Amerie M.M. Rogers: The R&B Princess

By Ardain Isma jr.Special to CSMS MagazineAmerie is one of the most soulful singers to come out in recent years. She has the voice, the talent, the charisma and the charm that most R&B singers don’t have, most experts in the music industry agree. Amerie not only sings R&B, but she can also sing funk and rock as well. Amerie is also a songwriter as well as a singer.                                              Amerie Mi Marie Rogers was born on January 12, 1980 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts to an African American father and a South Korean mother. Growing up, Amerie moved a lot due to the fact that her father was in the U.S military. She has lived in Alaska, Texas, Germany, and South Korea. When Amerie finished high school, she was enrolled into Georgetown University, where she would later graduate in 2000 with a degree in English and in Fine Arts. Amerie considers Washington D.C to be her home, as her little sister Angela does, too. Korean was Amerie first language, not English. She wants people to know that. Amerie was always interested in music, and she decided that was what she wanted to pursue.Amerie was signed to Columbia Records in 2001. In early 2002, her hit single Why don’t we Fall In Love was a huge success in urban and mainstream radio. Shortly thereafter, her debut album was released All I Have and it debuted #9 on the U.S billboard album charts, which was good for a new artist. Her next single from the album Talkin To Me was not as big of a hit in the United States as her fist one was, but its music video was played a lot in MTV, MTV2, B.E.T, and Much Music. Her album was later certified Gold by the R.I.A. In the fall of 2002, Amerie became the host for the B.E.T show The Center. However she left the show before her contract expired because she was offered a role “opposite” Mia Thompson in the 2004 romantic comedyFirst Daughter.                   On April 26, 2005, Amerie released her second album entitled Touch. It debuted #5 on the billboard charts and #3 on the top R&B/Hip Hop charts. The album received two Grammy Award nominations in 2006. The first single from the album 1 thing was her biggest hit in her career. The single went straight to #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop singles charts. And it also helps the album sell over 600,000 copies and be certified Gold by the R.I.A.Amerie is now working on her new album None Of The Above with producers such as Bryan Michael Cox, Rich Harrison, DJ Premiere and others in New York City. The album is due to be released in Fall 2006 with an unconfirmed date. Some tracks have already been leaked onto Internet music file sharing sites like Lim-Wire and Bear-Share. Among them are Some Like It andTake Control. Amerie expects this soon-to-be-released album to be the one that will ultimately crown her as the real princess of Rhythm and Blues, and she also expects to go platinum with it this fall.