Born on March 14, 1994, Justin Bieber started singing since he was 12 and finished the second place when participating in a local singing competition. "The other people in the competition had been taking singing lessons and had vocal coaches. I wasn't taking it too seriously at the time, I would just sing around the house," he recalled.
In an effort to share his victory to family and friends who missed his performances at the competition, he and his mother opened a YouTube account and posted his video performances on the file-sharing website. "I put my singing videos from the competition on YouTube so that my friends and family could watch them," he stated. "But it turned out that other people liked them and they started subscribing to them. That's how my manager found me. He saw me on YouTube and contacted my family and now I'm signed!"
His manager Scooter Braun flew Justin from his hometown Ontario, Canada to Atlanta, Georgia for a meeting with Usher. "I sang for him and his people and he really wanted to sign me then and there but I still had a meeting with Justin Timberlake who also wanted to sign me. It turned out Usher's deal was way better. He had L.A. Reid backing him up and Scooter had a lot of really good connections in Atlanta," he traced back his memory.
In October of 2008, Justin was officially signed to Island Records and began working on his debut album "My World". Powerhouse producers like Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream lent their helping hands on the effort. He also got Usher as his collaborator on one of the songs.
"My World" was released across United States on November 17. The album was preceded with four hit singles "One Time", "One Less Lonely Girl", "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", all of which cracked Top 15 of Canadian Singles chart and reached Top 40 of Billboard Hot 100. This achievement made him the only artist in Billboard history who has four singles from a debut album charting in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 before the album's release. In October of 2008, Justin was officially signed to Island Records and began working on his debut album "My World". Powerhouse producers like Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream lent their helping hands on the effort. He also got Usher as his collaborator on one of the songs.
Justin toured with Taylor Swift as her supporting act on two of her U.K. stops for "Fearless" tour. He also embarked on five headlining concerts in Canada. Moreover, he appeared in several hit U.S. TV shows, naming some were "Good Morning America", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
DeGeneres "The George Lopez Tonight Show" and "Chelsea Lately Show".
