Usher was born in Oxford, England. He lived in many different places such as Malaysia, New York City, California and Thailand before his family decided to finally settle in Kingston, Ontario. Usher attended high school at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute and he attended Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. He majored in political science. While attending Simon Fraser, Usher formed Moist with guitarist Mark Makowy and keyboardist Kevin Young.