Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a prominent figure in contemporary popular music, he rose to fame in the late 2000s with his debut extended play, My World, receiving international recognition and establishing him as a teen idol.
Bieber rose to further fame with his debut album, My World 2.0, which topped the US Billboard 200 — making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, "Baby", became one of the best selling singles in the United States, while its accompanying music video became the most disliked video on YouTube. His second album, Under the Mistletoe, became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop chart. Bieber explored dance-pop on his third album, Believe ; its acoustic re-release made him the first artist in Billboard history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18. Bieber explored EDM with his 2015 single "Where Are Ü Now", which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.
Bieber's fourth album, Purpose, yielded the US Billboard Hot 100 number-ones "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?". The songs monopolized the top three of the UK singles chart, making Bieber the first person to do so. Two of his 2017 guest appearances—on DJ Khaled's "I'm the One" and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito"—reached number one in the US, with the latter tying the then-record for the longest-running number-one song in history. His albums Changes and Justice topped the Billboard 200; the latter included his seventh US number-one single "Peaches" and made him the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. Also in 2021, he released his eighth US number-one single, "Stay". Bieber's following albums Swag and Swag II were released in 2025.
Bieber is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 150 million units sold worldwide and five diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America. His accolades include two Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, and 22 MTV Europe Music Awards. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and Forbes listed him among the top ten most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013. Billboard ranked him the eighth-greatest pop star of the 21st century.
Early life
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette were both 18 when Bieber was born and split up not long after his birth. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. Bieber's ancestry includes French, Irish, English, Scottish and German.Bieber has three younger half-siblings; the four have the same father, Jeremy Bieber. Jeremy Bieber and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother.
Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford, Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern. Former teacher, Kim Booker often recalled fond memories of Bieber as her student, and is featured in several interviews. He attended Stratford's St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA.
Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.
Career
2007–2009: Career beginnings and ''My World''
While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering Ne-Yo's "So Sick". Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber's school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun's Judaism. She remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber soon signed with RBMG, a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008.
Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. During fall 2009, it had success in international markets. The song was certified platinum in Canada and the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play titled My World, was released on November 17, 2009. Critics noted that material from the EP was inspired by singer Chris Brown's early work. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promotional singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. As a result, he became the first solo artist to have four singles chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 before the release of a debut album.
"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top 20 in Canada and the US, and was certified gold in the latter. Following the release of My World, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. My World was eventually certified platinum in the US and double platinum in both Canada and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program The Dome, YTV's The Next Star, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Lopez Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, It's On with Alexa Chung, Good Morning America, Chelsea Lately, and BET's 106 & Park. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of True Jackson, VP in late 2009. Bieber performed Ron Miller and Bryan Wells's "Someday at Christmas" for US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for Christmas in Washington, which aired on December 20, 2009, on US television broadcaster TNT.
2010–2011: ''My World 2.0'', ''Never Say Never'', and ''Under the Mistletoe''
Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single "We Are the World" for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.In January 2010, "Baby" was released from his debut album, My World 2.0. The song featured Ludacris, and became an international hit. It charted at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100 and reached the top ten in several international markets. Promo singles, "Never Let You Go" and "U Smile", were top 30 hits on the US Hot 100, and top 20 hits in Canada. The album has received generally favourable reviews. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since Stevie Wonder in 1963. My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, Irish Albums Chart, Australian Albums Chart, and the New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top 10 of fifteen other countries.
To promote the album, Bieber appeared on live programs including The View, the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, Nightline, Late Show with David Letterman, The Dome and 106 & Park. Sean Kingston appeared on the album's next single, "Eenie Meenie". The song reached the top ten in the UK and Australia, and the top 20 of most other markets. The following single from My World 2.0, "Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor Usher. On June 23, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, the My World Tour, to promote My World and My World 2.0. In May 2010, Bieber featured in rapper Soulja Boy's song "Rich Girl". In July, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched-for celebrity on the Internet. That same month, his video for "Baby" surpassed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" as the most viewed, and most disliked, YouTube video at the time. In September, it was reported that Bieber accounted for 3% of traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.
On My World 2.0, Bieber's voice was noted to be deeper than it was in his debut EP, due to puberty. In April 2010, the singer remarked regarding his vocals: "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world... Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit any more. We have to lower the key when I sing live." Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother", who is also a serial bomber. Bieber was also in a subsequent episode of the series, which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed. Bieber performed a medley of his singles "U Smile", "Baby", and "Somebody to Love", and briefly played the drums, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would be releasing an acoustic album, called My Worlds Acoustic. It was released on November 26, 2010, in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a new song titled "Pray". In October 2010, Bieber released his first book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, an autobiography with text from Bieber and photographs from Robert Caplin.
A 3-D part-biopic, part-concert film starring Bieber entitled Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, was released on February 11, 2011, directed by Step Up 3D director Jon M. Chu. It topped the box office with an estimated gross of $12.4 million on its opening day from 3,105 theatres. It grossed $30.3 million for the weekend and was narrowly beaten by the romantic comedy Just Go with It, which grossed $31 million. Never Say Never reportedly exceeded industry expectations, nearly matching the $31.1 million grossed by Miley Cyrus's 2008 3-D concert film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which holds the record for the top debut for a music-documentary. Never Say Never grossed a total of $99,034,125 worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert or performance film at the global box office. The film is accompanied by his second remix album, Never Say Never – The Remixes, released February 14, 2011, and features remixes of songs from his debut album, with guest appearances from Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others. Bieber was a participating player in the 2011 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, held on February 18, 2011, and was named the Most Valuable Player, scoring eight points with two rebounds and four assists. In June 2011, an album track from Never Say Never titled "That Should Be Me", won him his first award in country music for Collaborative Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards. Time magazine named Bieber one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. In June 2011, Bieber was ranked No.2 on the Forbes list of Best-Paid Celebrities under 30. He is the youngest star, and 1 of 7 musicians on the list, having raked in $53 million in a 12-month period. The same month, his collaborative single "Next to You" with American singer Chris Brown was released. The unfinished video for that song was leaked online on June 6, and the official video was released on June 17.
On November 1, 2011, Bieber released the Christmas-themed Under the Mistletoe, his second studio album. It became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and sold 210,000 copies in its first week of release. On November 19, 2021, the album was listed among the Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums chart by Billboard. The first single from the album, "Mistletoe", peaked at number one on the US Billboard Holiday 100 and Holiday Digital Songs charts. Bieber released "All I Want for Christmas Is You " as the second single from the album, which is a re-recorded version of Mariah Carey's original single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", with Carey providing vocals on the track. Billboard listed the album and its singles, among the greatest Holiday albums and songs of all time, respectively.