Justin Bieber

You might think of peaches, peanuts and the Braves when you think of Georgia, but if it weren’t for our state, pop sensation Justin Bieber might be prepping for his SAT’s and Usher might just be singing in the church choir in Chattanooga. Why? Because both performers come to Georgia for their vocal training and give much of the credit for their success to Jan Smith, an Atlanta singer song-writer who trains both men.

This is a great lesson for all of our kids – that the top performers in their field have to practice practice practice. Jan Smith has coached both men to learn to use their voice properly – Usher had lost his voice entirely when he first started training with Jan Smith – he was completely silent! Jan worked to bring back that jaunty “yeah!” that Usher is so famous for. She helped him so much that Usher encouraged Justin Beiber to work with her, so he moved here a few years ago to train with Smith. Both men honored Jan Smith at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards on September 17 and Bieber performed an acoustic set - check out “Baby Baby Baby” without the dance moves – it’s a different sound! Congratulations to Georgia’s own Jan Smith – as they say, behind every great man, there’s a woman!