Like so many smalltown Canadian boys, 15-year-old Justin Bieber grew up wanting to be a professional hockey player -- just like his hero, Wayne Gretzky.
Then his mom posted some videos of him singing at a talent contest -- he came in second place -- to share with relatives on YouTube. Some 85 million hits later, the sweet-voiced, fresh-faced kid from Stratford, Ont., now finds himself a teen pop star.
"I was never the kid that was, like, 'Oh, I want to be famous.' Or, 'I want to be out there.' Not at all, really," Bieber said recently while sequestered in the stock room of clothing store at a suburban Toronto mall, away from hundreds of screaming teenage girls who had turned out for an autograph signing.
"I sang, but it was just for fun ... I did a lot of different stuff. I played sports. Singing was just another hobby ... And I never took it seriously. I never got lessons. I use to practise my signature for hockey. It's kind of how I learned to give my autograph."
Atlanta-based music promoter Scooter Braun, who previously had signed frat-boy rapper Asher Roth, saw the growing response to Bieber's videos on YouTube, and Braun flew the young singer and his mother down to Georgia.
After both Usher and Justin Timberlake showed interest in signing and mentoring him -- Usher won out -- Bieber recorded his debut album, My World, on the Island-Def Jam label. (Watch Justin sing Usher's "U Got It Bad" to Usher below! )
The disc, which already has spawned two hit singles -- One Time and One Less Lonely Girl -- hits stores today.
"We were going to Jermaine Dupri's studio (in Atlanta), and Usher just happens to roll up at the same time," Bieber said. "So that's how the whole Usher thing happened. But I also had a meeting with Justin Timberlake. I really couldn't have gone wrong either way, signing to either label. They were both great guys and the situations were both unique and really good, but it was basically down to having L.A. Reid backing me up on Usher's side."
Not surprisingly, Bieber doesn't get back to Stratford much, where his mother Pattie Mallette worked two jobs and raised him alone.
Bieber now is homeschooled on the road by a tutor, with the goal of graduating from The School Of Young Performers in New York.
"I've been travelling so much I haven't got back to Stratford in a while," said Bieber, who now requires several bodyguards whenever he goes out in public. "And when I go back I'm, like, there for a day, and then I leave again."
The pint-sized singer recently appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show (he returns for a second visit today) and on The Today Show, where he drew 5,000 screaming female fans. Bieber was even profiled in Entertainment Weekly.
Soon, he'll open for Taylor Swift on some European dates.
So why does he seem so calm and unaffected by all the radical changes in his life over the past couple of years?
"It's been a lot of fun, just coming from Stratford, Ontario, to where I am now. It's been great.
"What 15-year-old boy would not want all these girls? Every so often, I think, 'Wow.' But I don't know. I just don't think about it. I just take it one day at a time."
