Los Angeles, Sep 18 (IANS): 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.