Rico Love

Rico Love
Rico Love in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Richard Preston Butler Jr.
Born	(1982-12-03) December 3, 1982 (age 41) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Origin	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Genres	R&B[1] hip hop
Occupations	Songwriter record producer singer rapper
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Division1 Interscope Universal Motown Warner/Chappell
Children	2
Website	welovemusicconference.com

Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American songwriter, record producer, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, but split his childhood between Milwaukee and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, worked his way into the music industry through connections with singer Usher, who became one of Butler's frequent collaborators.

Usher's 2004 song, "Throwback", was Butler's first major songwriting credit; its parent album, Confessions (2004), won Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. Butler's contributions to Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce,^[2] Usher's Raymond v. Raymond (2009),^[3] and the album's single, "There Goes My Baby" each won Grammy Awards.^[3] He also co-wrote "Heart Attack" for Trey Songz, which received a nomination for the award.^[4] Throughout the decade, he was credited on commercially successful R&B singles including Usher's "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)", Nelly's "Just a Dream" and "Gone", and Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams".^[5][6][7] He has worked with artists such as Kelly Rowland,^[8] Mario,^[9] Chris Brown,^[10] Alexandra Burke, Keri Hilson,^[11] Fergie,^[12] and Fantasia.^[13]

As a recording artist, Butler has released two studio albums: TTLO (2015) and Even Kings Die (2018); the former spawned the single "They Don't Know", which moderately entered the Billboard Hot 100. He launched the record label Division1 as an imprint of Universal Motown in 2010, and later Interscope Records in 2013; it has signed artists including Young Chris, Tiara Thomas, and Teairra Marí.^[14][15][16] He has guest performed on albums for T.I., Jermaine Dupri, Jamie Foxx,^[17] Rich Boy,^[18] and Fat Joe.^[19]