Usher Doing Things - His Way

According to this article from the AJC, Usher is opening a chain of wine bars.

Some recording stars lend their names — not to mention their millions — to restaurants, nightclubs and velvet-rope lounges. But a chain of wine bars?

Usher Raymond IV, known to fans by his first name, announced that his soon-to-open Inman Park franchise of the Grape would be the first of several he'll open in a long-term partnership with Grape CEO Jack Mazur and financial adviser Solomon Smallwood.

By late 2007 he plans to open a branch of this royal-purple wine bar/wine store/small plates concept in Manhattan to coincide with the release of his next album. He'll follow that with branches on the Las Vegas Strip and in Los Angeles. From there maybe the world, with possible openings in Tokyo or Shanghai under discussion.

Usher has long been a fan of the Phipps Plaza branch. "I was always the guy who'd buy out the store," he said Friday at the Inman Park site, as nearby employees sampled dishes and sips of wine. It was at Phipps that the 28-year-old singer/actor first learned to love the grape. Since then, he said, "I've enjoyed discovering beautiful wines as I've traveled through the world."
Like many a wine fan, he's discovered a soft spot for burgundies.

"If you're going to call yourself a wine drinker, you've gotta have at least one burgundy in your stash," he said.