Usher - FILE
los angles, (reuters)
BY ANY MEASURE Usher is a big global star, but the R&B singer, whose album Confessions has sold more than 15 million copies, wants to get bigger.
Usher Raymond, 27, has a record label that is launching new artistes, his own concert DVD currently in stores and he owns part of professional basketball team Cleveland Cavaliers.
But his movie In the Mix, a romantic comedy, hits theatres tomorrow, and it's movies that Usher expects will supercharge his one-man entertainment machine - creating a "triple threat", he calls it, of singing, dancing and acting.
"I've always wanted to pattern myself after those artistes who were capable of being legendary," he told Reuters, listing celebrities like Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Usher first gained attention as a singer and dancer in the mid-1990s, but this past year proved to be his biggest yet. Confessions not only sold millions of CDs but earned him numerous awards including three Grammys.
He toured Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. He sold out London's Wembley stadium three times and one concert in Africa got so out of hand, it had to be stopped, he said.
"You know, what's strange is, maybe in other regions the music doesn't connect so well, but the entertainment does," he said. "No matter where you go, people like a good show."
Usher sits in a lavish Beverly Hills hotel suite wearing blue denim jeans, a pressed dress shirt and wool cap pulled down just right. He smiles the infectious smile that has won hearts, minds and rhythmic souls around the world.
"Kids watch Usher, adults watch Usher, even senior citizens know and watch Usher," he said.
But Usher cannot ascend to the heights of a Sinatra, Kelly or even his contemporary Will Smith until he acts in movies and rakes in major box office bucks.
He has acted before, in guest roles on television or in small parts in films with ensemble casts. He was in high school thriller The Faculty in 1998, high school comedy She's All That and high school drama Light It Up, both in 1999.
But In the Mix is the first movie in which he stars. His name is expected to bring thousands of fans to theatres.
Is the pressure on?
"Of course," he said. "But that's part of the reason why I chose a film like this. I felt like with the fan base I have, I wanted to make a film that everybody could see."
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