Justin Drew Bieber (born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian pop-R&B singer. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who happened to come across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. His debut single, "One Time", released worldwide in 2009, charted in the top 30 in over ten countries. His debut release, My World, followed on November 17, 2009, and was eventually certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. His first full studio release, My World 2.0, was released on March 23, 2010 and has since received similar success; it debuted at number one and within the top ten of several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby," in January 2010.
Millions of women would kill just to stand next to Justin Bieber. Sadly, scarily, we're not really exaggerating. But don't put Angelina Jolie in that group. The actress posed alongside Justin on the red carpet of Sunday's Golden Globes, much to her chagrin, apparently. A friend of Justin's named "jonmchu" posted the following TwitPic yesterday, claiming it was snapped when Bieber met Jolie on the red carpet. But we question its legitimacy. After all, how can any female stand next to this 16-year old and maintain her composure in such a manner?!? Justin didn't mind the snub. At the event, he Tweeted: "Backstage at the Golden Globes. Everyone is here. This is nuts!!"
Bieber has often been criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age and his effeminacy, teen pop music, image, and frequent media attention. He has been a frequent target for internet bloggers and message board posters—notably by users of internet message board 4chan, users of YouTube, and various Facebook groups. Pranks have included a successful campaign to push "Justin Bieber Syphilis" to the top of the Google Trends Hot Searches list; hacked YouTube videos that were altered so as to redirect users to adult websites or trigger pop-up messages saying that Bieber had been killed in a car accident; his Last.fm photograph being changed to pornographic images; various rumors circulated, from rumors that Bieber had died, joined a cult, or even that his mother was offered $50,000 to pose topless in Playboy magazine—none of which were true. This all forced the affected companies to update their security protocols to reverse the damage, and Bieber himself tweeted to fans reassuring them that he was still living and that false rumors about his mother "just grossed and weirded [him] out." Most notable was the campaign to send Bieber to North Korea as part of his world tour (entitled My World Tour). This was carried out in part by 4chan, digg, and reddit users voting for the country on the tour's website, for the free competition to nominate a bonus country for the tour—the second-placed country being Israel, which presumably was voted for by Israelis genuinely wishing to attend the concert. It is highly unlikely that Bieber would actually have been given permission by the North Korean government, or concert organizers and management, to enter the country. Universal Music Group has denied any involvement in a poll that became the target of an online prank. A spokesperson for UMG told BBC News that it was a "hoax" but declined to give any further comment. Nick Collins of The Daily Telegraph speculated that "Bieber's character also appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics, with many remarks commenting on his youthful appearance, his teen-pop songs, his image as a heart-throb to young teenage girls and his manner of speech".
