Amerie
Amerie Mi Marie Nicholson (née Rogers; born January 12, 1980)[1] is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and writer. She has released four studio albums to date: All I Have (2002), Touch (2005), Because I Love It (2007), In Love & War (2009). She is best known for her 2005 single "1 Thing".
Early life[edit]
Rogers was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to a Korean mother named Mi Suk and an African American father, Charles Rogers. A few months after she was born, the Rogers family moved to South Korea, where Amerie lived for three years. Her father was a chief warrant officer in the U.S. military,[2] so the family lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Virginia and Germany. She has a younger sister, Angela Rogers,[3] who is now her lawyer.
Amerie has described 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: "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 B.A. in English and a Fine Arts minor in design.
While studying at Georgetown, Amerie befriended a Washington, D.C. club promoter who eventually put her in touch with producer Rich Harrison. During an interview with Maxim Magazine, Amerie said she agreed to meet up with Rich at a public location because she did not know Rich. The chosen location was a McDonald's parking lot, where Rich played his tracks and Amerie sang along. Instantly they knew it was something special.
Harrison, who had just worked on Mary J. Blige's albums Mary and No More Drama, began recording and developing demos with Amerie. This led to her first record deal with Columbia Records. According to Amerie, she and Harrison immediately hit it off. In a 2002 Interview with Hip Online, she said: "For some reason we had a very special chemistry. When we would work together something great would happen."[4]
Artistry[edit]
Since the start of her career, Amerie has been heavily involved within the creative process of her music, receiving not only writing credits but production and instrumentation credits as well.[56] Amerie is a soprano.[57][58][59]
In an interview with Myplay.com, she described her early process of recording music: "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 on 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!".[60]
Amerie listed diverse musical influences in a 2014 interview, including the musical Grease, Motown era soul music, late 1960s rock and roll, Heavy metal music, 1980s pop music and new wave music, music of Germany, Korean traditional music, R&B, and hip hop music. She cited film score as an inspiration, describing them as "that very surround-sound, immersive experience".[61]
While she almost exclusively releases English-language songs, Amerie has recorded with Korean artists such as 4minute on "Heard 'em All", a performance of which aired on KBS and Mnet.
Other projects[edit]
In 2003, Amerie was the presenter of the BET teen/youth lifestyle series The Center, which she also helped to develop. In 2004, Amerie earned her first acting role, portraying the role of Mia Thompson, a college student who rooms with the president's daughter, in the film First Daughter, alongside Katie Holmes.
In 2014, Amerie launched a YouTube video blog titled "Books Beauty Ameriie" and said that she was writing two novels, one young adult and one fantasy.[62]
In 2017, Amerie published an anthology book via Bloomsbury Publishing titled Because You Love to Hate Me and a sci-fi trilogy novel series.[63]
In 2019, Amerie started her own Book Club, "Amerie's Book Club"[64] where she highlights diverse and unique perspectives and voices.
In 2019, Amerie performed on tour with other artists such as Ashanti, Keri Hilson, and Monica for the Femme It Forward movement.[65]
Personal life[edit]
In 2007, Amerie began dating her manager, Sony Music executive Lenny Nicholson. It was officially announced that Amerie and Nicholson were engaged on February 27, 2010, and the couple married on June 25, 2011, in an oceanfront ceremony in Anguilla. She now goes by Amerie Nicholson or Amerie Rogers Nicholson.[66] On May 15, 2018, the couple welcomed their first child, a son.[67][68]
In 2024, Amerie became a Muslim by embracing Islam and celebrated Eid Al-Fitr 2024.[69]