Justin Drew Bieber ( BEE-bər; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. An influential figure in popular music, he is known for his image reinventions and multi-genre performances. With estimated sales of 150 million records, he is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Bieber rose to fame in the late 2000s after being discovered by American talent manager Scooter Braun, who signed him to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG). Bieber subsequently released his debut extended play (EP), My World (2009), receiving international recognition and establishing himself as a teen idol. His debut studio album, My World 2.0 (2010), topped the US Billboard 200, making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, "Baby", became one of the best selling singles in the United States. His second album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop the chart. With his third studio album, Believe (2012), and its acoustic re-release (2013), Bieber became the first artist in Billboard charts history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18.
Following a series of controversies, he returned to music with the EDM-infused single "Where Are Ü Now", which set the tone for his fourth studio album, Purpose (2015). It yielded three US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?". The songs also occupied the top three of the UK singles chart, making Bieber the first artist in history to achieve this. In 2017, he featured on the US number-one singles "I'm the One" and "Despacito"; the latter tied the then-record for the most weeks at number one in history. His following two studio albums, Changes (2020) and Justice (2021), debuted at number one, making Bieber the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. In 2021, he also released two US number-one singles, "Peaches" and "Stay". After a brief hiatus, he released his seventh and eighth studio albums, Swag and Swag II, in 2025.
His accolades include 2 Grammy Awards, 1 Latin Grammy Award, 8 Juno Awards, 2 Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 19 American Music Awards, 6 MTV Video Music Awards and a record 22 MTV Europe Music Awards. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and Forbes listed him among the top 10 most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013. Billboard ranked him the eighth-greatest pop star of the 21st century.
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents, Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette, were both 18 when he was born, and separated soon after his birth. Mallette raised Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing while working a series of low-paying office jobs. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber, who has maintained contact with his father. Bieber has French, Irish, English, Scottish and German ancestry.
Bieber's father is a former carpenter. Through his father, Bieber has two younger half-sisters and a younger half-brother. He also has a stepsister, who is the daughter of his stepmother. Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford: Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern Secondary School. He then attended St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, graduating in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA. Growing up, Bieber learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.
2007–2009: Career beginnings and My World
In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed in the top three. 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. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.
While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering "So Sick". Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber's school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun's Judaism. She remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber soon signed with RBMG (Raymond Braun Media Group), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.
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 L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008.
Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. During late 2009, it had success in international markets. The song was certified platinum in Canada and the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play (EP) titled My World, was released on November 17, 2009. Critics noted that material from the EP was inspired by American singer Chris Brown's early work. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promotional singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, he became the first solo artist to have four singles chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 before the release of a debut album.
"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top 20 in Canada and the US, and was certified gold in the latter. Following the release of My World, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. My World was eventually certified platinum in the US and double platinum in both Canada and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program The Dome, YTV's The Next Star, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Lopez Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, It's On with Alexa Chung, Good Morning America, Chelsea Lately, and BET's 106 & Park. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of True Jackson, VP in late 2009. Bieber performed Ron Miller and Bryan Wells's "Someday at Christmas" for US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for Christmas in Washington, which aired on December 20, 2009, on American television broadcaster TNT.
2010–2011: My World 2.0, Never Say Never, and Under the Mistletoe
Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single "We Are the World" for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released; Bieber is featured in the song.