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Usher Rehires Mom as Manager

Usher has decided to end his relationship with celebrity manager Benny Medina, whose other clients include Mariah Carey. As a result, Usher's rehired his mother, Jonnetta Patton, to manage his career like she did from his teen star years through 2007.

"I have just chosen to take the reins of my career," he told the Associated Press in early 2008, after being asked about why he let her go last year. "[My mom and I] have a different view and mindset."

When asked about the success of Here I Stand, Usher's latest LP (it's sold just under a million copies overall), in comparison to his smash Confessions album (it sold 1.1 million copies in its first week), Medina said in a statement, "It is a completely new day and time in music now. In four years, his audience, demographic and musical direction has changed. Records like Lil Wayne's 'Lollipop' are the type of phenomena that 'Yeah' was in 2004.

He continued, "I had a great time and we parted ways amicably."

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
08.07.08