Usher mulling return of mom-ager Jonetta Patton

Monday, July 7th 2008, 4:00 AM

Usher with mom, Jonetta Patton

Is Usher ready to admit mother knows best?

The singer is said to be quietly talking with mom Jonetta Patton about becoming his manager again.

Last year, just days before Mother's Day, Usher stunned friends by telling the woman who turned him into an R&B superstar that her services were no longer needed. Shortly afterward, we revealed that he was replacing her with Benny Medina, the man who has steered the careers of Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez, among others.

But now that Usher's new album has been slow off the mark, he's blaming Medina, say sources. True, the CD, "Here I Stand," debuted at number one. But Usher is said to have been disappointed that it sold 433,000 in its first week, compared with his last CD, 2004's "Confessions," which had sales of 1.1 million in its first seven days.

Medina, who's an expert at holding artists' hands, reassured Usher that his latest sales were nothing to be ashamed of, considering the current climate of the record business. But then, three weeks later, Lil Wayne's album, "Tha Carter III," sold more than one million copies its first week out.

"Usher was livid!," claims an insider. "He threatened to fire everyone."
Also troubling were the ratings for the BET Awards. While the show pulled 6.3 million viewers when Beyonce opened it last year, the Usher-headlined show drew only 5.8 million.

"People have been telling Usher to listen to his mother," says a source. "Nobody knows how to sell him better than she does. Usher can be stubborn. But he may be ready."

Some claim Usher pink-slipped his mom because she failed to show proper deference to his stylist-turned-girlfriend-turned-wife, Tameka Foster. But now that Foster has given her a grandson, the two ladies are said to be getting along better. Usher, for one, denies he fired his mom. Rather, he tells Vibe, "[I paid her] the ultimate compliment - to retire her to be a full-time grandmother."

Patton has actually been busy running her own record label and managing other artists, including Usher's brother, Jlack. But sources say that if Usher cries momma, she's there for him.

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