Usher has parted ways with his manager Benny Medina of Handprint Entertainment and has rehired his mother, Jonnetta Patton of J-Pat Management. Zomba Label Group released a statement saying that Usher:
“has dissolved his management arrangement with Benny Medina and has re-engaged Jonnetta Patton as his manager.”
He ended his relationship with his mother’s management company in May 2007 when he hired Medina, who also manages Mariah Carey. Medina helped launch Usher’s latest album “Here I Stand.” The album has sold 948,000 copies in the U.S. making it the No. 8 best-selling album of 2008 so far.
Usher sat down for an interview with Jive Magazine for their July issue. He talked about dissolving his working relationship with his mother who used to be his manager:
“I love my mother — she’s the only one I have,” he said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I decided to not fire, not get rid of, but to give [my mother] the ultimate compliment — to retire her to be a full-time grandmother. My mother and I decided to change her situation, together. There was a conversation. I didn’t write her a letter or pink-slip her.”
He also talked about the difficult time he went through with his mom regarding his relationship with Tameka leading up to their off then on again wedding:
“I hurt more than anything over these last two years when I felt my mother didn’t really embrace my situation,” he told Vibe. “That really hurt me.”
“My mother is an aggressive person,” he said. “She makes hard decisions, and she caused me to make a hard decision as well.”
“Am I so much of a bad guy because I decided to get married? Am I so much of a bad guy [because once I got in the situation], I decided to stand for something, build a foundation, and think about my future?” he asked. “As a man, you would respect me for not turning my back on it. … It can never be bad to have a foundation as a man — a black man — in a time when women are dying for men. Women have started to become lovers of each other as a result of not having enough men. Are you not studying the stories? Wake up! Black love is a good thing.”
He also said he appreciates his wife and the values she brings to his life. “[Tameka] will tell me. If something doesn’t look right or she feels like it could look better, she’ll say something.
“The swagger I possess now definitely comes from my wife,” he said. “And my son completes me. He changes my perspective on what life is, and what matters.”
Usher also talked about married life in “Best Thing,” a song he duoed with Jay-Z also a newlywed on his new album, Here I Stand, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart earlier this month.
“It was announced today that the wedding ceremony for Usher Raymond IV and Tameka Foster was canceled. No additional information will be given regarding the circumstances of the cancellation, but we hope the privacy of this matter will be respected.”
I guess after all the bad publicity surrounding his soon to be wife, things got a bit heated and the wedding was canceled! I wonder if it will be back on later this month or if it is a permanent thing.