Usher's New Album Showcases His Transformation
Despite all his fame and fortune, R&B singer Usher says fatherhood is tops.
May 27, 2008 -- Hip-hop star Usher has done it all, from award-winning R&B albums to television — even Broadway.
His impressive 14-year career has garnered him five Grammys, and he's sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
But Usher says it is his new role as husband and father that has really made him a man.
"When I became a husband, I became a great man," Usher told "Good Morning America" this morning.
Usher will be performing Friday on GMA's Summer Concert Series, but he stopped by Times Square to talk about his new role as family man.
"Everybody knows what I used to be. Now, [I'm] a man of integrity," he said, "To be a father — daddy — to my family [and] my wife is the most incredible thing ever."
Usher married celebrity stylist Tameka (Foster) Raymond, 38, last August, and the two have a new 6-month-old son, Usher Raymond V.
After the couple cancelled plans for their lavish wedding last August just hours before the ceremony was to take place, tabloid rumors swirled about a possible break-up. But, according to reports, the wedding was cancelled due to concerns about Foster's pregnancy.
The couple wed later that week at the office of Usher's lawyer, and they held a glitzy ceremony in September for family and friends.
Usher's mother, who is also his former manager, did not attend the wedding or the ceremony, and tabloid reports suggest the two women didn't get along.
Regardless of the reports, he says he tries not to let celebrity gossip bother him.
"Anytime somebody says something negative, I pull my family [together] and know we're strong together," he said. "I never let that affect me … I just continue to do positive things."
Usher says his new wife has not "done anything in a negative way, other than make me a better man in life."
The transformation from swinging bachelor to devoted husband and father is mirrored on his new album, "Here I Stand," which goes on sale today.
Fans have waited four years since the release of his last studio album, the Grammy-winning "Confessions."
"Now a combination of father [and] individual comes through [on] that album," said Usher.
"We love his new album," said Margeaux Watson, staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, "It's fun, it's sexy."
"His singles? People eat them up. The videos? People eat him up," said Watson, "He's just like a little piece of ice cream — people love him!"
His latest single, "Love in This Club," soared to No. 1 on Billboard Music Chart and remained there for three weeks.
Usher will sing his hot new single and other songs from "Here I Stand" live on Friday's "GMA."