american r b singer songwriter author and actress amory me marie rogers was born in fitchburg
massachusetts in 1980 to a korean mother and an african-american father she describes her parents
as conservative protective traditional christians it was always study study study we could only go
out at the weekends couldn't use the phone during the week i didn't mind i preferred to stay inside
anyway playing with my sister or talking to my parents or reading her father was a member of
the us military so the family moved around a lot alaska texas virginia and new york as well as
overseas to germany and south korea while in high school she began writing and recording at home
in her room after graduation she enrolled at georgetown university to study english literature
and fine arts while furthering her education amory continued to pursue her passion for music
which involved traveling back and forth to new york trying to secure a record deal she
even tried to go the girl group route but it was difficult to keep a steady lineup one night one
of the girls in the group put on a fashion show at a nightclub through her amerie met the manager of
the club and let him know that she sang a couple of years later she walked back into the same club
and the same manager just happened to be on the phone with music producer rich harrison like a
marie he was at the start of his career trying to make it the manager remembered emery telling
him that she could sing so he introduced them to one another and they set up a time to meet of all
places in a mcdonald's parking lot he played her some beats he had been working on and she sang him
some songs that she'd written by the end of the meeting they knew they had something special rich
began recording and developing demos with amaree and before long she would sign her first deal with
columbia records amory's first foray into the spotlight was as a featured artist on the 2001
single rule by rapper nas in july 2002 her debut single why don't we fall in love was released
it peaked at number 23 on the billboard hot 100 and became a top 10 hit on the r b hip hop songs
chart amory's debut album all i have dropped that same month the following year she would win a
soul train music award for best new artist also around this time amory began dating her manager
and music executive lenny nicholson they would marry in 2011. in january 2005 amory released
the song that would skyrocket her career one thing the first single off her follow-up album
which sampled the song o calcutta by 70s funk band the meters would also become her biggest hit today
it made it into the top 10 on the hot 100 captured the number one spot on the
r b hip-hop songs chart and was featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 romantic comedy film hitch
the song would also end up having a very interesting two-sided story attached to it
version number one was that the label wasn't feeling the track when it was presented to them
a marie apparently believing so strongly that she did have a hit on her hands
took it upon herself to shop the song around djs they played it and it blew up immediately later
it was said that megastar singer dancer actress jennifer lopez wanted the song
after hearing it and was willing to do whatever it took to get it for her next album the label
even preferred the idea of jlo singing the song over a marie so they gave it to her however amory
pulled a slick one and leaked it to radio before the boricua bombshell could get her version out
jennifer would have to settle for another song written and produced by rich called get right
featured on her 2005 album rebirth there was no denying that rich harrison had the touch
and together he and amarie cultivated her signature sound which was very much rooted in the
70s genre of gogo the ultra percussive mutation of funk and soul and not surprisingly other artists
started to pop up with tracks produced by him that had a very similar sound to amerie one artist in
particular that she was questioned about quite a bit in interviews was beyonce rich co-wrote the
song crazy in love off her 2003 dangerously in love album as well as several songs on her 2006
album b day some people believe that queen bee did outright copy amerie's style however amory
always maintained a very diplomatic opinion about it was it a point where you thought beyonce was
trying to imitate you no i wouldn't say that i mean a lot of a lot of people are gonna say
different things but it's like what i was saying like artists we're all in dialogue with each other
so no artist is an island you can't say oh i have no influences and sometimes people try to say well
i have an influence like the 50 year old ones from back in the day was like we're all influenced by
old music and current music like you can't get around it amory's sophomore effort title touch
followed several months after one thing exploded on the charts the title track was also released
as a single however it produced lackluster numbers compared to one thing this album would give amerie
her first grammy nomination actually too one for best female r b vocal performance for one thing
and best contemporary r b album amory didn't waste any time getting back in the studio and
by the next year she would be ready to drop the first single off her third album the track called
take control did become a top 10 hit in the uk no doubt due to the album being released there first
instead of the us which amory didn't agree with at all the album titled because i love it her first
without rich harrison's involvement didn't receive an official us release until the following year
and by that time amory's tenure at columbia was over she spoke of her difficulties with the label
stating that they weren't promoting her third album adequately there had also been major
delays and shakeups within the label executive teams and the politics naturally affected many
of the releases during that time in the summer of 2008 amory announced that she'd signed a deal
with island def jam music group her fourth album and first on her new label titled in love and war
was released in november 2009 it would end up being her poorest showing yet
in july 2010 amory announced that she had changed the spelling of her name to include
two eyes i operate on vibes and intuition and i believe everything is energy the vibration
of the double eye is right for me slightly different spelling completely same pronunciation
then amory took a significant chunk of time approximately five years
to complete her next project in march 2015 she collaborated once again with longtime friend
and producer rich harrison on the song out loud it would be the lead single of her upcoming ep
titled drive the album received a lot of positive attention and rolling stone magazine
even named it one of the best r b albums of 2016. additionally she became a published author in 2017
when she put out an anthology book titled because you love to hate me in the last quarter of 2018
amory dropped her first studio album in nine years it's a double album released as
two separate albums 4am mulholland and after 4am back in 2014 amory relaunched her youtube channel
focused on her passions for beauty and books then in 2019 she started a book club segment
in may 2018 she and her husband grew their family by welcoming their first child
a son the following year amory updated her fans on social media that a new album was in the works
as well as a possible tour to celebrate the anniversary of her debut album today amory
continues to keep busy by performing on occasion taking care of her son as well as maintaining her
book club which has grown exponentially and become very popular over the last two years
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