Justin Bieber

Justin Drew Bieber ( BEE-bər; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a prominent figure in contemporary popular music, he rose to fame in the late 2000s with his debut extended play, My World (2009), receiving international recognition and establishing him as a teen idol.

Bieber rose to further fame with his debut album, My World 2.0 (2010), which topped the US Billboard 200 — making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, "Baby" (featuring Ludacris), became one of the best selling singles in the United States, while its accompanying music video became the most disliked video on YouTube. His second album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop chart. Bieber explored dance-pop on his third album, Believe (2012); its acoustic re-release made him the first artist in Billboard history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18. Bieber explored EDM with his 2015 single "Where Are Ü Now", which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.

Bieber's fourth album, Purpose (2015), yielded the US Billboard Hot 100 number-ones "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?". The songs monopolized the top three of the UK singles chart, making Bieber the first person to do so. Two of his 2017 guest appearances—on DJ Khaled's "I'm the One" and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito"—reached number one in the US, with the latter tying the then-record for the longest-running number-one song in history (16 weeks). His albums Changes (2020) and Justice (2021) topped the Billboard 200; the latter included his seventh US number-one single "Peaches" and made him the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. Also in 2021, he released his eighth US number-one single, "Stay" (with the Kid Laroi). Bieber's following albums Swag and Swag II were released in 2025.

Bieber is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 150 million units sold worldwide and five diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His accolades include two Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, and 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist). Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and Forbes' listed him among the top ten most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013. Billboard ranked him the eighth-greatest pop star of the 21st century.

Early life

Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette were both 18 when Bieber was born and split up not long after his birth. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. Bieber's ancestry includes French, Irish, English, Scottish and German.

Bieber has three younger half-siblings; the four have the same father, Jeremy Bieber. Jeremy Bieber and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother. Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford, Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern. Former teacher, Kim Booker often recalled fond memories of Bieber as her student, and is featured in several interviews. He attended Stratford's St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA.

Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.

Career

2007–2009: Career beginnings and My World

While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering Ne-Yo's "So Sick". Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber's school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun's Judaism. She remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber soon signed with RBMG (Raymond Braun Media Group), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.

Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008.

Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. During fall 2009, it had success in international markets. The song was certified platinum in Canada and the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play titled My World, was released on November 17, 2009. Critics noted that material from the EP was inspired by singer Chris Brown's early work. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promotional singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. As a result, he became the first solo artist to have four singles chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 before the release of a debut album.

"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top 20 in Canada and the US, and was certified gold in the latter. Following the release of My World, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. My World was eventually certified platinum in the US and double platinum in both Canada and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program The Dome, YTV's The Next Star, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Lopez Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, It's On with Alexa Chung, Good Morning America, Chelsea Lately, and BET's 106 & Park. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of True Jackson, VP in late 2009. Bieber performed Ron Miller and Bryan Wells's "Someday at Christmas" for US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for Christmas in Washington, which aired on December 20, 2009, on US television broadcaster TNT.

2010–2011: My World 2.0, Never Say Never, and Under the Mistletoe

Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single "We Are the World" for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.