USHER'S DAD IS A VIOLENT JAILED CRACK ADDICT
America's biggest-selling
music star Usher
has a secret "confession"
for his millions
of fans -- his father is a
crack addict who's behind
bars for shoplifting and fighting
with police.
Even though his father abandoned
him as a child, the 26-year-old superstar,
whose "Confessions" album has
sold nearly 10 million copies in the
U.S. alone, has pledged to help his
dad when he is released from prison.
Usher even phoned his 48-year-old
father, who is also named Usher,
after hearing he'd been arrested in
Chattanooga, Tenn.
In December, Usher Sr. was released
on bond after being charged
with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest
and assault on police. Officers
had to wrestle him to a patrol car
when they took him into custody.
A month later, Wal-Mart security
staff called cops after Usher tried
to leave a store without paying for
several coats.
He was sentenced to 11 months and
29 days for shoplifting and resisting
arrest, and is now prisoner 05-00411
at the Silverdale Detention Center
in Chattanooga.
Usher Sr. walked out on Jonetta
Patton shortly after she gave birth
to their son on Oct. 14, 1978, in
Chattanooga.
"It took him a long time to
accept Usher was his boy," said
Don King, an old school friend.
"He's a good man who got
in with the wrong crowd. He
started taking crack cocaine,
freebasing and then stealing.
"The last time I saw him he was
asking me for $25."
The Chattanooga home Usher
Sr. shares with girlfriend Yuneka
Johnson has barely any furniture
and the telephone has been cut
off because she can't pay the bill.
When visited by The National
Enquirer, she said: "He's a very
private man and I didn't want to
say, but yes, he's in jail.
"When he was arrested Usher
called him from Atlanta. He told
him to keep low and everything
will be fine. I don't know if he
has heard from him since."
Around town sources say
there's growing bitterness over
Usher's attempts to hide his
Chattanooga roots.
"Nobody likes him around
here," said resident Lisa Hamilton.
"He never mentions
Chattanooga, always Atlanta."
Even the man who gave him a
break in a local boy band claims
Usher refuses to acknowledge
his background and has changed
beyond belief.
"That's not the same boy that
lived with me and called me
Dad," says Darryl Wheeler, who
was approached by Usher when
the 12-year-old wanted to
perform in Wheeler's band Nu
Beginnings.
But Wheeler claims Usher has
never given the band any
credit.
"I just want to know why he
doesn't acknowledge us or the
family that was Nu Beginnings,"
said Wheeler.
"He is not a superstar to
me. He's still the boy that
lived in my house and slept
in the same room with my
son and ate at my table!"
Published on: 04/11/2005
