BY MELISSA RUGGIERI/AJC Music Scene
[Update 5:30 p.m.: A media representative for Andrew Young says that Usher did show up backstage at the end of the evening to personally greet Young and take photos with him. No word about why he didn't perform as advertised.]
It looked as if Usher was going to endure an extremely busy weekend of performing at Andrew Young's 85th birthday bash at Philips Arena on Saturday, then zipping across the ocean to participate in Sunday's "One Love Manchester" concert in England .
Turns out, he did neither.
On Monday, Usher posted an Instagram message that professed his support for Manchester and explained the reason for his absence at the Ariana Grande-organized charity concert: he stayed in Atlanta to take his son, Usher V (aka “Cinco”) to his first day at Camp Kudzu, which is dedicated to helping kids with type 1 diabetes.
“This was an important day for him and for myself as a proud father,” Usher said in his post.
Although he was heavily promoted in the materials advertising the Young celebration, at which Jill Scott, Wyclef Jean, Estelle and Anthony Brown performed (Akon was also a no-show), Usher never took the stage.
A representative for the Young event has not responded to a request for an explanation about the singer's absence.
