Looks like mother really knows best! It's now official that R&B singer Usher has rehired his mother, Jonetta Patton, as his manager. As the 'New York Daily News' speculated on July 7, Usher has officially ended his business relationship with Benny Medina and replaced him with his mother. Apparently Usher has made the management overhaul because of the lackluster response to his recent release, 'Here I Stand.' The CD hit stores in May and debuted at number one its first week, but only sold 433,000 units. In comparison, his last CD, 2004's 'Confessions,' had sales of 1.1 million in its first week.
Additionally, Lil Wayne's album 'Tha Carter III' debuted three weeks later and sold more than a million copies, which reportedly had the singer outraged.

Usher was also apparently upset by the ratings from the BET Awards. Billed in commercials as: "The BET Awards with an electrifying opening performance by Usher," the show only drew 5.8 million viewers. In comparison, the 2007 BET Awards with Beyonce as the opener pulled 6.3 million viewers. Music industry insiders suspect that consumers, female ones in particular, were turned off by Usher's tabloid-worthy personal life and fallout with his mother. "His core audience is black women and honestly, no black woman wants to support a man who treats his mother badly," one industry insider told me. Usher made headlines in 2007 when he fired him mother days before Mother's Day for apparently not approving of his relationship with his fiancé, Tameka Foster.