All About Usher’s Parents, Jonnetta Patton and Usher Raymond III

Usher’s parents, Jonnetta Patton and Usher Raymond III, were influential in his life and career.

The R&B singer’s mother was instrumental in his success throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Jonnetta not only helped make business decisions, but also encouraged her son to realize his potential.

“The kind of ambition that it took to be the type of entertainer that I am was first and foremost in my mother’s spirit,” Usher said in a September 2023 interview with Grant Cardone.

Usher’s father struggled with addiction and died in January 2008 due to health issues. The couple had a strained relationship but reconciled at the end of Raymond’s life.

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“My father and I had very little time together throughout my life, but the most precious time was during his final days,” the 2024 Super Bowl halftime performer said. Essence. “He asked me to forgive him for not being there.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Usher’s parents, Jonnette Patton and Usher Raymond III.

They got married in 1977 and Usher is their only child

Usher and his mother Jonnetta Patton.

Usher Instagram

Jonnetta and Raymond married in 1977 and welcomed Usher Raymond IV the following year.

After they divorced in 1979, Jonnetta married Terry Patton two years later. During their nearly decade-long union, Jonnetta and Terry celebrated the arrival of their son, James “J.Lack” Lackey, in 1984.

Jonnetta raised Usher and J. Lack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she led a church youth choir and noticed her older son’s singing talent, according to The New York Times.

The musical gene was also passed on to J. Lack, and over the years Usher has expressed pride in his brother’s work.

“I am so proud of him. J. Lack has his own individuality,” he told MTV in 2007. “A lot of famous brothers or family members are always overshadowed. But he is different.”

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Jonnetta was Usher’s manager in his early career

Usher and Jonnetta Patton backstage at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois in December 1994.

Raymond Boyd/Getty

Jonnetta wanted to help her son become a star and at first was a manager for Usher, helping to guide his early career.

In the 1990s, Usher was a member of the Tennessee boy band NuBeginning, but Jonnetta quickly realized that he had potential as a solo artist. The family moved to Atlanta, and this decision was not understood by the young singer at the time.

“We had a record deal, so we had music, and I felt like my world was taken away from me,” he told Cardone in September 2023. “And she said, ‘No honey, your world is just beginning because you’re a solo artist , and there is something incredible about you.’ ”

While the “My Boo” singer felt like his dream career was gone, his mom assured him that it was all part of her plan. “‘We’re going to figure this out. We’re going to do it. I’m going to start all over,'” Usher recalled Jonnetta saying.

Usher’s mom set him up for success

Usher and Jonnetta Patton during the 40th Grammy Awards in February 1998.

KMazur/WireImage

Shortly after moving to Atlanta, Usher began performing around the city, and when he won a talent show, he met LaFace Records co-founder LA Reid. According to the artist, this presentation was a turning point for him, and his career started on an upward trajectory.

Although Usher found management, Jonnetta wanted to continue to be involved in discussions about his career. In an interview with OWN in 2020, she shared that she knew how to separate her relationship with Usher from the business side of things. However, their partnership lasted until about 2007, and the “Yeah” singer later revealed the reason for their joint decision.

“Our paths started to diverge when I wanted to branch out into other areas that I didn’t feel were necessarily considered,” he explained on a September 2017 episode of Oprah’s Master Class.

“There’s a lot of love and a lot of respect there … and she was adamant about what she felt I deserved,” he continued, adding that he still misses having her by his side during the exciting moments of his career.

Still, Jonnetta always celebrates him and his accomplishments, including when Usher announced he would be the 2024 Super Bowl halftime performer. “Thank you Jesus!!! Proud MOM!!!! So deserving!!!! 30 years strong!! !!” she wrote on Instagram alongside the event’s poster.

Jonnetta is the owner of the company

Usher and mom Jonnetta Patton on TNT’s Christmas in Washington.

Kevin Kane/WireImage

As Usher’s fame grew, Jonnetta embarked on her own entrepreneurial journey when she founded JPat Management in 2008, per Wealth. The independent record label began when she bought a building that included a music studio, dance studio and office space, which she could rent out.

Almost a decade later, in 2016, she opened J’s Kitchen Culinary Incubator, a commercial community kitchen in Atlanta. Talking to Atlanta MagazineJonnetta revealed that she converted Usher’s former music studio into a private kitchen, bakery, tasting room and conference rooms, among other spaces.

According to the company’s website, the facility was “created to provide early-stage business support to culinary entrepreneurs.”

Jonnetta’s bio states that she strives to “combine her business experience, extensive professional network and culinary aptitude” to “elevate today’s budding food artisans into tomorrow’s food service moguls.”

In an October 2023 interview with Atlanta News First, Jonnetta stated that she also plans to launch Lion Queen Entertainment, a film and TV production company.

Usher and his father reconnected before his death

During Usher’s childhood, his father struggled with addiction and was often absent from his sons’ lives. In 2007, Usher reached out to Raymond because he “wanted to have a relationship with him” and discovered that his father had health issues.

The singer later told OWN that when his father was in the hospital needing a liver transplant, his friend and fellow musician Nelly encouraged him to reconcile with Raymond. Usher decided to pay for the procedure, but Raymond fell into a coma, and the artist had to make a difficult choice.

“The most difficult part of this story is the fact that, in the process of deciding whether my father will live or die, if he is taken from [breathing] machine, my son is on the other side of town and he was just born,” he told the network.

Usher’s son, Usher Raymond V, was born two months before his father’s death in January 2008. That same year, in June, the performer said Mirror how he felt when he met his father.

“I was happy that I did, happy that I got closure, happy that I forgave him for not being there and that I knew that he really loved me,” Usher said.

The following month he elaborated on his conclusions from personal experience. “I don’t judge my father because I forgave him for everything he did to hurt me unintentionally,” shared the singer with Essence.

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Jonnetta is the grandmother of Usher’s four children

Usher and his family are celebrating the holidays.

Usher Instagram

In November 2007, Usher welcomed his first child, Usher “Cinco” Raymond V, with his then-wife Tameka Foster. Days after his birth, Jonnetta told PEOPLE she was thrilled to welcome her grandson to the family.

“I am extremely excited and filled with joy about the birth of my grandson, Usher Raymond V,” she said at the time. “He is beautiful, precious, healthy and such a blessing. I am very happy for my son and his wife. God truly blessed them with a special gift. This is going to be an amazing holiday season for all of us.”

Usher and Foster welcomed their second son, Naviyd Ely, in December 2008. The singer later welcomed daughter Sovereign Bo in September 2020 and son Sire Castrello in September 2021 with his longtime girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea.

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Source: HIS Education