Amerie was born to an African-American father and Korean-American mother. Growing up in Washington, DC, many of her musical influences are from that area. She attended D.C.'s Georgetown University and graduated in 2000 with a degree in English and Fine Arts.

Throughout early 2002, Amerie's single, "Why Don't We Fall In Love", from her debut album All I Have received much urban radio airplay. Amerie's album was released amid the success of "Why Don't We Fall In Love", and the media immediately began to judge her successes against those of other recent female R&B artists such as Tweet and Ashanti.

The album's next single, "Talkin' To Me", did not hit nearly as big at urban radio, yet its video still enjoyed strong support from MTV2. VH1 Soul has been known to spin both of Amerie's videos with regularity since their debuts, and MTV Jams still occasionally spins "Why Don't We Fall In Love".

Amerie returned to the music scene briefly in 2003 as a featured vocalist, first on LL Cool J's "Paradise" and later on DJ Kay Slay's "Too Much For Me". Neither single performed very well, although their videos received a lot of attention from digital music video channels.

In 2005, Amerie had the biggest hit of her career so far with the single "1 Thing" from her sophomore album Touch. The single was also featured on the soundtrack to the Will Smith romantic comedy, Hitch. Producer Rich Harrison sampled the distinctive main drum-and-guitar loops of the song from a 1970 version of "Oh, Calcutta!" by funk group The Meters. (Harrison also co-wrote and produced "Crazy in Love" for Beyoncé Knowles, which also had a distinctive horn sample.) She also released a second single, "Touch", from that album.

"1 Thing" earned two MTV Video Music Award nominations, for Best Female Video of the Year and Best Choreography in A Video", the single also earned 4 Lady Of Soul Soul Train Award nominatations [1], for Best R&B/Soul Single Solo, R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year, Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video and Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut.

In August of 2005 Amerie and Columbia sent her third single to radio "Talkin' About" of her sophomore album Touch. It was most added at Urban Radio with 38 total adds. At the 2005 Vibe Awards, Amerie took home Club Banger of the Year for her hit 1 thing. Touch was certified Gold on August 2005 and her single 1 thing was later certified Platinum.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org