R&B singer Usher wins primary custody of sons

Grammy-
winning R&B singer Usher on
Friday was awarded primary
physical custody of his two
sons, ending a long legal fight
with his ex-wife. Fulton County Superior Court
Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane
ruled that the singer, 33, will
have primary custody of 4-
year-old Usher Raymond V
and 3-year-old Naviyd Ely Raymond, according to
Cherrise Boone, spokeswoman
for the court clerk's office.
His custody will start Sept. 1. Boone said Usher and his ex-
wife Tameka Foster Raymond
will have joint legal custody.
The type of visitation hasn't
been determined yet for
Tameka Raymond. Usher's lawyer, Ivory Brown,
did not immediately return a
call on Friday. Lisa West, a
lawyer for Tameka Raymond,
did not immediately return an
email seeking comment. Usher, whose real name is
Usher Raymond IV, married
Tameka Raymond in 2007.
They divorced two years
later. He said the couple had
been separated since July 2008 and claimed there was
"no reasonable hope of
reconciliation" and the
marriage was "irretrievably
broken." In May, Usher testified that
Tameka Raymond spit at and
tried to fight with his
girlfriend during one visit and
that his ex-wife hit him during
the dispute. He said he didn't press charges because: "I
didn't want the boys to know
that their father put their
mother in jail," he said. Tameka Raymond's attorney
claimed that Usher provoked
her client and that his account
is exaggerated. The custody decision comes
after Tameka Raymond's 11-
year-old son Kile Glover died
last month after he was
critically injured in a boating
accident. The boy was run over July 6 by a personal
watercraft on Lake Lanier,
according to the Georgia
Department of Natural
Resources. Lake Lanier is
about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.