Saturday, September 06, 2008

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Amerie

Artist:Amerie
Song:1 Thing
Album:Touch




The other day I said that Emily King's biggest problem is being on the same record label as Alicia Keys. She may want to have a little chat with the beautiful and talented R & B singer Amerie Rogers. She had exactly the same problem at Columbia and has now moved to Island Def Jam. She was born Jan. 12, 1980 in Fitchburg, MA. Her father is black and worked for US military intelligence in Korea. Her mother is Korean and Amerie is fluent in Korean. The family moved to Washington, DC and Amerie graduated with a degree in English & Fine Arts from Georgetown University in 2000. Amerie's music is heavily influenced by what is known as the Go Go sound of Washington. She got her big break in 2001 on a song by rapper Nas and was signed to Columbia. She was already working on demos with producer Rich Harrison and he produced her 2002 debut All I Have featuring the hit Why Don't We Fall In Love. Harrison had previously worked with Mary J. Blige and went on to produce Beyonce's Crazy In Love. 1 Thing is from Amerie's 2005 follow up Touch. It's been her biggest hit to date and reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Amerie & Harrison wrote 1 Thing around a sample of the 1970 Meters song Oh Calcutta. There is also a version of the song featuring rapper Eve and it was featured in the Will Smith film Hitch. The album Touch reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 200. But then things went south with her 2007 CD Because I Love It. Amerie split with Harrison as Columbia wanted him to work with Beyonce. She worked with various producers and the album release was delayed from fall 2006 to May 2007. The album was released in England & Asia but was never released in the US. It got positive reviews but it appears that Amerie and her manager Len Nicholson didn't like Columbia's delaying the release. I guess they were busy with Beyonce. I dunno. Amerie is hot and she can sing. Isn't there room for the two of them on Columbia? Amerie left Columbia in April and has signed with Island Def Jam. She is currently working on her next album with LA Reid. I look forward to it. There's actually two versions of the video for 1 Thing. This one has scenes from Hitch. The other one features Eve. Either way, Amerie sure knows how to shake her thang.

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