1994–2007: Childhood and youth
Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in
London, Ontario,
and was raised in
Stratford, Ontario. Bieber's mother, Patricia Lynn "Pattie" Mallette, was 18 years old when she became pregnant with her son. Mallette, who worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raised Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father, Jeremy Jack Bieber, who married another woman and had two children.
Bieber's paternal great-grandfather was a
German immigrant to Canada.
His mother's ancestry is
French Canadian.
During his childhood, Bieber was interested in hockey, soccer, and chess; he often kept his musical aspirations to himself.
As he grew up, Bieber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.
In early 2007, when he was twelve, Bieber sang
Ne-Yo's "
So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew.
Chris Hicks, Bieber's A&R at Island/Def Jam, explained the young artist's huge online following to
HitQuarters by saying:
"He was doing something different. He was an attractive white kid singing very soulful R&B hits. That set him apart immediately from anyone in his range because no one was covering or singing these kind of records. But equally important was that you believed in these songs - it was real. And you wanted to hear more."
2008–10: Discovery, My Worlds and subsequent releases
While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette. Mallette was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label! ... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?" However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13, to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher. Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was also reportedly in the running to sign Bieber, but lost the bidding war to Usher. Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact Antonio L.A. Reid of Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive Vice-President of Def Jam where he would be able manage Bieber's career at the label. At that point, Bieber and his mother moved to Atlanta temporarily, also the home of Usher and Braun, to record and get counseling from Braun. Braun became Bieber's manager.
Bieber's first single, "
One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album.The song reached number 12 on the
Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009,
[10] and later peaked at number 17 on the
Billboard Hot 100. During fall 2009 it had success in international markets.The song was certified Platinum in Canada and the US and Gold in Australia and New Zealand.
Bieber's first release, an
extended play entitled
My World, was released on November 17, 2009. The album's second single, "
One Less Lonely Girl", and two promo singles, "
Love Me", and "
Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the
iTunes store and charted within the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100.
"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top fifteen in Canada and the US, being certified Gold in the latter.
My World was eventually certified Platinum in the US and Double Platinum in both Canada and the UK.
To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as
mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program
The Dome,
YTV's
The Next Star,
The Today Show,
The Wendy Williams Show,
Lopez Tonight,
The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
It's On with Alexa Chung,
Good Morning America,
Chelsea Lately, and
BET's
106 & Park with
Rihanna. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of
True Jackson, VP in late 2009.
Bieber performed
Stevie Wonder's "
Someday at Christmas" for U.S. President
Barack Obama and first lady
Michelle Obama at the
White House for
Christmas in Washington, which was broadcast on December 20, 2009, on U.S. television broadcaster
TNT.
Bieber was also one of the performers at
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2009.
Bieber was a presenter at the
52nd Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of
We Are The World for its 25th anniversary to benefit
Haiti after the
earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by
Lionel Richie in the original version.
On March 12, 2010, a version of
K'naan's "
Wavin' Flag" recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as
Young Artists for Haiti was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.
"
Baby", the
lead single from his debut album,
My World 2.0, which features
Ludacris, was released in January 2010 and became his biggest hit thus far, charting at number five in the U.S. and reaching the top ten in seven other countries. Two promo singles "
Never Let You Go", and "
U Smile" were top thirty hits on the U.S. Hot 100, and top twenty hits in Canada.
According to review aggregator
Metacritic, the album has received "generally favorable reviews".
It debuted at number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since
Stevie Wonder in 1963.
My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the
Canadian Albums Chart,
Irish Albums Chart, and
Australian Albums Chart, and the
New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top ten of fifteen other countries.
To promote the album, Bieber appeared on several live programs including
The View, the 2010
Kids Choice Awards,
Nightline,
The Late Show with David Letterman,
The Dome and
106 and Park.
Bieber collaborated with
Sean Kingston on his single "
Eenie Meenie" which also appeared on Bieber's debut album. The song reached the top ten in the United Kingdom and Australia, and the top-twenty of most other markets.
On April 10, 2010, Bieber was the musical guest on
Saturday Night Live.
On July 4, 2010, Bieber performed at the
Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular in New York City.
The second single from
My World 2.0, "
Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor
Usher. The single reached number ten in Canada, number fifteen in the United States, and the top twenty in multiple international countries.
On June 23, 2010, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, the
My World Tour, starting in
Hartford, Connecticut, to promote
My World and
My World 2.0.
In July 2010, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched for celebrity on the Internet.
That same month his music video, "
Baby", surpassed
Lady Gaga's "
Bad Romance" to become the most viewed, and most disliked YouTube video ever.
In September 2010, it was reported that Bieber accounted for three percent of all traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.
Bieber began recording his second album in July 2010 in New York City.
At this point, because of
puberty, his voice was deeper than it was when he recorded his first album. In April 2010, the singer discussing his vocals remarked, "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world. Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit anymore. We have to lower the key when I sing live."
British singer/songwriter
Taio Cruz confirmed in July 2010 that he is writing songs for Bieber's next album.
Hip hop producer Dr. Dre produced two songs with Bieber in July 2010
but it is unknown if they were made for the album, which is currently due for a 2011 release.
Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS crime drama
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother". Bieber was also in a subsequent episode which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed.
Bieber performed a medley of "
U Smile", "
Baby", and "
Somebody to Love" and briefly played the drums at the
2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.
Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would release an acoustic album, called
My Worlds Acoustic.
It was released on
Black Friday in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a completely new song titled "
Pray".
2011–present: Never Say Never and Under the Mistletoe
A 3-D part-biopic, part-concert film starring Bieber entitled
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, was released February 11, 2011, directed by
Step Up 3D director
Jon Chu. It topped the box office with an estimated grossing of $12.4 million on its opening day from 3,105 theaters.
It grossed $30.3 million for the weekend and was narrowly beaten by the romantic comedy
Just Go With It, which grossed $31 million.
Never Say Never is said to have exceeded industry expectations, nearly matching the $31.1 million grossed by
Miley Cyrus's 2008 3-D concert film,
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which holds the record for the top debut for a music-documentary.
The film is accompanied by his second remix album,
Never Say Never – The Remixes, released February 14, 2011, and features remixes of songs from his debut album, with guest appearances from
Miley Cyrus,
Chris Brown, and
Kanye West, among others.
In March 2011, Bieber confirmed that he is dating singer and actress
Selena Gomez.
In June 2011, Bieber was ranked number 2 on the
Forbes list of Best-Paid Celebrities under 30. He is the youngest star and 1 of 7 musicians on the list raking in with $53 million earned in a 12 month period.
It was confirmed that Bieber will release his second studio album
Under the Mistletoe, on November 1, 2011.
New Album
