Totten 1
Desiree Totten
Mr. Williams
English 8 pd. 4
2 May 2011
Justin Bieber!
The old and the young basically know some important information about Justin Bieber, like, his hair style, his voice, and his love of purple, but most people, mainly the ones that judge him, do not exactly know how he got his start as a worldwide pop sensation. That’s why most people judge him for his “girly” voice or his lack of lyrics, but instead of judging a book by its cover, why don’t you actually read into it.
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994 to the proud parents of Pattie Mellette and Jeremy Bieber. He was born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Justin’s parents split up when he was ten months old. “We lived in public housing, and there were no luxuries at our little apartment, but it never occurred to me that we were poor. We had each other, which was everything we needed” (Bieber 31). Justin spent a lot of time with his grandparents due to the fact that his mom had two jobs, so she could support the two of them. Justin’s grandpa spoke English, but his great grandfather spoke French. In Justin’s own book, Justin Bieber First Step 2 Forever: My Story, he says, “I spoke both French and English from the time I was little, so I could interpret when needed” (Bieber 32).
Justin would drum on whatever he could get his hands on, such as, pots, pans, plastic bowls, tables, chairs, and he would use whatever was around, like, spoons, the phone, or his fists. Pattie got Justin a toy drum kit for his second birthday, so he would quit destroying the apartment:
The people in the band were friends, and, while we were hanging out with them, sometimes the percussionist would let me play with the various noisemakers. When he saw that I wanted to play – not just play – he’d let me sit on his knee while he played on the drum kit, and, after a while, he handed me the sticks and let me have a go at it. By the time I was four or five, I could climb up on the stool and play the kit all by myself, and, about the same time, I discovered I could get up on the piano bench and pound on that, too (Bieber 52).
While being a very talented singer, Justin also plays the piano, guitar, drums, and the trumpet. Justin started school at Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School, but after school he was banging on those drums. He would listen to the radio to help his musical education, because his mom could not afford music lessons. He could feel the music like we feel when our shoes are on the wrong feet (Bieber 56).
Justin is extremely interested in sports, like, hockey, soccer, and basketball. He favorite hockey team is the Toronto Maple Leaves. When Justin was twelve he left French Immersion School to go to a public school in Stratford. His two best friends, Chaz and Ryan, had moved from house hockey league to travel league, so had Justin. His grandpa went with him to all of the home and away games. When they left with a victory they were all happy and created havoc, but when they left with a loss they were discouraged and disappointed. They eventually got cheered up and realized it was just another game (Bieber 71).
Justin first started singing at the Stratford Star competition, he lost his first time, but he kept going. He ended up with girls screaming his name, even though he wasn’t famous. He eventually started singing outside of the Avon Theatre:
The first time I parked myself on the steps, I set my open guitar case in front of me, hoping people would be nice and I’d come up with twenty bucks or so. After just a couple hours, I had almost $200. I felt like I’d discovered a gold mine. When I got home and shared this discovery with Mom, she was completely blown away and immediately started talking about responsibility and a college account and that sort of thing (Bieber 104).
Pattie started posting videos of Justin singing and playing instruments on YouTube, the videos got millions of hits. Pattie got a call from the school one day; they had said that Scooter Braun had called the school looking for Justin. He had seen the videos of him on YouTube and he thought they were phenomenal. The school gave Pattie, Scooters number, although she did not call him back. Scooter called around to people in the area looking for a way to get a hold of Pattie. Pattie heard about this and agreed to call him from a blocked number to hear what he has to say (Bieber 102).
“‘Please, listen to me for just a minute, Pattie,’ Scooter said. ‘And then if you don’t want to hear from me again, you won’t have to. I just want to say I see something really special in your son. And I see a lot of myself in him, except when I was that age I had not talent. I think I can help him” (Bieber 110). Pattie and Scooter talked for two hours about family and morals. She told Justin not to get his hopes up, but she would think about it. Scooter won some points over with Pattie; she agreed to let Scooter fly Justin and her down to Atlanta.
When they got down to Atlanta, Scooter drove them to Jermaine Dupri’s studio in a purple Mercedes. “We pulled into the parking lot of the private studio, just ahead of the black Range Rover. The driver got out, and my jaw practically dropped to the floor” (Bieber 118). At this moment, Justin Bieber had seen Usher! “’Hey, Usher! Hey, man! Oh, man, I love you. Can I sing for you?’ ‘Nah, little buddy, its cold out her,’ said Usher. ‘Let’s just go inside’” (Bieber 118). The first time Justin met Usher, he wasn’t too happy, but he was excited he got to meet his idol.
When they got inside, Jermaine was already in there and he was excited to hear Justin sing. Justin let loose on Boys II Men, Scooter told him not to and they left. Pattie still wasn’t sure about Scooter, so Scooter asked Pattie if it would help if she could meet his family, she said yes. They then met Scooter’s family over a vacation. And on their last day, Scooter told Pattie to upload Justin singing “With You”, Pattie did and it got 25,000 hits, then it got a million. By then, Usher had some serious interest in Justin, so Scooter flew Justin and his Mom back down to Atlanta. Justin sang for Usher and Justin Timberlake, they both wanted to sign him. “Usher said to Scooter, ‘Where has this kid been? Why haven’t I seen him?’ ‘You did,’ said Scooter. ‘That was him in the parking lot that day. Remember? He wanted to sing for you.’ ‘Man, everybody wants to sing. How was I supposed to know he’s the real thing?’”(Bieber 139). Timberlake had the same reaction, but in the end Usher got the deal. Usher had Justin and Pattie flown to New York, to meet with L.A. Reid, the CEO of Island Def Jams. Reid loved Justin and he was excited to sign him. It took a few years for Justin to get signed to Island Def Jams, but his first single, “One Time,” was released in 2007. In just two weeks “One Time” hit number three on the iTunes billboards. One week later, Justin got a depressing text, Michael Jackson, died. Justin was devastated. “If I can do just one-tenth of the good Michael Jackson did for others, I can really make a difference in this world” (Bieber 174). Justin and his team have created a special moment in the My World 2.0 show that is dedicated to Michael Jackson (Bieber 174).
Justin has become a big deal since his videos on YouTube. He is now one of the most famous teen pop sensations in the world. He has only been singing for a couple of years, but people see a major thing coming out of this seventeen year old boy. They also know that this is just the beginning for Justin Drew Bieber. He still gets his phone taken away and he gets punished for being naughty. Justin is still a normal teenager, the only that is different is, he followed his dream.
Along with being a seventeen year old pop sensation, Justin also has many other accomplishments. In just 2010, Justin has won and been nominated for twenty-four awards. At the 2010, America Music Awards, Justin won, Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist, and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. He was also nominated for Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year, and New Artist of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards. Justin has expressed that he is not ashamed of only being nominated; he has said that it is an honor just to be with all of the amazing singers and actors in one room. He is very blessed and happy with his life (“Awards”).
Justin has had a major impact on this world in the past four or five years. Screaming girls, crying three olds, all agree that Justin Bieber is epic. Justin has already made a movie and wrote a book about his life. He has changed the outlook on music, girls love him, and grandmas adore him. If he didn’t become famous, no one would know he existed and his talent would be put to waste. He has all different kinds of music, pop, country, rap, and much more. If his mom didn’t post those videos on YouTube nobody would be able to listen to “Baby,” “One Less Lonely Girl,” or “Never Say Never.” Justin Bieber is either going to be a one hit wonder or he will continue with his career, and make Ontario, Canada proud. Ontario, according to the World Book Encyclopedia, has a lot of nice colleges, like, University of Ottawa and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Maybe, Justin Bieber will go to one of these colleges. If he does, you will see a rise in girls attending that college.
Personal Reflection:
Justin Bieber is one of my idols. I adore him. He followed his dream and made it big time. To me that is a major accomplishment. My essay was not as hard as I, and other people, expected it to be. I had fun looking up information about Justin. I already knew a lot of facts about Justin Bieber, but I enjoyed learning things about him that I did not know. I learned that his parents split up when he was very young and I learned that his favorite color is blue, not purple. I’m glad I did my essay on Justin Bieber. I will continue to be his fan until he has decided to retire out of the music industry. He is my favorite male singer.
Work Cited:
“Awards.” Justin Bieber Zone. Beliebers. 2008 Web. 2 May 2011.
Bieber, Justin. Justin Bieber-First Step 2 Forever: My Story. New York: Harper Collin’s Books, 2010. Print.
“Bio.” Justin Bieber Music. Island Def Jam Music Group. 2010 Web. 22 April 2011.
Butler C. John “Ontario.” World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. Chicago, World Book 1991. N-O. Print.