Usher Mens Cologne
With singer Usher Raymond IV’s release of his fifth fragrance VIP, he proves his venture into creation of personal scents to be as viable and enduring as his music career. Released in September 2009, VIP is the third of Usher’s colognes for men. It is one which he believes to be empowering for the wearer and romantically intriguing for women.
The success of men’s cologne is heavily reliant upon the appeal of the scent designer or namesake. Where Usher is concerned, wide appeal is not an issue. He has long been considered by both men and women as an icon of sex appeal, confidence, and refined masculinity. Usher’s belief is that VIP also exudes these facets of his personality, thus making the man who wears his scent feel as important as Usher’s own success has made him feel.
In a bottle inspired by the bottles of quality cognac, VIP offers notes of tangerine, bergamot, kumquat, nutmeg, violet leaf, lotus flower, saffron, vetiver, oak moss and suede. The bottle also features Usher’s own highly personal symbol of quality, a replication of his trademark spinning diamond ring around the cap. Each of Usher’s past colognes for men have featured the libation-themed bottle shape and spinning ring, making his line of fragrances a cohesive collection for supplementation of the wearer’s personal style.
VIP follows on the heels of Usher’s other successful male fragrances, Usher for Men and Usher UR. Usher for Men was also called “He” when it debuted in the fall of 2007. Featuring notes of verbena, pineapple, melon, lavender, pepper, violet, vetiver, amber, suede, sandalwood, musk, and guaiac wood, Usher for Men is an all-occasion, woody scent that established the fragrance personality of the singer through its balanced appeal. Usher has since proven his affinity for the notes of suede, pepper, vetiver, violet, and citrus, as well as the flask-shaped bottle and spinning ring, having used those in his other colognes for men.
Usher UR launched in the fall of 2008. The bottle was the same as Usher for Men, yet updated to a platinum look in keeping with the lucrative appeal of platinum as both a jewelry base and pinnacle of success in the music industry. For his second cologne, Usher remained true to a seductive, woody aroma with notes of nutmeg, basil, bay oil, artemisia, guaiac wood, cashmere wood and sandalwood but added fresher wearability of enhanced citrus and Sea Breeze accord. UR is a cologne designed for evening wear and sensual nights.
As his fragrances succeed in evoking sensuality and masculinity and continue to sell well on a market deluged by both designer and celebrity brands for men, it is apparent that Usher’s staying power is not just within the music industry, but also as an icon of stylish sex appeal. This appeal has provided Usher with endless opportunities for exploration of his talents, from the microphone to the silver screen. In the past decade, everything Usher has attempted has seemed to bring increasing success and fame as attributed to his hard-working professionalism, rich talent for performing, and inherently sexy demeanor.
Usher Mens Cologne
Raymond Usher IV was born in Dallas, Texas in 1978 to Jonetta Patton and Raymond Usher III. Jonetta relocated with her young son to Chattanooga, Tennessee when Usher was only about a year old, following his father’s departure from the young family. Jonetta soon wed Usher’s stepfather and when at age six years old Usher was joined by a baby brother, James.
Usher was first recognized as having vocal talent when his grandmother heard him singing in the church youth choir directed by his mother. Usher was then nine years old. His grandmother did not consider that Usher might have marketable professional singing ability until she heard his work with a small singing group. Upon realizing that he could have a future in music, the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia to explore this potential.
When he was 11 years old, Usher joined a quintet called NuBeginnings. The group recorded ten songs for release in 1991 as part of an album on which Usher was listed as the featured performer. He was already a clear stand-out amongst his peers.
A performance on talent competition television show Star Search in 1992 led to Usher’s discovery by LaFace Records. After an audition with the iconic founder L.A. Reid of LaFace, Usher was signed to a recording contract and his professional career officially began. That was a big step for any 13 year-old, but Usher’s abilities and polish led him forward to release of “Call Me a Mack,” his first movie soundtrack contribution that same year, for the film Poetic Justice.
Usher’s freshman album was released in 1994 with several songs produced by Sean P. Diddy Combs. It was a solid effort which achieved decent success through 500,000 copies being sold to date and with three singles leading the album to the R&B chart’s Top 25.
Continued mentoring from leaders in the music industry contributed to Usher’s growth and development within his craft through his first Grammy Award nomination in 1997, after release of his second album. As his acclaim grew both in the United States and England, Usher’s access to working alongside top recording artists heightened his industry training and visibility to the masses. It also opened doors for him within the field of acting.
Usher’s intriguing good looks and professional polish provided opportunities such as a television role on sitcom series Moesha and in the 1998 feature film The Faculty. He then progressed to a soap opera role, two additional feature films and a Disney television movie in quick succession.
At age 26 in 2004, Usher had released four albums and developed into a multi-platinum selling superstar. His work was breaking sales records and achieving Diamond certification through the Recording Industry of America. He was becoming a superstar not unlike those who had mentored him through the early 1990’s, as proven through multiple American Music Awards, MTV Music and Video Music Awards, other accolades and even a Broadway musical role in Chicago in 2006.
Although Usher saw major achievement through awards and record breaking sales with his 2004 to 2006 period of professional growth, he did not rest on those accomplishments. He continued to work in the studio and released an even more successful album in 2008, Here I Stand. Ever appealing to female fans, Usher embarked upon a unique 15-date tour following that release, one developed for female-only live audiences, perhaps solidifying his masculine sex appeal and status as an icon for men worldwide.
Release of 2009’s men’s cologne VIP will surely not be Usher’s last venture into the worlds of personal style and fragrance, just as his singing and acting will continue to grace the world of entertainment. He has proven himself to have a level of talent to be admired for the long-term and both the looks and sensuality to inspire the emulation of other men who would love to walk a night in his shoes. Through that engaging appeal and seductivity of the woody, masculine and citrus-laced freshness of VIP and its predecessors Usher for Men and UR, Usher has captured the essence of being a true VIP. Men worldwide can benefit through wear of the fragrance and women can enjoy the scent through attraction to all that is Usher.
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