Usher Plays Dress-up

By Rebecca Winters

USHER has a confession to make: "Bobby Brown was my Michael Jackson." Steady there. What he means is that his childhood music hero was a guy who wore parachute pants. Wisely, Usher--or his handlers--hewed a little more classically when choosing icons for him to be photographed as for his March 5 Showtime special. Here the 26-year-old channels dapper Fred Astaire, "an elegant, graceful song-and-dance man," Usher says. He also donned Marvin Gaye's white cap--a sentimental favorite from "growing up hearing What's Going On at cookouts," he says--as well as wardrobes inspired by a young Jackson, James Brown and Miles Davis. Usher's next chance to get decked out will be at the Grammys, where he's up for eight awards. That's right, this kid is somebody's Bobby Brown.