosting a new show BET called The Center, until leaving early in her contract to star in the 2004 film First Daughter, alongside Micheal Keaton, Katie Holmes and Lela Rochon.
In 2005, Amerie released her second album, Touch, for which she co-wrote all songs except one. The album went gold, and was recognized with two Grammy Award nominations in 2006.
In May 2006, it was revealed that Amerie’s third album would be titled None Of The Above, which was later changed to Because I Love It. The album will feature production by Gnarls Barkley.
Amerie's Official Website:
http://www.amerie.net/
