Usher's rise to a halftime Super Bowl show complete with a throne was launched with a Chattanooga singing group.
Anthony Byrd, City Court clerk, recalls the role of an Alton Park grocer in helping craft a group of young singers, who would land a record deal.
He said Darryl Wheeler was a big fan of groups of the day like the Temptations and he recognized talent in a group of local singers. Those included "Ace" (Byrd), "Kid" Adrian Johnson, "Red" Reginald McKibbens and "Chock" Charles Yarbrough.
With the training of grocer Wheeler, this group formed The Happy Clowns and began performing locally.
Mr. Byrd said the group noticed that a youngster known as "Cha Cha" (Usher Raymond IV) began coming to their practices at Dalewood School, listening intently. "He finally asked if he could join us," Mr. Byrd said.
He said Cha Cha's singing needed the crafting of Darryl Wheeler, and he agreed to take him on. He said Usher for a time went to live with Mr. Wheeler to get additional tutoring.
When Usher joined the group, the name was changed to "Nu Beginning."
Mr. Byrd said manager Wheeler arranged for a record contract with Foresight Records. He said, "We all went to Fort Lauderdale and signed the contract. After that we started playing all over the Southeast - from Chattanooga to Miami." There was one boat cruise gig in the Bahamas.
He said at the time it was felt that Adrian Johnson had the best voice in the group, and he was the lead singer.
During this time, Usher was part of a close-knit group that "worked together, played together and cried together."
When Usher moved to Atlanta and parted ways with Nu Beginning, the group's fortunes sank and the record contract was lost.
Mr. Wheeler and the other group members remain in Chattanooga, taking different career paths. Mr. Byrd has had a long career at the Courts Building, culminating with his appointment by the mayor to City Court clerk. He also won election as a City Council member.
County Commissioner Greg Beck remembers that Usher, Mr. Byrd and a third singer performed at an event he arranged at the Roanoke Community Center in 1989.
At the time, he said he had no idea that Usher - the youngest one in the group - would become a mega star. He said, "I thought it might be Byrd who would make it." He knew Mr. Byrd since they went to church together.
Commissioner Beck, whose wife's mother was a close friend of Usher's grandmother, said Mr. Byrd "has done very well at the courts."