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Amerie Mi Marie Rogers Nicholson (born January 12, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress 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".
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.
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."
Amerie's debut album, All I Have (produced and co-written in its entirety by Rich Harrison), was released in 2002 to generally positive reviews. It peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling 89,000 copies in its first week of release; the album has since been certified gold by the RIAA and had sold 657,000 copies by 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan. To promote the album, Amerie went on tour with Usher and Nas—on the former's Evolution 8701 Tour—and with rapper Nelly. The second and final single from All I Have was "Talkin' to Me", a top-20 entry on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, although it peaked outside the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2003, Amerie won the Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist and was also nominated for Best R&B/Soul Album ( All I Have) and Best R&B Soul Single – Female ("Why Don't We Fall in Love"). She received a BET Award nomination for Best Female R&B Artist and an Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist. Amerie lent her vocals to the LL Cool J song "Paradise", which reached number 14 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and became the singer's second top-40 Hot 100 entry. She was featured on DJ Kayslay's "Too Much for Me", on his 2003 album The Streetsweeper Vol. 1, which peaked at number 53 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Amerie appeared on Bow Wow's third album, Unleashed, singing the hook on the song "To My Mama". She was also featured on the Rodney Jerkins-produced track "When I Think of You" from the soundtrack to the Jessica Alba dance film Honey.
In 2005, Amerie released the album's lead single, "1 Thing". The dance-pop song, which sampled The Meters's 1970s funk recording "Oh, Calcutta!", became Amerie's biggest hit to date. In the United States, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs", Billboard Magazine; retrieved August 29, 2008. The RIAA certified the single gold. The song was a top-five hit in the UK, where it became one of the year's best-selling singles, and attained top-ten and top-twenty positions across Continental Europe.
Touch was released in 2005 and peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 124,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, having sold 406,000 copies in the United States as of 2009. The album's title track, "Touch", was released as the second single and peaked at number 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the United States, although it was a top-20 entry in the UK. A third single, "Talkin' About", was released in America only; an official music video was planned but eventually scrapped. Later in 2005, Amerie was featured alongside Fat Joe on "I Don't Care", the lead single from Ricky Martin's album Life. The single entered the top 20 in several European countries and Australia.
The success of "1 Thing" and Touch led to two Grammy Award nominations for Amerie in 2006: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (for "1 Thing"), and Best Contemporary R&B Album (for Touch). "1 Thing" earned nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards—for Best Female Video and Best Choreography—and Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards— for Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo; R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year; Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video; and Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut. At the 2005 VIBE Awards, Amerie won Club Banger of the Year for her hit. "1 Thing" was adapted into a variety of by rappers such as Eve, Fabolous, and Jay-Z. In 2009, "1 Thing" was sixth on The Roots list of Top 10 Hip-Hop/R&B Songs of the 2000s.
Because I Love It's first single, "Take Control", (co-produced by Mike Caren and co-written by Cee-Lo Green), became a top-10 hit in the UK in 2007. Because I Love It was released in 2007 in Europe, Asia, and Australasia and reached the top 20 in the UK, where the album's second single, "Gotta Work", peaked at number 21. The album has been certified silver by the BPI. During 2007, the impending U.S. release of Because I Love It made Blender magazine's list of "25 Reasons to Love '07". The official release date was delayed several times and the singles "Take Control" and "Gotta Work" were given little promotion (with the former peaking at number 66 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart). Amerie spoke of her difficulties with Columbia Records in a late 2007 interview, stating that the label was not promoting Because I Love It adequately.
Amerie described her fourth album, In Love & War, as "a fusion of hip-hop, soul, and rock" with elements of music of the 1970s, and "a direct extension of my first album All". The album's lead single, "Why R U", reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the U.S. "Heard 'Em All", which featured rapper Lil Wayne, peaked at number 81 on the same chart; it did, however, enter the top 10 on the pop charts. With little radio support—the third single, "Pretty Brown" (featuring Trey Songz), was released only two weeks before the album—and hindered by distribution problems, In Love & War peaked at number 46 on the Billboard'' 200 and at number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
In 2010, Amerie announced that she had changed the spelling of her stage name to Ameriie, explaining: "I operate on vibes and intuition, and I believe everything is energy; the vibration of the double I is right for me. Slightly different spelling, completely same pronunciation!" Later that year, she premiered a new song titled "Outside Your Body".
In 2012, Amerie announced a forthcoming "mini-LP" titled The Prelude. In 2013, she stated that she had been working on a new project, Because I Love It Vol. II, a follow-up to her 2007 album. She said this album, BILI, stemmed from songs that did not fit sonically or thematically onto Cymatika—"songs that are heavy in percussion, but have a very aggressive, soulful element to them. They don't exist in any one time, or sound of the moment". BILI and Cymatika were both slated for release in 2015. A single, "What I Want" (which samples "Apache" by Incredible Bongo Band), was released from BILI in 2014. Later in 2014, she premiered the track "Mustang" and announced a UK tour for 2015. In 2015, Amerie collaborated with producer Rich Harrison on a new single, "Out Loud".
In 2016, Amerie appeared on the radio show The Breakfast Club, 105.1 and announced an EP titled Drive, a second untitled EP due later in the year, and that she was still at work on her album Cymatika (which was to be part of a trilogy). Drive was initially released on the streaming service SoundCloud. In 2017, Amerie released the single "REDRUM", which was set to be featured on an upcoming album titled MA3.
In 2018, Amerie simultaneously released two albums, 4AM Mulholland and After 4AM; this was her first full-length album since 2009 and her second independent release (following Drive). In 2019, she performed alongside Nelly and Craig David at R'n'B Vine Days, a one-day music festival in Australia.
In August 2022, it was announced that Amerie's children's picture book, You Will Do Great Things, was due to be published by Macmillan in March 2023.
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!".
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".
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.
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.
In 2017, Amerie published an anthology book via Bloomsbury Publishing titled Because You Love to Hate Me and a sci-fi trilogy novel series.
In 2019, Amerie started her own Book Club, "Amerie's Book Club" 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.
| +Film and television roles !Year !Title !Role !Notes | |||
| 2003 | The Center | Herself / Hostess | |
| 2004 | First Daughter | Mia Thompson |
| 2003 | NAACP Image Awards | Herself | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist | |
| BET Awards | Best Female R&B Artist | |||
| Billboard Music Awards | Best New R&B/Hip Hop Artist | |||
| Best Female R&B Hip Hop Artist | ||||
| Soul Train Music Awards | Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist | |||
| All I Have | Best R&B/Soul Album – Female | |||
| "Why Don't We Fall in Love" | Best R&B Soul Single – Female | |||
| 2004 | Black Reel Awards | "Paradise" (LL Cool J feat. Amerie) | Black Reel Award for Best Original or Adapted Song | |
| 2005 | MTV Video Music Awards | "1 Thing" | Best Female Video | |
| Best Choreography | ||||
| Billboard Music Awards | Top Soundtrack Single | |||
| Teen Choice Awards | Herself | Choice Female Breakout Artist | ||
| "1 Thing" | Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Track | |||
| BET Awards | Video of the Year | |||
| Herself | Best Female R&B Artist | |||
| Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards | Aretha Franklin Award for Entertainer of the Year | |||
| Music Television Awards | Best New Act | |||
| MOBO Awards | " 1 Thing" | Best Single | ||
| Vibe Awards | Club Banger of the Year | |||
| 2006 | Grammy Awards | Touch | Best Contemporary R&B Album | |
| "1 Thing" | Best R&B Female Vocal Performance | |||
| People's Choice Awards | Favorite Song From a Movie | |||
| MTV Video Music Awards Japan | Best Video from a Film | |||
| 2007 | MOBO Awards | "Take Control" | Best Song | |
| Virgin Media Music Awards | Herself | Most Fanciable Female | ||
| 2009 | Rober Awards Music Poll | Best R&B/Soul |
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