Atlanta’s own Usher Raymond and friends touched on about a dozen songs in a show produced by Atlanta talent Sunday night during his Super Bowl halftime performance.
One person who was listening closer than others was Usher’s vocal coach, Mama Jan Smith.
Jan Smith is in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, a multi-platinum certified local coach who has trained some of the most distinctive voices in the music world like Rob Thomas Matchbox Twenty, Shania Twain, Justin Bieber, Jill Scott, India Arie, Nicki Minaj and of course Atlanta’s own Usher to name a few.
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“You know, Usher was already signed to a deal with the LaFace Records. And so I knew that I was already dealing with one of those, you know, young, young artists that had that potential,” Smith told Channel 2′s Karyn Greer . “When you hear him sing, though, even back then you really knew that there was something special that God gave that kid.”
Mama Jan as Usher started calling her, started working with the global icon when he was only 18, right after his voice started changing and was in jeopardy of losing his contract with Atlanta-based LaFace Records.