Amerie

Amerie Rogers was born in 1980 to an African American father and a Korean mother in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. However, she didn't settle long in the town as her father was a warrant officer in the military and the family traveled a lot. Amerie spent time in Alaska, Texas, Germany and South Korea, before finally settling down in Washington, D.C.

Interestingly, Amerie's first language is Korean. However, her mother has limited the use of Korean in the house to avoid hurting Amerie's English and so, Amerie is far more fluent in English than Korean. Despite this, she still maintains her Korean heritage, having been to the country a number of times and still speaking some of the language. She also has a tatoo of her name in Korean on her back, and will sign autographs in both English and Korean.

Amerie attended Georgetown University, receiving a degree in English and fine arts. While in D.C., she met producer Rich Harrison and collaborated with him on demos, leading to her signing on Columbia Records. She first became a public presence with her appearance on a track of Nas's titled "Rule" in 2001. However, it wasn't until 2002 that Amerie really began to break out.

In 2002, Amerie preceded her debut album with the single "Why Don't We Fall in Love" which hit #9 on the R&B charts and #23 on the Hot 100. The track opened the way for her album, All I Have, which was produced nearly in whole by Harrison. The album went gold and scored another lesser hit with "Talkin to Me" which reached #18 on the R&B charts.

Amerie returned in 2005 with her new album, Touch. The album was again, primarily produced by Rich Harrison, though Amerie co-wrote many of the album's songs. The album did well upon release and went gold, receiving two Grammy nominations, one for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and one for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The album's success was largely driven by the success of its first single "1 Thing" which went gold and reached #8 on the Hot 100 and topped the R&B charts. The album's other single, the title track "Touch," failed to really make an impression on the charts.

Amerie's most recent album to date, Because I Love It, came out in 2007 in some European countries. However, the album has only seen limited release in the US and it's only single, "Take Control" failed to do well in the US as well. Despite this, Amerie has worked on a remix of "Take Control" with South Korean singer Se7en.

Amerie was dropped from Columbia Records, but was picked up by Island Def Jam and is now working with L.A. Reid on a new album.