I was born to be a dad: Usher

Los Angeles: Singer Usher, who has children Usher Raymond V, four and three-year-old Naviyd with ex-wife Tameka Raymond, says he was born to be a father and has refuted claims by Raymond that he is an absentee dad.

``Absentee from the aspect of having to go and work, that probably would be her version or idea of what absentee would be. But no, I`m not an absentee father at all," contactmusic.com quoted Usher as saying. ``I was born to do what I`m doing as a dad. I realised that once I had a child. When I had them, that`s when they became a priority," he added. Raymond recently lost custody of the two children to Usher, and he claims their bitter court battle over the kids means they are unlikely to ever be close again. ``We don`t see eye-to-eye. The friend that I was to Tameka, I don`t know that I could ever be again, because I really felt like we were friends. "She made us enemies in a way that I could never have understood. It wasn`t until I was on the stand, where I cried, that I realised, `Oh this is an attack`," he said. IANS