b. Amerie Marie Rogers, 12 January 1980, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. Some influential music critics heralded this urban R&B singer as the new Mary J. Blige when she broke into the US pop charts in 2002. Amerie was raised in a military family, moving around the world as a youngster before finally settling in Washington, DC. She studied English and Fine Arts at Georgetown University, all the while continuing to perform at local talent contests in an effort to break into the music business. She teamed up with producer/songwriter Rich Harrison, whose previous credits included working with Mary J. Blige. Their demo material was of sufficient quality to earn Amerie a recording contract with Columbia Records. Work on her debut album was interspersed with session collaborations with labelmate Nas. Her lead off single, "Why Don't We Fall In Love", became a massive radio hit in spring 2002. The attendant All I Have debuted in the US Top 10 in August.
After over two years away from the charts, in which time she contributed a cover version of Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" to the Maid In Manhattan soundtrack, the singer returned at the start of 2005 with an excellent new single, "1 Thing", co-written with Harrison. Her second album, Touch, reached the US Top 5 in April. For her third album, Amerie parted company with Harrison for the first time, working with producer/writers including Bryan Michael Cox, Quran Goodman, DJ Premier and Cee-Lo. The album was released in the UK in May 2007, three months before the rest of the world.
DISCOGRAPHY: All I Have (Rise/Columbia 2002)***, Touch (Columbia 2005)****, Because I Love It (Columbia 2007)***.
FILMOGRAPHY: First Daughter (2004).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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