So much so that he essentially stalked Bieber’s mother, Pattie Mallette (dad Jeremy remains in the picture and makes an emotional appearance in Never Say Never), going so far as to contact Stratford’s school board, until he persuaded Mallette to fly with her only son to Atlanta. The story goes something like this: Scott “Scooter” Braun, now 29 - an aspiring manager and Atlanta transplant who cut his music-industry teeth working as a marketing executive at Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Recordings - happened upon another YouTube video of Bieber singing Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” and was instantly floored. PHOTOS: Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never L.A. Six albums later, with global sales of more than 65 million units, Usher remains on the roster and is still in business with Reid, but this time guiding mutual protege Bieber. Reid signed the then-14-year-old to his LaFace Records, which was distributed through Sony-owned Arista Records, the label run by legendary music man Clive Davis (Reid became president of Arista in 2000, a title he held until 2004). It was then, in 1992, after seeing moderate success during the 1980s with the Deele, a band Reid formed with songwriter Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, that he turned his attention to a motivated young R&B whippersnapper named Usher Raymond. It feels like when I was a kid and wanted to go see A Hard Day’s Night.” The partnership entitles the label to a cut of Bieber’s ancillary income, or as Reid calls it, “a very small piece of the pie.” Including merchandising, publishing royalties, endorsements and sponsorships, IDJ stands to make 15 to 20 percent on average.įor Reid, speaking to THR a day after Never Say Never’s ear-splitting New York premiere, this latest success (which comes at an opportune time - weeks after unrelenting rumors of an imminent exit from IDJ, which never materialized) is not only a validation of his seemingly God-given talent for spotting stars but the continuation of a journey started two decades ago when he was a budding executive in Atlanta. “I’ve seen an artist ascend this fast before but never this big,” says Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ), who signed Bieber to a 360 deal in October 2008. PHOTOS: Outtakes from Justin Bieber’s THR cover shoot Having earned an estimated $100 million in 2010, a cottage industry has formed around Bieber Fever that includes sales of his music (the 2009 EP My World, a 2010 full-length, My World 2.0, a remix album and an acoustic comp, which was sold exclusively at Walmart), merchandise (singing dolls, jigsaw puzzles, watches, 30 T-shirt designs, paper products like purple dessert plates and a 5-foot-8-inch cardboard standup that sells for $35), a book ( First Step 2 Forever: My Story, released in October) and concert tickets (Bieber sold out New York’s Madison Square Garden, a pinnacle moment in Never Say Never, and heads on a world tour in the spring) with plans to further expand into film and television ( SNL aside, Bieber had a guest role on CBS’ CSI this past fall).
An admittedly “smitten” Gayle King raved on her video blog: “There is so much more to Justin Bieber than ‘Baby, Baby, Baby,’ but oh baby, is he good! I’m a Belieber!” Reaction from early viewings has been teary and overwhelmingly positive. 11) - Bieber’s Purple Rain-inspired, Paramount-backed 3D extravaganza that’s part documentary, part concert movie, all feel-good fare - will screen there for 1,000 lucky local fans as a thank-you of sorts for supporting the small-town kid with big-city dreams, many of which he’s already realized. Four years later, Never Say Never (opening Feb. But it wasn’t all that long ago when a 12-year-old Bieber was busking outside the Avon Theatre in Stratford, Ontario (population 32,000) hoping to get noticed - a moment captured forever by a passerby and shared some 3.2 million times on YouTube.