Usher and Beyoncé go way back, so much so that he had to make sure she didn’t “get in no trouble.”
Ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show next month, the “Yeah” singer was asked by host Shannon Sharpe on the latest episode of “Club Shay Shay” about rumors that he was Beyoncé’s nanny when they were younger.
“First of all, how can I be a nanny? I’d be a manny,” Usher joked, before clarifying that he wasn’t Beyoncé’s nanny — but did have to supervise her and her former group members.
“(Producer and musician) Daryl Simmons, he had a group by the name of The Dolls, and they came to Atlanta for the first time,” Usher explained. “This is before Destiny’s Child became Destiny’s Child. I think I looked over them while they were doing something in the house.”
“I had to watch ‘em ‘cause I was like the, you know, the authority ‘cause I guess I was the teenager at the time,” he continued, adding he was “making certain that they didn’t, you know, get in no trouble in the house at the time.”
Over the years, Usher and Bey have collaborated. She was featured in his song, “Love In This Club (Remix)” and she helped him perform “Bad Girl” at one of his 2005 concerts. Usher, on his end, was also a dancer in Beyoncé’s “Naughty Girl” music video.
While talking to Sharpe, Usher spoke about knowing early on there “was something very special” about Beyoncé and her girl group.
“Destiny’s Child, they all thrive, even still to this day. When you see them and you see them together, they all thrive. They all are an incredible unit. Beyoncé had a talent and also a brilliance and a brightness that was very much different,” he said, later calling her his “sister.”
“To see that she’s done so amazing, and continue to thrive and just get bigger and better,” he said. “Whether it’s musically, in life or creativity, or all of it.”