Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter Braun and signed with RBMG Records in 2008, gaining recognition with the release of his debut seven-track EP My World (2009) and soon establishing himself as a teen idol.
He was born on March 1, 1994, at St Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford, Ontario. He is the son of Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette, who were never married. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise her son. Bieber's ancestry includes French-Canadian, Irish, English, Scottish, and German.
Through his father Jeremy, Bieber has three younger half-siblings. Jeremy and his ex-wife, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father.
Bieber attended a French-language immersion elementary school in Stratford, the Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School. He graduated from high school in Stratford, Ontario, the St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA. Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and was placed second. 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 Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.
Bieber achieved commercial success with his teen pop-driven debut studio album, My World 2.0 (2010), which debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making him the youngest solo male act to top the chart in 47 years. The album also contained the internationally successful single "Baby", which became one of the highest certified singles of all time in the US. His second studio album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at number one in the US. Bieber experimented with dance-pop in his third studio album, Believe (2012). In 2013, Bieber became the first and youngest act in history to have five US number-one albums at the age of 18. Between 2013 and 2014, Bieber was involved in multiple controversies and legal issues, which had a drastic impact on his public image.
In 2015, Bieber released "Where Are Ü Now" in collaboration with Jack Ü, which saw Bieber explore EDM and win the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. The song's musical direction played an instrumental role in his fourth studio album, Purpose, which produced three US number-one singles: "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?". He became the first artist in history to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. Bieber diversified on numerous collaborations between 2016 and 2017 including DJ Khaled's "I'm the One", which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. A week later, he released his remix to Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito", his second consecutive US chart-topper. The song tied the then-record for most weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and made Bieber the first artist in history to chart new number-one singles in consecutive weeks. "Despacito" was ranked number one on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Hot Latin Songs Chart and earned Bieber his career-first Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Fusion/Performance. In 2019, he released a country collaboration with Dan + Shay, "10,000 Hours", which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.In 2020, Bieber released his R&B-led fifth studio album, Changes, which debuted at number one in both the UK and US, and a standalone duet with Ariana Grande, "Stuck with U", which debuted atop the US Billboard Hot 100. Bieber returned to his pop roots on his sixth studio album, Justice (2021), which debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making him the youngest soloist to have eight US number-one albums, a record held previously by Elvis Presley since 1965. It produced the number-one single "Peaches" and became a commercial success. In July 2021, Bieber released a collaboration with the Kid Laroi, "Stay", which became his eighth number-one single in the US.
Bieber is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 150 million records worldwide. He is credited with three Diamond certifications from the RIAA for "Baby", "Sorry" and "Despacito". He has received numerous accolades, including two Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, two Brit Awards, one Bambi Award, 21 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, 21 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist), six MTV Video Music Awards, 23 Teen Choice Awards (the most wins for a male individual), and 32 Guinness World Records. Time named Bieber one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and he was included on Forbes' list of the top ten most powerful celebrities in 2011, 2012, and 2013.