Amerie


Birth name Amerie Mi Marie Rogers
Born January 12, 1980 (age 26)
Origin Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States
Genre(s) R&B
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active 2002–present
Label(s) Columbia Records
Sony Urban Music
Website Amerie.net

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers (born January 12, 1980), known professionally as Amerie, is a Grammy Award-nominated American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress.

Early life

Rogers was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to an African-American father and a South Korean mother. Her father was in the United States military, so Amerie traveled to and lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Germany, and South Korea. She has a younger sister, Angela Rogers, who is now her lawyer.

She graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a degree in English and Fine Arts.

Amerie's first language is Korean. However, after the family left Seoul, where they had lived for several years, Amerie's mother made a conscious effort to limit the use of Korean with her daughters out of fear that it would impede their development of English proficiency. In an interview with KoreAm Journal, Amerie stated that she is now only "conversational" in the Korean language and speaks it at home with her mother, Angela, and extended Korean family members. Amerie also bears a tattoo featuring her given name in Korean script on her lower back. Amerie is noted for signing her name in both English and Korean when giving autographs.

Music career

All I Have

All I Have (2002)

Amerie received her big break in 2001 when she was featured on a track from Nas' fifth studio album Stillmatic entitled "Rule". Throughout early 2002, Amerie's single, "Why Don't We Fall in Love", from her debut album All I Have, received much urban radio airplay. Producer Rich Harrison wrote and produced All I Have in its entirety, except for the track "Outro" which Amerie co-wrote. Amerie's album was released amid the success of her "Why Don't We Fall in Love" single, and the media immediately began to judge her successes against those of other recent female R&B artists such as Tweet and Ashanti.

The album's next single, "Talkin' to Me", did not hit nearly as big at urban radio, yet its video still enjoyed strong support from MTV2. VH1 Soul has been known to play both of Amerie's videos with regularity since their debuts, and MTV Jams still occasionally spins "Why Don't We Fall in Love". The album was a surprise success, going Gold with 623,000 units sold in America.

In fall of 2002, she once again continued solo and released a cover of the Diana Ross' 1980's classic "I'm Coming Out" as a single for the soundtrack to the 2002's film Maid in Manhattan. Afterwards, in 2003, Amerie returned to the music scene briefly as a featured vocalist, first on LL Cool J's "Paradise" (a top twenty entry in the UK and a top forty in the U.S.) and later on DJ Kayslay's "Too Much for Me" singing background. Although their videos received attention from digital music video channels, neither single went on to become a hit.

Around this time, Amerie also spent some time as the host of a brand new show on BET called The Center. However, she left the show before her contract was up because she had been offered a supporting role as Mia Thompson in the 2004's romantic comedy First Daughter alongside Michael Keaton, Katie Holmes, Lela Rochon, and Marc Blucas.

Touch

Touch (2005)

On April 26, 2005, Amerie released her sophomore album, Touch. Once again the album was primarily produced by mentor Rich Harrison, who contributed seven (new) tracks to the record; additional productions came from Lil Jon, Bryce Wilson, Red Spyda, and Dre & Vidal. Unlike her first album, Amerie co-wrote every track except "Come with Me", which Rich Harrison wrote. It debuted and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album was certifed Gold by the RIAA in August of that year. The album received two Grammy Award nominations in 2006.

Along with Touch, Amerie's biggest hit came with the first single "1 Thing". The track was also featured on the soundtrack to Hitch, a romantic comedy film starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. Producer Rich Harrison sampled the distinctive main drum-and-guitar loops of the song from a 1970s version of "Oh! Calcutta!" by funk group The Meters. The song was later certified Platinum (200,000+ downloads) and became her first top ten hit in the U.S., where it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. "1 Thing" also earned several awards and nominations: two nominations for 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 "Club Banger of the Year" for her hit. "1 Thing" also spawned into a variety of remixes by rappers such as Eve, Fabolous, and Jay-Z.

In fall of 2005, Amerie went on with a second single "Touch" and "I Don't Care", the lead single of Ricky Martin's album Life in collaboration with Fat Joe. While latter one was able to enter to the top twenty in several European countries and in Australia, the album's title track failed to reprise the success of "1 Thing". It didn't even enter the Billboard Hot 100, though peaking at number nineteen on the UK Singles Chart. "Talkin' About" was planned to be released as a third single but wasn't.

Because I Love It

Currently Amerie is completing her third album. In May 2006, Amerie gave a short interview with VIBE magazine. In it, she stated that her new album would be called None of the Above as she "feels like as people we never like to be in boxes and myself, I never like to feel like I'm categorized". It has now been stated that the album will now be called Because I Love It. The album will feature production from her long-time collaborator Rich Harrison, Bryan Michael Cox, DJ Premier, and others in New York City. The album will be released in spring of 2007. Tracks that have leaked onto the Internet are "Some Like It", "Take Control", and "That's What You Are". "Take Control", which was produced by Amerie herself and Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley, is the first single from her upcoming album. The video for "Take Control" was released online on December 4. The video of "Take Control" opens to "That's What U R", another new song from Amerie

Because I Love It Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Amerie has stated that she plans to release two mixtapes before the release of her official album in the spring of 2007. The first, Because I Love It Vol. 1, has been released and is available to listen to via her MySpace page. The second, Because I Love It Vol. 2, is set to be released at the beginning of 2007, followed by the release of the official Because I Love It. Amerie confirmed this information in the "Outro" of her first mixtape. Amerie is the first female artist to create a mixtape album of its kind (all-new material of full songs and devoid of features).

Discography

Albums

Information about release dates and certifications are regarding to the U.S. ones.

All I Have

July 30, 2002

#9 U.S., #2 U.S. R&B
Gold
Touch

April 26, 2005

#5 U.S., #3 U.S. R&B, #28 UK, #57 AUS
Gold
Because I Love It

Spring of 2007

TBR

Singles

Year Single Album Chart positions
U.S. U.S. R&B UK AUS
2002 "Why Don't We Fall in Love" All I Have 23 9 40 73
"Talkin' to Me" 51 18 — —
2003 "Paradise" (LL Cool J featuring Amerie) 10 36 14 18 28
"I'm Coming Out" Maid in Manhattan soundtrack — — — 66
2005 "1 Thing" Hitch soundtrack / Touch 8 1 4 13
"Touch" Touch — 95 19 33
"I Don't Care" (Ricky Martin featuring Fat Joe and Amerie) Life 65 — 11 25
2006 "Take Control" Because I Love It



Album appearances

Year Song Album
2001 "Rule" (Nas featuring Amerie) Stillmatic
2002 "Paradise" (LL Cool J featuring Amerie) 10
"Life" (Royce Da 5'9" featuring Amerie) Rock City (Version 2.0)
2003 "To My Mama" (Bow Wow featuring Amerie) Unleashed
2005 "I Don't Care" (Ricky Martin featuring Fat Joe and Amerie) Life
2006 "Dog Love" (DMX featuring Janyce and Amerie) Year of the Dog...Again
"Crunk Didi (Losin' U)" (Willy Denzey featuring Amerie) Raï'n'B Fever 2

Other collaborations

Year Song Artist(s) Album Collaboration
2003 "Too Much for Me" DJ Kayslay featuring Nas, Baby and Foxy Brown The Streetsweeper Vol. 1 Background vocals, songwriting
2004 "Rest of My Life" Nas Street's Disciple Background vocals

Soundtracks

Year Song Film
2002 "Rule" (Nas featuring Amerie) Like Mike
"I'm Coming Out" Maid in Manhattan
"Paradise" (LL Cool J featuring Amerie) Deliver Us from Eva
2003 "Think of You" Honey
2005 "1 Thing" Hitch

Awards and nominations

2002

Wins

  • Soul Train Music Awards: "Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist" ("Why Don't We Fall in Love")

Nominations

  • Soul Train Music Awards: "Best R&B/Soul Single, Female" ("Why Don't We Fall in Love") and "Best R&B/Soul Album, Female" (All I Have)
  • NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding New Artist"

2003

Nominations

  • BET Awards: "Best Female R&B Artist"
  • Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards: "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist - Female" and "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist - New"

2005

Wins

  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: "Entertainer of the Year"
  • VIBE Awards: "Club Banger of the Year" ("1 Thing")

Nominations

  • MTV Video Music Awards: "Best Female Video" and "Best Choreography" ("1 Thing")
  • BET Awards: "Best Female R&B Artist" and "Video of the Year" ("1 Thing")
  • Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: "Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo", "Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video", "Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut", and "R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year" ("1 Thing")
  • MOBO Awards: "Best Single" ("1 Thing")
  • Kiss Awards: "Best Newcomer"
  • Virgin.net Music Awards: "Best Single" ("1 Thing") and "Babe of the Year"
  • Billboard Music Awards: "Top Soundtrack Single of the Year" ("1 Thing")

2006

Wins

  • ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards: "Top Soundtrack Song of the Year" ("1 Thing")

Nominations

  • Groovevolt Music & Fashion Awards: "Best R&B Song Performance" ("1 Thing")
  • People's Choice Awards: "Best Song in a Movie" ("1 Thing")
  • Grammy Awards: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" ("1 Thing") and "Best Contemporary R&B Album" (Touch)

How to pick up a girl?

Sometimes picking up a girl may seem to be embarrassing, difficult and impossible especially if you are doing it for the first time. For most men it is not easy to approach a girl. So is it that hard to pick up a girl?











I think if you are confident, skillful, articulate, have sufficient courage, and are armed with the right techniques then it is not that difficult to approach or pick up a girl.











There are several things you need to take into consideration. Be positive:














Women do not like men who are pessimists and have a negative approach to life. Actually nobody like people like that. Hence, it is necessary to have a positive attitude and show it when it comes to picking up a girl.











Smile:




















"A smile increases your face value", and surprisingly it costs nothing. Therefore, especially while approaching any girl, smile constantly.











Utilize What You Have: Most men dwell on what they don't possess. They feel that they don't have the charm and seductive attraction some guys have. Sometimes they regret that they don't have a nice body.











But haven't you seen many men who are good looking but don't have any girl. Be confident and try to capitalize on the assets that you have! Make Her Laugh: Making your woman laugh will do the trick. Laughter attracts women easily and in less time. If you are successful in making her laugh a lot, you have already won the battle.











Don't Fear Rejection:



















Most men remain unsuccessful in the task of picking up a girl because they fear rejection. The fear of rejection is the main cause behind the failure. Take every rejection as the next step to success and learn from your mistakes.











Every time you get rejected, you are moving one level up, because once you become comfortable with girls saying no, your fear of rejection will be gone. So instead of getting hurt, be confident after every rejection. Remember, the guys who get rejected the most are the ones who leave with the most numbers!











Be A Good Listener: It always pays to be a good listener. Observe the things she is saying as well as your surroundings. Stop worrying about what to say next and focus your attention on listening.











During the conversation, always make a direct eye contact with her. Believe me she will give you leads about what she would like to talk about, in essence, telling you want to say next.











Increase A Women's Interest:


















If a woman is interested in carrying on a conversation with you or meeting with you, you have actually won half the battle.











You must concentrate on indulging in a conversation she would be interested in. Never fake it. Try to speak about a general topic, a situation or try to listen to her opinions on something really interesting.











Gain Respect: Remember that a woman would never like to sleep with a man she does not respect. It is necessary to gain respect by showing respect to a woman and making her realize that you genuinely like her company. Get Her Phone Number: Getting the phone number or contact details of a girl is important when it comes to picking her up. Now this is a difficult and time-consuming task. You must work hard in order to be successful in your goal.











Use Good Pick Up Lines:


















When picking up a girl, you can never go wrong with a great pick up line. The best way to start a conversation with a woman is to say "hi". This is the best opening line.











Now, once she responds, try to proceed further. For example, if you are at a music concert, a theater or a sports arena. You can continue the conversation by saying

































Now, if a woman is near you, you need to try out the famous 'goodbye introduction'. You can start with "Hi, I am just leaving. But before I do, I would like to introduce myself to the most wonderful woman around". And then see the result.











Perhaps it could become one of the best pick up lines. There are bright chances that she would show some interest (that otherwise was not possible) and you will get introduced to each other. Before leaving you can ask, "Nice talking to you. I'd like to talk to you again, is there a number I can reach you at?"











Believe me guys this always works and brings much better results. There is hardly any girl that would say "no", because you are giving her a chance and just asking her number to reach at. So use this technique to pick up any girl of your choice, and see the result.











Why? Because here her left-brain starts working and she would be under some hypnotic mode where she can't afford to say "no" because that will mean there is not a number that she can be reached at.











Moreover, it also makes you more original than every other idiot that asks for her number directly.












No doubt, the question how to pick up a girl seems to be difficult and it really is. However, you can simplify it by utilizing the powers you have, and following the tips and techniques mentioned above. All the best!

credited by Alexander Faust