Megastar Monday: Justin Bieber
March 21, 2016
Canadian pop megastar Justin Bieber, who turned 22 on March 1, won his first Grammy Award last month. The hit single “Where Are Ü Now” (2015), by the American music producers Skrillex and Diplo (as the group Jack Ü), featuring Bieber on vocals, won a Grammy Award as best dance recording. Bieber has also won a number of other awards for his music, including American Music Awards, ASCAP Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Juno Awards, which are presented annually to Canadian artists.
Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop singer, songwriter, and musician who gained international fame in the early 2000’s. Bieber became one of the youngest solo male artists to top the United States popular music albums chart. This photo shows him during a performance. Credit: © Shutterstock
The singer, songwriter, and musician gained international fame in the first decade of the 2000’s while still a teenager. Bieber’s first EP, My World (2009) became a huge worldwide hit. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. Bieber’s first studio album, My World 2.0 (2010), also became a huge worldwide hit. Bieber received Grammy nominations in 2011 for best new artist and for best pop vocal album for My World 2.0. The success of My World 2.0, released when Bieber was 16, made him the youngest solo male artist to top the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart since 13-year-old Stevie Wonder in 1963.
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario. He grew up in Stratford, Ontario. He taught himself to play piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In 2007, when Bieber was 12, he posted a video of himself performing in a local singing competition on the video-sharing website YouTube. Bieber’s popularity grew as his mother posted more videos of him singing. Bieber’s videos were discovered by a music producer named Scooter Braun, who became his manager. Bieber was soon signed to a recording contract.
Bieber’s first single, “One Time,” was released in 2009 and became a hit in more than 10 countries. His other hits include “One Less Lonely Girl,” “Love Me,” and “Favorite Girl” (all 2009); “Baby,” “Never Let You Go,” and “U Smile” (all 2010); “Boyfriend” (2012); and “Love Yourself,” “Sorry,” and “What Do You Mean?” (all 2015). The release of the latter, on Aug. 28, 2015, made Bieber the youngest male artist to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In addition to that record, Bieber has also set five other records in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2012, his music video for “Baby” (with the American rap performer Ludacris) became the most popular video of any kind online. Also that year, Bieber became the first artist to have three #1 albums in the United States and the United Kingdom before the age of 18, as well as the person with the most widespread social network message in 24 hours, after a message celebrating his 18th birthday was posted 251,878 times on Facebook and Twitter. In 2014, Bieber became the youngest solo artist to have five #1 albums in the United States and the youngest musician with a music channel viewed three billion times.
Bieber’s second studio album, the Christmas album Under the Mistletoe (2011), also became a #1 hit. It was the first holiday album by a male solo artist to open at #1 in the 55 years of Billboard’s album chart. Bieber donated some of the album’s proceeds to his “BELIEVE” charity. Bieber’s third studio album, Believe (2012), also became a #1 hit. His fourth studio album, Purpose, released in November 2015, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. It sold 522,000 copies in its first week of release, giving Bieber the largest first-week sales of his career. Bieber also had #1 hits with the remix albums Never Say Never: The Remixes (2011) and Believe Acoustic (2013).
Bieber appeared in the documentary concert films Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) and Justin Bieber’s Believe (2013).
Other World Book articles
- Canada (The Arts/Music)
- Popular music (2010) – A Back in Time article
- Popular music (2011) – A Back in Time article
- Popular music (2012) – A Back in Time article
- Internet (2012) – A Back in Time article
