Usher is receiving his flowers while he can still smell them for sustaining a phenomenal career spanning three decades. On Saturday (March 16), the crooner took home four trophies at the 2024 NAACP Image Awards, including the President’s Award, Outstanding Male Artist, Outstanding Soul/R&B Song for “Good Good” and Entertainer of the Year.
Already, this year is shaping up to be a big one for Usher, who captivated 129.3 million viewers with his Super Bowl halftime show — which was a record-setting feat — in February. He also dropped his highly anticipated ninth studio album, COMING HOME, and announced a coinciding tour that has sold out stadiums across the country.
“This has been an amazing career, 30 years of passion that led me to Las Vegas to be able to celebrate the entire legacy. That’s 100 shows sold out, and then a residency in Paris, and then to play the Super Bowl, get married and then to also release an album. I don’t know how many people do that much stuff in one setting,” said the singer as he accepted the Entertainer of the Year award.
He used his moment on stage while receiving the evening’s highest honor, the President’s Award, to give a special and heartfelt speech recognizing his mother, Jonnetta Patton, for the years she served as his manager. “If anyone deserves it... more than anyone, it’s her, ‘cause the tenacity that it took to look within a male-dominated industry and believe in your son, unwaveringly and no matter how hard… because of that, I have this moment,” said the eight-time Grammy Award winner.
It was also revealed in February that Usher is in the early stages of developing a drama series that will bring his music catalog to life through the lens of Black love in Atlanta. According to the project's logline, it will center around "individuals looking to find a place to call home. The series will explore music, style, sex, romance and secrets that threaten to tear relationships apart.”
In August, the R&B icon will celebrate his legacy when his “PAST PRESENT FUTURE Tour” kicks off on Aug. 14 with three back-to-back shows in his hometown.