Ushered in to fanfare

R&B; phenom Chris Brown would like to state for the record that he is not “the next Usher” -- even though that’s what music critics from here to Japan are calling him.

Like Usher, 16-year-old Brown -- whose self-titled album lands in stores Tuesday -- is a frequent presence on Black Entertainment Television and MTV. And his single “Run It!” (featuring Juelz Santana) has received saturation airplay on pop radio.

Similarities to R&B;’s reigning bump ‘n’ grind hit maker don’t end there. Brown, a Virginia native, is already a heartthrob with the Tiger Beat magazine set a la Usher, whose first single hit the charts when he was still a month shy of his 15th birthday. And like Usher before him, Brown melds boy-next-door accessibility with come-hither appeal, balancing a kind of aw-shucks sweetness with a repertoire of “You Got Served” dance steps.

“He’s got the richness of vocal tone, the million-dollar smile, the star appeal,” said Barry Weiss, president of Zomba Label Group, which signed Brown to its subsidiary Jive Records last winter. “Superstars like Usher come along every 10, 15 years. Chris Brown is in that category. He’s a burgeoning superstar.”

Brown’s most recent chart ascendancy would seem to back up that claim. This month, his up-tempo club smash “Run It!” topped charts in almost every category for which it is eligible: Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, Hot Singles sales chart, Top 40 Rhythm chart, Hot 100 Airplay and Hot R&B;/Hip-hop Mainstream chart.

But the comparisons between Brown and Usher end when discussion turns to how the singers incubated their talent. Usher honed his performance chops in talent competitions such as TV’s “Star Search,” while Brown’s moves and sound were perfected on a much smaller stage in his hometown, Tappahannock, Va., population 2,000.

“We did [a music] industry showcase last May in front of 300 people. That was the first time he’d ever been onstage, singing into a microphone,” remembered Lisa Cambridge, Jive Records’ vice president of urban marketing. “Chris went from singing in front of the mirror in his bedroom to having the No. 1 [single] in the country.”

Nonetheless, for seven months and counting, the Usher comparisons have remained almost numbingly constant. Brown is flattered by such praise but also tries to maintain a philosophical distance.

“It’s annoying sometimes,” the singer conceded by phone from a Florida shopping mall, where he had finished greeting fans. “I want people to see me for me -- not just the next whoever. Not a clone. I want to be my own person.”

Jive label heads enlisted some of the hottest producers in pop -- Scott Storch, Cool & Dre and Jazze Pha among them -- to create tracks for Brown’s hip-hop-inflected debut. But marketers decided that the best way to make good on Brown’s unrehearsed appeal and “common touch” was to market him the old-fashioned way -- by taking him directly to the people, a seldom-used approach.

“With the technology and the way the market works, a lot of the time artists don’t go out on the road. Fans don’t get the opportunity to touch them,” Cambridge said. “Since May, Chris has been in every possible market, just doing all kinds of appearances -- going into teen centers and visiting schools.

“When you have an artist that’s potentially a superstar, it’s about more than visibility. It’s about making people personally invested.”

Seen as well as heard

CAMBRIDGE said Jive has sunk more than $500,000 into a nationwide “meet and greet” campaign that will familiarize the public with the singer’s down-to-earth personality in advance of his more traditional visibility campaign -- the television interviews, music videos and magazine pieces that usually accompany an artist’s new release -- that the label plans to roll out after the album’s release.

That budget covers a travel entourage including Brown’s mother, a manager, a tutor, security and a road manager.

“You’re talking about a huge investment,” Cambridge said. “But in turn, people will have an emotional investment in him. It’s that tribal mentality: You want people to follow the pied piper and be part of that movement. You want fans to take ownership.”

Colby Colb, programming director of WPHI radio in Philadelphia, said he was impressed by Brown’s embrace of fans at a local promotional stop.

“I was taken aback by the fact that he was willing to sign autographs for three hours,” Colb said. “But that’s the key to his appeal: He’s like a regular guy who gets the whole star thing but isn’t diva-fied yet. He’s very humble.”

According to Kelly G., senior music director at BET who made the decision to put Brown’s video for “Run It!” into “power rotation” (playing it at least every two hours), the singer’s current success is not a flash in the pan.

“I think he’s the real deal,” he said. “There’s a huge void out there. There aren’t many popular teenage boys singing who can connect with teen girls. Our audience wants Chris Brown. With Usher growing up, there’s a new kid on the block who can sing and dance.”

There are, however, other contenders for the under-21 R&B; crooner crown, including Omarion, Mario and Marcus Houston -- all of whom have also been compared with Usher at one point or another. Next month fans will be able to parse several of the singers’ pop appeal up close when Brown hits the road with Houston and Omarion -- as well as rapper Bow Wow and singer Ciara -- on a holiday tour.

Brown said he admires Michael Jackson and rapper LL Cool J for their career longevity. In the meantime, the singer is enjoying every minute of promo duty.

“It’s a blessing,” Brown said. “Everything Jive has done has been really supportive. It’s a good experience.”

Zomba chief Weiss said that marketing Brown is even easier than it looks.

“It’s not that different from Frankie Lymon recording ‘Why Do Fools Fall in Love?’ and having every kid fall in love with him,” he said. “It’s not that deep. Just get the hit act like this kid, make the hit and watch it go.”