The music mogul who sent Usher to live with P. Diddy admitted he feared he was ‘irresponsible’ to ‘turn him over to the wildest party guy in the country’.
Music mogul and former X Factor judge L.A Reid signed Usher to his label LaFace Records in 1993 when the star was 14 years old, and quickly released his first single Call Me a Mack.
In his 2016 memoir, Reid recalled how he couldn’t find another song ‘compelling enough to release’ after Usher’s debut, and wanted him to be ‘edgy’, so he turned to his friend P. Diddy, who he refers to as Puffy, for help.
He recalled asking the hip hop star: ‘Will you take this kid and teach him your swagger?’ Can you just give him some of your flavor?’
Reid – who is himself being sued for sexual assault and harassment by a former colleague, which he denies – sent the teenage Usher off to New York for what he refers to as ‘Puffy Flavor Camp’.
Usher has since admitted that he was exposed to ‘pretty wild’ stuff that he ‘didn’t necessarily understand’, while living with Diddy, and said that he would not allow the same thing to happen to his own children.
Diddy has now been charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses with upwards of 120 victims already coming forward, with the rapper’s relationships with Usher coming under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the allegations.
Reid’s memoir reveals how he met Diddy the same year as he signed Usher and was so ‘knocked out’ by his creative talents that he introduced Puffy to Clive Davis and ensured he got the advance, recording studio and everything he needed to create Bad Boy Records.
Usher recording vocals for the song U Will Know in New York in July 1994 while he was living with P. Diddy at the behest of music mogul L.A. Reid
Usher’s talking about his time living with superstar, Diddy, 54, in the spring of 1994, has come under scrutiny since the latter’s arrest on sex trafficking charges; pictured in 2002
Reid wrote in his tell-all memoir about his first interaction with Usher and how he knew he was going to be a star. Pictured: Justin Bieber with L.A Reid (left) and Usher in 2010
Writing in his book Sing To Me: My Story Of Making Music, Finding Magic And Searching For Who’s Next, Reid explained that he wanted Usher to sound ‘edgier’, but still had reservations about ‘turning him over’ to Diddy.
‘Usher was fifteen years old, but nothing about him ever seemed juvenile,’ he said.
‘I was turning him over to the wildest party guy in the country at an age when I still needed to get his mother’s permission, but he went to New York for almost a year.
‘I didn’t know whether I was being irresponsible or having an epiphany. I would never be sure flavor camp worked until he came back.’
Reid secured the permission of Usher’s mother, Jonetta Patton, a medical technician and director at St Elmo Missionary Baptist Church, who had left her job to be his manager full time, and off he went to New York.
While appearing on The Howard Stern Show in 2016, Usher recalled his experiences, saying: ‘I got a chance to see some things … I don’t know if I could indulge and even understand what I was looking at.
‘It was pretty wild. It was crazy. There were very curious things taking place and I didn’t necessarily understand it.’
As for whether he would send his children to ‘Puffy Flavor Camp,’ the father-of-four responded with an emphatic: ‘Hell no!’
Back in 2004, Usher told Rolling Stone that Diddy introduced him to ‘a totally different set of s**t — sex, specifically.’
‘Sex is so hot in the industry, man,’ he continued. ‘There was always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.’
After Usher’s year-long ‘Puffy Flavor Camp’, Diddy came to the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills to meet Reid to play him Usher’s album.
Meanwhile his father, Usher Raymond III, was a heavy drug user and absent for most of his life.
At the end of Usher’s year in New York, Reid was thrilled to discover his experiment had worked.
‘Puffy walked in without a shirt like the king of the world, popped a cassette into my stereo, pressed Play, and started dancing all over the room as soon as the music began,’ he recalled.
‘Puffy had done exactly what I wanted him to do for Usher. He gave this little kid a hip-hop-infused R&B sound full of bad boy swagger.’
Reid’s memoir also reveals how things came full circle when Usher brought him Justin Bieber as a ‘gift’ by Usher, when the Baby singer was 14 years old.
The pop star, who was 15 when he gained worldwide fame with his debut single One Time in 2009, was originally discovered aged 12 by industry entrepreneur Scooter Braun, when he was covering pop songs by Usher and Chris Brown on YouTube.
But his big break came when Usher introduced him to his former mentor, Reid.
One year on from being signed to Island Records by Reid, a 15-year-old Bieber spent a now-infamous 48-hour period with Diddy seemingly unsupervised at the rapper’s home, where they went ‘full buck crazy’.
Usher (right) brought Justin Bieber (left) to music mogul L.A Reid (middle) as a ‘gift’ when he was a ‘beautiful’ 14-year-old boy
Justin Bieber, 17, and Usher perform on NBC’s “Today” Show at Rockefeller Center in November 2011
Reid wrote in his tell-all memoir about his first interaction with Justin, who according to the music producer has a ‘beautiful’ face, trendy hair and natural charisma.
Reid himself discovered Usher, and the pair remained close friends even after the star had signed to another label, and would often ‘exchange gifts’.
He recalled how Usher phoned him in October 2008 to ask if he’d be in his office all afternoon because he ‘had something he wanted to bring me’.
At 4pm, Usher arrived with ‘an adorable fourteen-year-old boy’.
‘This kid was beautiful, like a woman can be beautiful and men rarely are, and he turned it on as soon as he stepped into the room,’ Reid recalled.
Bieber immediately sat down at the piano and started singing, before playing his guita and talking ‘almost like it was a nightclub act’.
‘This is Justin Bieber,’ Usher said.
‘Usher didn’t just bring me a kid with an amazing voice, he brought me a born entertainer, someone who would become the biggest of them all,’ Reid recalled. ‘When Usher said he had a gift, he wasn’t kidding.’
Reid then decided to sign Justin ‘straight away’, and claimed his hair was ‘every bit as important as his songs and his voice’.
He explained: ‘Since he was a minor, it took a couple of days to get his parents involved and signed off.
Usher and Justin pictured performing onstage during the 53rd GRAMMY Awards in 2011
Usher played a huge role in jump-starting Justin’s career. While their relationship has always been seen as professional, in 2016, the Yeah singer revealed that he felt like a mentor, and Justin was more like family to him
The next time Bieber came to the office with his manager Scooter Braun, Justin had grown his hair so that it was almost covering his eyes, which Reid described as ‘a catchy look that was all his own’.
‘I could see immediately that Justin’s hair would be every bit as important as his songs, his voice, his face, or his presence,’ he said, adding that teens would want to copy his ‘hit haircut.’
Reid went on to gush ever more about Justin in his book, saying: ‘Justin was simply beautiful-his superpower was his face. But his hair and his appearance were only part of his charm. Justin had all this natural charisma that instantly transformed him into his own character.
‘Whereas other artists had to work to develop the persona that they wanted to project, he was loveable and lively from the start, radiating personality.’
Usher played a huge role in jump-starting Justin’s career. While their relationship has always been seen as professional, in 2016, the Yeah singer revealed that he felt like a mentor, and Justin was more like family to him.
Justin quickly became involved with the Caught Up crew which featured P Diddy, who also became a mentor to him.
And it was also thanks to Diddy that when Bieber’s voice broke, it didn’t derail his future with Island Records.
By his own admission, Reid had wanted to drop Usher when the same thing happened.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, he revealed how P Diddy was the one to talk him around, telling him: ‘Don’t be a fool. Don’t sell your stock in Usher. He’s still going to be a star. He’s everything you thought he was the day you signed him.’
With that advice in mind, he hired a vocal coach to help Bieber through the transition.
‘I wasn’t that way to Usher. I didn’t give him the same kind of love and support at the time. But Puffy was right,’ he said.
Reid is currently being sued for sexual assault and harassment by a former colleague at Arista records, Drew Dixon, who says he assaulted her twice in 2001 – on a private plane and in the back of his private car.
Dixon, who rose to Vice President of A&R during her employment at Arista and has previously accused Reid of misconduct, claims Reid impeded in her career and preventing her from signing and cultivating artists such as John Legend when she rebuffed him in other instances.
She departed the company in 2002 and would return to the music industry, but her career failed to reach the same trajectory it initially achieved,
Meanwhile, Justin is said to be ‘disgusted’ by the allegations against Diddy, who was a mentor to him early in his music career.
The new father has been ‘advised to stay as far away as possible from anything and everything related to Diddy,’ a source close to Justin told Us Weekly.
But that directive hasn’t been an issue for Justin, who reportedly wants ‘nothing to do’ with the music mogul.
Justin is said to be ‘disgusted’ by the allegations against Diddy, who was a mentor to him early in his music career (pictured together in 2014)
In 2009, Combs ceased hosting his famous ‘White Parties’ for A-list friends and allegedly ramped up his seedier, notorious ‘Freak-Offs’ at which many of the crimes listed in the New York indictment are said to have taken place
A second source said Justin ‘is in a hard place mentally right now’ as he struggles to come to terms with the allegations against Diddy.
‘He has such a history with Diddy and the allegations against him have been hard to process.’
Questions have been raised over why those responsible for Bieber allowed Diddy to become something of a mentor to him as a child.
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EXCLUSIVE
Hailey Bieber believes she's Justin's 'gatekeeper' in Diddy drama
Sources close to Justin exclusively told the Daily Mail that he ‘should never have been allowed to party with Diddy or anyone else when he was a teen.’
They claim he was ‘thrown to the wolves’ by his mother Pattie Mallette and largely absent father Jeremy Bieber.
Usher, whose record label Bieber was signed to, is also partly responsible, these sources claim.
There is no evidence to suggest Bieber’s parents, Usher, or Reid knew about Diddy’s alleged criminal activity at the time.
Justin’s wife Hailey was moved to share a bold post featuring her husband this week because she wanted to show the world how she feels amid the ongoing speculation surrounding his formerly close relationship with Diddy, sources have revealed.
Monday night saw the model share a throwback snap on Instagram of the 30-year-old pop star flipping both middle fingers in the air.
Justin was shirtless and wearing board shorts, as the playful photo was captioned ‘mood’ by Hailey.
Justin’s wife Hailey was moved to share a bold post featuring her husband Justin this week because she wanted to show the world how she feels amid the Diddy speculation
Justin was shirtless and wearing board shorts, as the playful photo was captioned ‘mood’ by Hailey
An insider has revealed to DailyMail.com that Hailey – who welcomed her son Jack Blues Bieber in August – shared the post because she feels like a ‘gatekeeper’ for her husband.
‘Hailey believes that she is Justin’s gatekeeper and this was her way of showing the world how she feels about the whole situation [with Diddy] – not Justin,’ the source clarified.
The insider noted that the Rhode beauty founder’s picture choice was extremely telling, as they continued: ‘Out of the 100s of photos of Justin giving the middle finger, she had to choose one from 2017 that was taken before he got back together with [his ex Selena Gomez] again.’
However, the source stated that the model might be wise to let her husband speak for himself whenever he feels ready to do so, as they added: ‘ Hailey needs to let Justin act for himself instead of using an image of him to convey what she feels he should be saying.
‘But Justin really has no voice right now and it is sad.’
It comes after sources previously told DailyMail.com that Justin has, indeed, been struggling with the revelations being made about Diddy amid the 54-year-old’s arrest regarding sex trafficking charges.
The insider claimed that the singer feels he has no one to talk to and is ‘sailing these waters alone.’
‘Justin feels like there is no one that he can talk to that understands and, to be honest, he doesn’t even fully understand,’ the source explained. ‘He was a kid.’
Diddy was hit with an indictment accusing him of years of coercion and abuse while using blackmail and violence to control his victims.
He has also been accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes days-long sexual performances referred to as ‘Freak Offs.’
In November 2009, a 15-year-old Bieber spent a now-infamous 48-hour period with Diddy seemingly unsupervised at the rapper’s home.
In a video taken during that time and shared to YouTube by Bieber, Diddy, then 40, turns to the camera and says: ‘He’s having 48 hours with Diddy, where we hanging out [sic] and what we’re doing we can’t really disclose.
‘But it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream. We’re gonna go full, buck full crazy.’
Fears have been mounting for Bieber’s mental health in the wake of Diddy’s arrest.
In 2009, Combs ceased hosting his famous ‘White Parties’ for A-list friends and allegedly ramped up his seedier, notorious ‘Freak-Offs’ at which many of the crimes listed in the New York indictment are said to have taken place.
Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and was denied bail, despite his legal team’s request for him to be released for $50 million and kept electronically monitored.
Listen to DailyMail.com’s in depth podcast concerning the allegations now.