Justin Bieber was born and raised in a small town in Canada. His mother worked in a series of office jobs, and his father was a mortician. At a young age, Bieber began playing drums and showed an aptitude for music. He taught himself piano, guitar, and trumpet before he was a teenager.
Bieber signed a record deal at age 13. By the time he was 17, he had already become one of the world’s most famous celebrities and was being pursued by paparazzi on a daily basis. He was also a regular on the international pop-culture circuit, touring constantly and spending his off-hours visiting hospitalized children and active duty soldiers.
Despite his success, Bieber had difficulty handling the level of infamy that came with such a meteoric rise. He found himself at the center of constant mockery by much of the media and even other musicians. He became increasingly protective of his private life, and he would later be accused of threatening photographers and assaulting a bodyguard. He also faced public backlash after he visited a museum in Amsterdam that paid tribute to Anne Frank and wrote that the young Holocaust victim “would have been a Belieber.”
The singer continued to tour, attracting larger crowds with each show. In addition to performing concerts, Bieber began filming television and movie projects.
By 2011, Bieber had a number of hit singles and was making more money than many traditional celebrities. He topped the charts with his album Never Say Never, and he appeared in several high-profile films. He even started dating a model and actress named Hailey Baldwin.
In late 2014, Bieber’s relationship with Baldwin ended and he went on to have an on-and-off romance with singer Selena Gomez. After a brief rekindling in 2019, the couple got engaged and married in a private ceremony.
Bieber’s latest album, Purpose, has been a commercial and critical success. Its first two singles, “Sorry” and “Baby,” dominated the Billboard charts and had massive YouTube success. The album has a more mature sound than Bieber’s previous releases, but it still retains the catchy beats and poppy lyrics that fans have come to expect from him.
Throughout the years, Bieber has used his celebrity status to raise money for charity and promote awareness of social injustice around the globe. He has partnered with Pencils of Promise, an organization founded by his manager and the younger brother of his record label’s CEO, and has donated his own funds as well as proceeds from his Someday line of fragrances and merchandising to the cause. He has also used his celebrity to highlight the human toll of war in countries like Syria, earthquake-torn Haiti, and post-Katrina New Orleans. Moreover, he has visited hospitalized children and wounded veterans. His charity work has earned him the title of a global ambassador for UNICEF. He has also supported charities that help children and families affected by the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone and the Zika epidemic in Brazil.