Justin Bieber

Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario,[14] and was raised in Stratford, Ontario.[15] Bieber's mother, Patricia Lynn "Pattie" Mallette, was 18 years old when she became pregnant with her son. Mallette, who worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raised Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father, Jeremy Jack Bieber, who married another woman and had two children.[16][17][18] Bieber's paternal great-grandfather was a German immigrant to Canada.[19] His mother's ancestry is French Canadian.[20]

During his childhood, Bieber was interested in hockey, soccer, and chess; he often kept his musical aspirations to himself.[16] As he grew up, Bieber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.[15][21] In early 2007, when he was twelve, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and placed second.[5][21] 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.[10] Chris Hicks, Bieber's A&R at Island/Def Jam, explained the young artist's huge online following to HitQuarters by saying:

"He was doing something different. He was an attractive white kid singing very soulful R&B hits. That set him apart immediately from anyone in his range because no one was covering or singing these kind of records. But equally important was that you believed in these songs - it was real. And you wanted to hear more."[22]

While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident.[16] Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette. Mallette was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label! ... you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?"[16] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[10] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[16] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[23] Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher.[9] Justin Timberlake was also reportedly in the running to sign Bieber, but lost the bidding war to Usher.[9][24] 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 Antonio L.A. Reid of Island Def Jam Music Group.[22] Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG