Access Spotlight: Justin Bieber On His Early Years

Justin Bieber’s skyrocket ride to international superstardom has brought him comparisons to Michael Jackson. In fact, Justin told Access Hollywood’s Maria Menounos it’s a Michael-type career he’s reaching for.

But what do fans really know about the Canadian singing sensation? Maria met up with Justin to put him in the Access Hollywood Spotlight!

Over 8,000 fans infected with Bieber Fever waited to get inside the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii earlier this month for the first of two sold out Justin Bieber concerts on his “My World” tour, sponsored by X-Box 360, and Maria was there with the singer as he met up with fans for a special meet and greet.

Soaking in the adulation in his signature low-slung skinny jeans, the Justin today is a far cry from his humble beginnings.

“I mean, it’s crazy like – just to think that three years ago,” he said of going from hopeful to superstar.

It was as recent as 2007 when a then-12-year-old Justin competed in his hometown Stratford, Ontario’s talent show, “Stratford Idol.”

“What made you want to compete in that?” Maria asked.

“I had nothing to do really and I saw it posted at school I was like, ‘I should try out for this,’ and so I ended up trying out and I made it,” Justin said. “I ended up getting second place in the competition.”

“You didn’t take any singing lessons growing up?” Maria asked.

“Not really, no. I took like the last… right at the end of ‘Stratford,’… I took them for like two weeks and then I moved to Atlanta,” he said.

“I read somewhere you took some drumming lessons,” Maria mentioned.

“Yeah. Took drum lessons when I was like 6 to like… 10,” Justin revealed.

Justin grew up in public housing, raised primarily by his single mom Pattie. Justin’s dad Jeremy visited regularly and introduced his son to rock ‘n’ roll.

“We were in a really poor apartment… We just depended on how much my mom made… how much the rent would be,” Justin said. “I didn’t have a lot of money. but like, I always had a place to stay like I always had a meal, you know my grandparents spoiled me a lot.”

But Justin’s life was about to change. He and his mom took the videos of him competing and posted them online, merely as a way for out of town family and friends to see what he had done. Justin continued to add more videos of himself performing and others quickly took notice.

“When you were putting them up you were doing it for your friends and family, when you started to see the views rack up, what were you thinking?” Maria asked about the videos, which scored 10 million online views..

“I was basically just like… I couldn’t believe it, like I can’t believe this is happening,” he said.