Usher (album)

Usher is the debut studio album by American singer Usher, released on August 30, 1994, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. As executive producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs mostly handled production work on the album, as additional production was provided by Chucky Thompson, DeVante Swing and Al B. Sure!, among others. Despite underperforming on the charts, debuting at number 167 on the US Billboard 200, the album reached number 4 on the US Heatseekers Albums Chart. The songs "Can U Get wit It", "Think of You" and "The Many Ways" were released as singles to support the album.

Usher
Studio album by Usher
Released	August 30, 1994
Recorded	1993–1994
Genre	R&B[1]
Length	63:13
Label	LaFace Arista
Producer	Puff Daddy (also exec.) L.A. Reid (exec.) Al B. Sure! Chucky Thompson DeVante Swing Edward "DJ Eddie F" Ferrell Kiyamma Griffin Dave Hall Isaiah Lee Brian Alexander Morgan Darryl Pearson Alexander Richbourg
Usher chronology
Usher (1994) My Way (1997)
Singles from Usher
"Can U Get wit It" Released: July 1, 1994 "Think of You" Released: November 10, 1994 "The Many Ways" Released: January 26, 1995

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	C−[1]

Billy Johnson Jr. of Yahoo! Music called the debut album "an enjoyable ride."^[3] Anderson Jones of Entertainment Weekly in a negative review of the album called the songs "sophomoric" and "remarkably dull."^[1]

Commercial performance

Usher debuted at number 167 on the US Billboard 200 chart.^[4] The album has sold over 500,000 copies in the United States to date.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"I'll Make It Right"	Faith Evans Darren Benbow Kiyamma Griffin Isaiah Lee Laquentis Saxon	Alexander Richbourg	Richbourg Sean "Puffy" Combs	4:50
2.	"Interlude 1"	Usher Raymond Evans	Chucky Thompson	Thompson	0:40
3.	"Can U Get wit It"	DeVante Swing	Swing	Swing/Timbaland	4:56
4.	"Think of You"	Evans Donell Jones Raymond	Thompson	Thompson Combs	3:48
5.	"Crazy"	Brian Alexander Morgan	Morgan	Morgan Herb Middleton Combs[A]	5:14
6.	"Slow Love"	Al B. Sure! Isaiah Lee	Sure Lee	Sure Thompson Combs[A] Lee[A] Griffin[A]	4:57
7.	"The Many Ways"	Sure Dave Hall	Hall	Hall Sure[A]	5:43
8.	"I'll Show You Love"	Charles Bobbit James Brown Evans Joe Howell Richbourg Mark South Fred Wesley	Richbourg	Richbourg Combs	4:43
9.	"Interlude 2 (Can't Stop)"	Evans Raymond	Thompson	Thompson Combs	2:42
10.	"Love Was Here"	Sure Griffin	Sure Griffin	Sure Griffin	5:37
11.	"Whispers"	Darryl Pearson Swing	Pearson Swing	Pearson Swing	5:15
12.	"You Took My Heart"	Ward Corbett Edward "Eddie F" Ferrell Jones Raymond Kenneth "Kenny Love" Tonge	Ferrell	Eddie F	5:10
13.	"Smile Again"	Evans Dave Hollister Middleton	Herb Middleton	Middleton Combs	4:38
14.	"Final Goodbye"	Gordon Chambers Ward Corbett Hall	Hall	Hall	5:00

Notes

• ^{^[A]} denotes co-producer

Sample credits

• "I'll Make It Right" contains a sample from "Top Billin'" (1987) by Audio Two.
• "Slow Love" contains a sample from "The Show" (1985) by Doug E. Fresh.
• "I'll Show You Love" contains a sample from "Blind Man Can See It" (1973) by James Brown.
• "Final Goodbye" contains a sample from "Nobody Beats the Biz" (1988) by Biz Markie.

Personnel

Assistant engineering – Daniel Beroff Drums – Alexander Richbourg Engineering – Al B. Sure!, Charles "Prince Charles" Alexander, Bob Brockman, Larry Funk, Gerhard Joost, Tony Maserati, Brian Alexander Morgan, Nasheim Myrick, Rob Paustian Executive production – Sean "Puffy" Combs, L.A. Reid Guitar – Darryl Pearson Keyboards – Herb Middleton Mixing – Charles "Prince Charles" Alexander, Bob Brockman, Sean "Puffy" Combs, David Dachinger, DeVante Swing, Rob Paustian, John Shrive

Multi-instruments – DeVante Swing, Brian Alexander Morgan, Tim Mosley, Darryl Pearson Photography – Michael Benabib Production – Al B. Sure!, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Ward Corbett, DeVante Swing, Edward "Eddie F" Ferrell, Kiyamma Griffin, Dave Hall, Isaiah Lee, Brian Alexander Morgan, Darryl Pearson, Alexander Richbourg Songwriting – Ward Corbett Vocals – Usher Background vocals – Darren Benbow, Mary Brown, Faith Evans, Dave Hollister, Crystal Johnson, Darryl Pearson, Laquentis Saxon, Usher, Levar "Lil' Tone" Wilson

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1994) Peak position US Billboard 200[5] 167 US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[6] 4 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[7] 25

Year-end charts Chart (1995) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[8] 89