According to TMZ, Usher has asked a judge in Georgia to dismiss his ex’s suit, insisting that her case is based on lies.

Back in November, Raymond claimed that the ‘Lil Freak’ creator has repeatedly violated the terms of their joint-custody agreement. In particular, she charged the singer with traveling outside of Georgia with the children, hiring nannies without her approval and depriving her of money to hire a nanny of her own.

She also said he took away her Saks 5th Avenue card, something he patently denies, and last month, she tried to make him take a drug test.

The warring former spouses are due in court on Feb. 27, when things will undoubtedly get a whole lot uglier.

October 14 – Shopping At Barney’s [HQ]

10.15 – Bill Clinton Benefit [HQ]

10.27 – Stops For Coffee [HQ]

In true Guetta style, the video will depict a world without borders in which everyone dances to the beat of his universal drum. “It’s one world (. . .) it’s all about the love and the music,” Guetta explains in the behind the scenes video. “It’s one big party!”

Guetta’s collaboration with Usher on “Without You” is one of Guetta finest collaborations to date that brings his ambition of bridging European dance music and American R&B to life. In fact, I think that Usher’s heartfelt performance on “Without You” is one of the singer’s most noteworthy accomplishments in recent years. It’s fresh, original, and most importantly, it’s sung from the heart.

In the behind the scenes footage, the Atlanta based R&B icon talks a little bit more about what inspired the song and the bittersweet qualities it so perfectly captures. “When we talked about doing a record together, I remember [David] saying that he wanted it to be something where you would be so happy but you’re crying at the same time on the middle of the dancefloor,” Usher explains with Guetta by his side. “Some of the greatest experiences of your life happen at those moments. And we wanted to give you that moment in the song.”

Watch the behind the scenes video after the break. The full-length video for “Without You” will premiere in the next few days.

The core programs managed by New Look include the New Look Leadership Academy, Moguls In Training, Powered By Service and the World Leadership Conference. New Look has also made impacts internationally in Kenya, Haiti and Manila. There are five chapters of the foundation: Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York and Detroit.

Some of the work by the foundation includes:

September 2005 – In response to Hurricane Katrina, Project Restart Concert raises financial resources to provide 1000 youth & families from New Orleans with rent and utility assistance

*November 2008 – 1000 youth served through youth conference sponsored by Casey Family of Programs
*2010 New Look Issues a Call to Action for Haiti Relief to youth internationally; receiving responses from youth in 17 countries
*August 2010 – First Annual World Leadership Conference and Awards held with 2700 guests, including President Clinton

Since 1991 the Freedom Awards has recognized individuals who demonstrate national and global work for justice, equality, philanthropy, civil and human rights and humanitarian work.

Usher will join the following honorees for the November 12th awards event in Memphis, TN: Cicely Tyson, Susan L. Taylor, Alonzo Mourning, Bill Russell, Dr. Bill Frist, Kirk Whalum, Hill Harper, The Southern Poverty Law Center, The NAACP, Marva Collins and Icons of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Previous recipients include: President Nelson Mandela (South Africa), President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, President Jimmy Carter, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Ambassador Andrew Young, Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Eva Longoria, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Myrlie Evers Williams, B. B. King, Diane Nash, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Marian Wright Edelman, Dr. Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, the Dalai Lama and Elie Wiesel.

The sponsors are NIKE, FedEx, International Paper, the Ford Motor Fund Foundation, The Hyde Family Foundation, ExxonMobil and the First Tennessee Foundation.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/449898#ixzz1aVpiXh63

Last month, a California federal judge found there to be sufficient possibility that Usher and co-defendants who produced the song had access to Slaughter’s work, “Reasons,” created in 1998. The judge accepted a musicologist’s report that noted substantial similarity between the songs and denied a motion to dismiss the case on summary judgment. That means a jury might have the rare opportunity to listen to two songs and determine if the Usher song was stolen.

But before that happens, Usher’s camp is pleading with the judge to re-examine whether there was any chance he was familiar with Straughter’s work.

Attorneys for the defendants, including Usher, producer Jermaine Dupri, EMI April Music, Sony Music, Arista Records, and others filed a motion on Friday that asks U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder to reconsider her August order denying summary judgment.

In the case, Straugther alleges he created a song entitled “The Reasons Why,” which showed up on an album by the R&B group Reel Tight under the name “No More Pain” in late 1998.

To make the claims stick, Straughter needs to show two big elements – that the defendants had access to his work and there was substantial similarity in the songs.

Here’s a YouTube clip of Usher’s “Burn” and a clip of Reel Tight’s “No More Pain.” Hard for us to hear significant resemblance, but an expert for the plaintiffs submitted a report that the two songs shared measurable similarities, including a “highly unusual” 18-bar introduction, musical instruments that enter at the exact same bars, similar guitar and vocal stylings, the pitches and phrasings of certain melodies, and other compositional congruity.

Leaving aside the issue of whether these songs sound alike, the big controversy at the moment in the lawsuit is whether Usher and Dupri had access to Straughter’s song.

Straughter offered several theories, some more convincing than others.

In her decision, Judge Snyder didn’t buy the one about Usher and members of Reel Tight having much personal contact with each other. But she did rule it to be an issue of material fact whether a third-party intermediary, hip hop star Warren G, may have provided the link, having had mutual collaboration with both parties. Further, the judge did her own independent research and found Reel Tight’s album to have reached position 197 for a single week in 1999 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart of top 200 albums. As such, the judge says the song may have been heard by Usher because it was available through “wide dissemination.”

In papers to the court on Friday, Usher’s camp attacks these theories.

Usher says there was no attempt by the court to show access by anybody who had responsibility over “Burn,” as Warren G played no role in the song’s creation.

As for “wide dissemination,” the defendants attempt to school the judge on the fact that an album isn’t a song. The plaintiff’s song, it’s pointed out, was a “random and unproven song buried on an album.” Further, they show the song got played on the radio around the nation just three times, twice in Chattanooga, Tennessee and once in Denver.

“The fact that the song had virtually no radio airplay forecloses any inference that it was widely disseminated, let alone remotely popular,” say the defendants to the judge.

Judge Snyder now gets to decide whether to take these arguments and backtrack. Otherwise, this will be the rare song theft case that goes before a jury.

The R&B/pop crooner got the crowd swaying and twirling their glowsticks by joining French DJ and producer David Guetta to perform the latest single from Guetta’s new album, Nothing But The Beat, the electro-ballad “Without You.”

While Guetta worked the turntables, Usher worked the partying audience with some (mostly) smooth vocals and sweet dance moves. {VIDEO AFTER THE BREAK}

Appearance

Performance

Photoshoot

Usher’s New Look Foundation is holding its annual awards program and leadership symposium in metro Atlanta through Friday at the Cobb Galleria and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

The conference’s theme is “One World Powered By Service” and the program will encourage youth to participate in service and to raise their awareness about the global issues of health, education, hunger, poverty and the environment. It will include two days of workshops and panels led by the youth and leaders in various fields.

Speakers include Usher, entertainer and philanthropist; Stephenie Foster, author and former general counsel of the U.S. General Services Administration; and Hital Muraj, manager of Cisco East Africa.

New Look youth members will also talk about their service projects, including Misty Parks, Richard Lawson and Jasmine Pollard. They will talk about the importance of health and fitness through their project, “Youth N2 Fitness,” which focuses on physical and nutritional health

Business mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner will receive the “Service Legacy Award” on Friday. .

For information: www.ushersnewlook.org.