Diversity is something that's usually seen as good for an artist, and it definitely hasn't hurt the career of singer and songwriter Amerie. Diverse in many respects, the Grammy-nominated, multi-awarded artist does much more than sing and pose for album covers. Whether it's promoting her latest collection of music or simply jetsetting around the world, she's one star who always takes center stage.

Amerie's Always Singing

Diversity is something that's usually seen as good for an artist, and it definitely hasn't hurt the career of singer and songwriter Amerie. Diverse in many respects, the Grammy-nominated, multi-awarded artist does much more than sing and pose for album covers. Whether it's promoting her latest collection of music or simply jetsetting around the world, she's one star who always takes center stage.

Amerie from A to Z

Born Amerie Rogers in the River City of Fitchburg, Massachussets on January 12, 1978, everything from her lineage to her upbringing was far from ordinary. She inherited her unique looks from her Korean artist mother and African-American warrant office father. This was to play a big role in her success later on.

Her father's job required the Rogers family to travel to different states and countries. She, however, later settled in Washington, DC, where she also attended college at Georgetown University. Even her education there was an unlikely combination; she was in the Navy ROTC until sophomore year, and would go on to graduate with a degree in English and a Fine Arts minor degree in design.

It was while she was in Geeorgetown that she met producer Rich Harrison, an industry veteran who had worked with the likes of Mary J. Blige. After a very successful first meeting, Harrison recorded her very first demo, which got her a contract with Columbia Records. Although her 2002 debut All I Have received a mixed bag of reviews from critics, it officially put Amerie on the public radar.

Amerie is Here

With her career in full swing, she began working on even more projects. She recorded a track apiece for the full-length films Honey and Maid in Manhattan, both of which gave her even more radio time. She also ventured into film via Forrest Whittaker's 2004 First Daughter, where she starred alongside Katie Holmes. Even television did not go ignored; she co-wrote The Center, a daily TV program that focused on Black teen issues.

2005 saw the release of her sophomore effort Touch, with the single 1 Thing featured on Will Smith's 2005 romantic comedy Hitch. Aside from the extended coverage from being on the movie's soundtrack, Touch netted her two Grammy nominations and several other awards in the bag to boot.

Despite the lack of input from long-time friend Harrison for her 2007 Because I Love It and its chart non-performance, her third album was received well by critics. It was also around this time that more success came in for the bi-racial beauty, both in terms of new collaborations from foreign acts like Korean Se7en and hefty contracts, like from AXN.

In Love and War was released in 2009, with Rogers releasing it with Feenix Rising Entertainment (under Island Def Jam) instead of Columbia, which she left in 2008. Fans received the album well starting with the very first single, Why R U. On the day of the single's release, a radio show host in New York City is famed to have played it for 15 minutes straight, saying "You got one, Amerie!"

Did You Know That...

• ...everyone is involved in her act? It was her mom who first got her into singing, and her younger sister - a lawyer - is her legal counsel.
• ...she's very proud of her heritage? Her lower back features a tattoo of her name in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. It is visible in the 1 Thing music video. She also signs autographs using the Hangul spelling of her name.
• ...the beginnings of her career were anything but glamorous? Her first meeting with famed producer Rich Harrison happened in a McDonald's.

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