“Bieber Fever” is a common affliction for tweens, teens, and even some adult women, deny it though they might.  The baby face … the flippy hair … the voice … Justin Bieber is just all that and a bag of chips for a (shockingly) large number of people.

For those of us immune to his evident appeal as a sex idol (and I count myself in this number … I mean, come on, he’s sixteen), though, the real story is the fact that he was raised by a single mother, achieving stratospheric success from rather …

… humble beginnings.

From Ezine:

Justin Bieber was born March 1, 1994 in London, Ontario and was then raised in Stratford, Ontario. Bieber was raised by a single mother that was only eighteen years old. She worked at several low-paying jobs, but still managed to keep her son satisfied.

Bieber’s mother, Pattie Mallette, recognized early on her son’s musical potential.  She encouraged his passion, as impressed with everyone else by her child teaching himself how to play instruments ranging from the piano to the trumpet.

Even in two-parent families, it’s really easy to let things slide.  Your kid’s into sports or music or drama or whatever and shows some aptitude?  Great, but if you don’t have the time or the money to put into nurturing the passion to its fullest potential, it’s not going to be what it could.

Pattie Mallette watered the seed of Justin’s musical passion, and, man, did it bloom.

Bieber’s mother posted many videos of her son’s performances online. This is how his video got leaked to Usher in the first place. This video was of Bieber singing Ne-Yo’s song “So Sick” in a competition that he placed only second in.

Another great thing about these uploaded videos was the fact that [Manager Scooter] Braun found him. Braun was looking at videos one day, searching for a totally different singer, and accidentally came upon Bieber’s video. He was very impressed by what he saw. Even though his mother was hesitant to let him start a singing career, she finally decided to let him go with Braun to start on his demo tapes at the age of thirteen.

And so, when opportunity knocked for her son, Mallette went with it.  She made the incredibly difficult decision to let her son enter a crazy world at a very young age, going so far as to leave her home country for Atlanta so Bieber could be in close proximity to his mentor and manager.

Parenting is a hard enough gig as it is, and trying to raise a child alone can exacerbate it.  In a world where a lot of people try to cut corners or view their offspring as “friends” rather than children, the story of Pattie Mallette and her son is—dare I say it?—refreshing.

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