Amerie

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers was born January 12, 1980 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
She is better known as Amerie. Amerie is a multiracial (African American & Korean) American R&B singer. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily written and produced by Rich Harrison. "1 Thing", the lead single from her second album, Touch, introduced her native D.C.'s go-go elements, on which she expanded with the 2007 album Because I Love It.

She was born to an African-American father and a Korean mother.

Her father works for the U.S. Intelligence Division United States military, so Amerie traveled to and lived in many different places, including Alaska, Texas, Germany, and South Korea. She has a younger sister, Angela Rogers, who is now her lawyer. She finally settled in Washington, D.C., which she considers her hometown. In 1996, she started studying at Georgetown University for a degree in English and Fine Arts and graduated in 2000.

Amerie's first language is Korean. However, after the family left Korea, Amerie's mother made a conscious effort to limit the use of Korean with her daughters out of fear that it would impede their development of English proficiency. In an interview with KoreAm Journal, Amerie stated that she is now only "conversational" in the Korean language and speaks it at home with her mother, Angela, and extended Korean family members.

Amerie also bears a tattoo featuring her given name in Korean script on her lower back, which can be seen in the music video for "1 Thing". The tattoo does not directly translate to Amerie, but "Emeuri" while the Korean media pronounces her name "Eimeori" however. Amerie is noted for signing her name in both English and Korean when giving autographs.