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Amerie Mi Marie Rogers born January 12, 1980, known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well received in the urban market. In 2005, Ameriie released her biggest hit to date, "1 Thing", the lead single from her second album, Touch, which garnered her crossover recognition and earned two Grammy Award nominations. Her third album, Because I Love It, achieved moderate international success in 2007, although it was not released in North America, and she subsequently left her label Columbia Records. Amerie released her fourth studio album, In Love & War, in 2009, her first album under Island Def Jam.
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Early life and career beginnings
Ameriie was born to Korean mother, artist Mi Suk, and African American father, Charles. A few months after she was born, the Rogers family moved to her mother's native Korea, where Ameriie lived for three years. Her father, Charles, was a chief warrant officer, so Ameriie traveled to and lived in many different places, including South Korea, Alaska, Texas, Virginia, and Germany. He now works for the U.S. Intelligence Division United States military. She has a younger sister, Angela, who is now her lawyer. Amerie describes her parents as conservative, protective, traditional Christians. Growing up, she and her sister were forbidden to leave the house or use the phone on school days. The singer enrolled at Georgetown University to study literature, and was in Navy ROTC: "I was in the Navy ROTC. My dad didn’t force me into it or anything. I joined so I could afford an education." She quit ROTC after her sophomore year, and graduated with a BA degree in English and Fine Arts minor in design. Amerie's first language is Korean.
While studying at Georgetown, Amerie befriended a Washington, D.C. club promoter who eventually put her in touch with producer Rich Harrison.[8] During an interview with Maxim, Amerie said she met up with Harrison at a McDonald's parking lot, and performed a song for him in her car. Rich Harrison--who had just worked on Mary J. Blige's albums Mary and No More Drama--began making/developing demos with Amerie. This led to Ameriie's first record deal with Harrison's Richcraft Entertainment, in collaboration with Columbia Records. According to Amerie, her and Harrison immediately hit it off. In a 2002 interview, she commented "For some reason we had a very special chemistry. When we would work together something great would happen." The two worked together to record Amerie's debut album, All I Have, and Harrison wrote all of the songs featured on the album.
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To help Amerie get a start in the music field, she recorded the chorus for the 2001 single "Rule", performed by Nas. The single peaked at number 67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in the United States. She also recorded a song with Detroit native rapper Royce da 5'9", titled "Life", the third and final single from his Rock City (Version 2.0) album; the single was a commercial failure.
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Music and voice
Rogers possesses a full lyric soprano, vocal range that spans three octaves. She's known for having an aggressive vocal delivery, incorporated with a soulful and emotive, distinct tone. Since the start of her career, Amerie has been heavily involved within the creative process of her music, receiving not only writing credits but producing credits as well, Amerie has also vocally produced, played instruments and arranged on her own music. In an interview "My-Play" she stated "“I’ve always loved creating music. When I was in high school, I used to record songs that I wrote by using two different tape recorders and two separate tapes. I would start by recording myself on the first tape, singing the song down from top to finish. Then, I would play it back, while singing the harmonies and recording them onto the second tape. I’d just keep repeating the process, going back and forth between tapes until I had a final version of the full song on one tape, with stacked harmonies, backgrounds and everything!” Critics often feel that Amerie is underrated in her own right, in an article from R&B/Hip Hop blog "Earstyle" wrote "Ameriie may be one of the most underrated chicks in the game. Not only does she writes her own songs, but she assists in the production, the creative process, and plays instruments on her own tracks. Talk about talented."" Roger's music is generally contemporary R&B, but she also incorporates pop, funk, hip hop, soul, go-go, rock and new wave into her albums. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Amerie has recorded a few English songs with some Korean artists such as 4minute and Se7en.
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Personal life
In 2004, Amerie began dating her manager, Lenny Nicholson. They continued their relationship while Amerie recorded her second album, Touch. On March 1, 2010, it was officially announced that Amerie and Nicholson were engaged. The couple married on June 25, 2011, in an oceanfront ceremony in Anguilla.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerie
