John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor.He has won nine Grammy Awards. In 2007, Legend received the special Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame
| John Legend | |
|---|---|
John Legend at the Citi Presents Evenings with Legends show on 29 January 2014 in New York.
| |
| Born | John Roger Stephens December 28, 1978 Springfield, Ohio, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, actor |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Spouse(s) | Chrissy Teigen (m. 2013) |
| Website | |
| johnlegend.com | |
Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Legend
Prior to the release of Legend's debut album, his career
gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple
established artists. Legend added his voice to those of other artists,
assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to Magnetic
Man's "Getting Nowhere," Kanye West's "All of the Lights",
on Slum Village's "Selfish" and Dilated Peoples' "This
Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and he sang
backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name",
the Kanye West remix of Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music", and
Fort Minor's "High Road". Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's
"Everything Is Everything". He has also gained chart topping hits
from his solo work as well, including the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single,
"All of Me".
Early life
John Roger Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in
Springfield, Ohio.[2] He is one of four children[3] of Phyllis (née Lloyd), a
seamstress, and Ronald Stephens, a factory worker and former National
Guardsman.[4][5][6] Throughout his childhood, Legend was homeschooled on and
off by his mother.[7] At age four, he performed with his church choir. He began
playing the piano at age seven. In 1987,[3] when he was nine,[5] his parents
divorced. At the age of twelve, Legend attended North High School, from which
he graduated four years later.[8] Upon his salutatorian graduation, Legend was
offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown
University and Morehouse College.[9] He attended the University of
Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African American
literature.[10]
While in college, Legend served as president and musical
director of a co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group called Counterparts. His lead
vocals on the group's recording of Joan Osborne's "One of Us"
received critical acclaim landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best
of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD.[11] Legend was also a member of the
prestigious senior societies Sphinx Senior Society and Onyx Senior Honor Society
while an undergraduate at Penn. While in college, Legend was introduced to
Lauryn Hill by a friend. Hill hired him to play piano on "Everything Is
Everything", a song from her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.[9]
During this period, he began to hold a number of shows
around Philadelphia, eventually expanding his audience base to New York,
Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He finished college in 1999, and
thereafter began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released
two albums independently; his self-titled demo (2000) and Live at Jimmy's
Uptown (2001), which he sold at his shows. After graduating from the University
of Pennsylvania, Legend began working as a management consultant for the Boston
Consulting Group.[8] During this time, he began working on his demo and began
sending his work to various record labels.[7][12] In 2001, Devo Springsteen
introduced Legend to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West; Legend was
hired to sing during the hooks of West's music. After signing to West's label,
he chose his stage name from an idea that was given to him by poet J. Ivy, due
to what he perceived "old-school sound". J. Ivy stated, "I heard
your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school. You sound like
one of the legends. As a matter of fact, that's what I'm going to call you from
now on! I'm going to call you John Legend." After J. Ivy continued to call
him by the new moniker "John Legend," others quickly caught on,
including Kanye West, and the name stuck. Despite Legend's reluctance to change
his stage name, he eventually announced his new artist name as John
Legend.[9][13]
Career
2004–2007: Get Lifted and Once Again
Legend released his debut album, Get Lifted, on GOOD Music
in December 2004. It featured production by Kanye West, Dave Tozer, and
will.i.am, and debuted at number 13 on the US Billboard 200, selling 116,000
copies in its first week.[14] It went on to sell 540,300 copies in the United
States and was certified gold by the RIAA.[15][16] An international success,
Get Lifted also reached number one of the Norwegian Albums Chart and peaked
within the top ten in the Netherlands and Sweden, resulting into worldwide
sales of 850,000 copies.[9] Critically acclaimed, it won the 2006 Grammy Award
for Best R&B Album, and earned Legend another two nominal awards for Best
New Artist and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Altogether, the album
produced four singles, including debut single "Used to Love U," which
entered the top 30 of the New Zealand and UK Singles Chart, and Grammy
Award-winning "Ordinary People" which peaked at 24 on the Billboard
Hot 100. John Legend also co-wrote Janet Jackson's "I Want You",
which was certified Platinum and received a nomination for Best Female R&B
Vocal Performance at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.[17]
A highly sought after collaborator, Legend was featured on
several records the following years; he appeared on albums by Fort Minor,
Sérgio Mendes, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, The Black Eyed Peas, Stephen Colbert, Rich
Boy, MSTRKRFT, Chemistry, and Fergie, among others. Legend also tentatively
worked with Michael Jackson on a future album for which he had written one
song.[18] In August 2006, Legend appeared in an episode of Sesame Street. He performed
a song entitled "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song", a duet with
Hoots the Owl.[19] He also performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL
in Detroit and the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game.[20][21]
In October 2006, Legend's second album, Once Again, was
released. Legend co-wrote and co-produced the bulk of the album, which saw him
reteaming with West and will.i.am but also spawned production from Raphael
Saadiq, Craig Street, Sa-Ra, Eric Hudson, Devo Springsteen, Dave Tozer and Avenue.
Released to major commercial success, it reached number three on the Billboard
200 and debuted on top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It was
eventually certified platinum by the RIAA, and reached gold status in Italy,
the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. At the 2007 Grammy Awards ceremony,
the song "Heaven" was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B
Vocal Performance, while lead single "Save Room" received a nod in
the Best Male Pop Vocal category. Legend won a second Grammy that year for
"Family Affair," a collaboration with Sly & The Family Stone,
Joss Stone and Van Hunt, for the former's Different Strokes by Different Folks
album.
2008–2010: Evolver and Wake Up!
In January 2008, Legend sang in a video for Barack Obama,
produced by will.i.am called "Yes We Can".[22] The same year, Legend
had a supporting, singing-only role in the 2008 movie Soul Men, where he plays
the deceased lead singer of a fictitious soul group that includes Samuel L.
Jackson and Bernie Mac. In October, he released his third studio album,
Evolver.[23] Speaking about the reasons for calling the album Evolver, he
stated: "I think people sometimes come to expect certain things from
certain artists. They expect you to kind of stay in the same place you were at
when you started out. Whereas I feel I want my career to be defined by the fact
that I'm NOT gonna stay in the same place, and that I'm always gonna try new
things and experiment. So, as I think this album represents a manifestation of
that, I came up with the title 'Evolver'."[24] The album was preceded by
dance pop-influenced uptempo single "Green Light" which featured
rapper Andre 3000 of OutKast and became his highest-charting single since
"Ordinary People"; it was also released for the Grammy Award for Best
Rap/Sung Collaboration.[25]
Legend returned to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio in 2008
to give a free benefit concert in support of Barack Obama
In 2009, Legend performed in The People Speak, a documentary
feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters,
diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A
People's History of the United States.[26] Also in 2009, Legend and The Roots
teamed up to record a collaborative album, Wake Up!, which was released on
September 21, 2010.[27] The first single released from the album was "Wake
Up Everybody" featuring singer Melanie Fiona and rapper Common.[28][29] In
February 2011, Legend won three prizes at the 53rd Annual Grammy Music Awards.
He was awarded Best R&B Song for "Shine", while he and The Roots
won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Vocal
Performance for "Hang On in There". In March 2011, Legend and The
Roots won two NAACP Image Awards – one for Outstanding Album (Wake Up!) and one
for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration.
2011–present: Tour, Duets and Love in the Future
On July 5, 2011, songwriter Anthony Stokes filed a copyright
infringement lawsuit against John Legend in United States District Court, in
the District of New Jersey, alleging that Legend's song "Maxine's
Interlude" from his 2006 album Once Again derives from Stokes' demo
"Where Are You Now".[30] Stokes claimed he gave Legend a demo of the
song in 2004 following a concert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.[31] Legend denied the allegations, telling E! Online, "I never heard
of his song until he sued me. I would never steal anyone's song. We will fight
it in court and we will prevail."[32] However, nearly 60,000 people took a
TMZ.com poll that compared the two songs and 65% of voters believed that
Legend's "Maxine's Interlude" is a rip-off of Stokes' "Where Are
You Now".[33] A year later, Legend confirmed that he settled the lawsuit
with Stokes.[34]
Also in 2011, Legend completed a 50-date tour as a guest for
British soul band Sade. In the San Diego stop, Legend confirmed that he is
working on his next studio album and played a new song called
"Dreams".[35] Later, via his official website, he revealed the
official title of the album to be Love in the Future, and debuted part of a new
track called "Caught Up". The album has been executive-produced by
Legend himself, along with Kanye West and Dave Tozer - the same team who worked
on Legend's previous albums Get Lifted and Once Again. Legend has stated that
his intention for the record was "To make a modern soul album - to flip
that classic feel into a modern context."[36]
Legend was granted an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Howard
University at the 144th Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 12, 2012.[37]
Legend was a judge on the ABC music show Duets along with Kelly Clarkson,
Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke. Legend's spot was originally for Lionel
Richie but he had to leave the show due to a scheduling conflict. Duets debuted
on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 8/7c.[38] He released his fourth studio album,
Love in the Future, on September 3, 2013, debuting number 4 on the Billboard
200, selling 68,000 copies in its first week.[39] The album has been nominated
for Best R&B album at the upcoming 2014 Grammy Awards.[40] Legend's third
single of the album named, "All Of Me" became a big success peaking
at #1 on both the iTunes charts and Billboard Hot 100. The song is a ballad
that was dedicated to his wife that he recently married, and has been performed
at the "56th Annual Grammy Awards".
Philanthropy
In May 2007, Legend partnered with Tide laundry detergent to
raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard Parish, (Chalmette,
LA) one of the most devastated areas hit by Hurricane Katrina; he spent a day
folding laundry at the Tide "clean start" mobile laundromat and
visited homes which Tide is helping to rebuild in that community. On July 7,
2007, Legend participated in the Live Earth concert in London, performing
"Ordinary People". After reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs' book, The
End of Poverty, Legend started his Show Me Campaign in 2007; with this
campaign, Legend called on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who
reside in Bossaso Village[where?] and non-profit organizations that the
campaign partners with. Also in 2007, Legend was the spokesman for GQ
Magazine's "Gentlemen's Fund", an initiative to raise support and
awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health,
education, environment, and justice.[citation needed] In October 2007, Legend
became involved [clarification needed] with a project sponsored by The Gap, a
retail clothing store chain in the United States. Through their "project
red campaign" (also called "2 WEEKS"), The Gap's contribution to
their global fund from the sale of each (2 WEEKS) t-shirt is equivalent to the
average cost of 2 weeks of anti-retroviral medicine in Africa, which enables
people living with HIV to lead healthy, normal lives.
In early 2008, he began touring with Alexus Ruffin and
Professor Jeff Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute to promote
sustainable development as an achievable goal. Legend joined Sachs as a keynote
speaker and performer at the inaugural Millennium Campus Conference. Legend
then joined the Board of Advisors of the Millennium Campus Network (MCN), and
has supported MCN programs through online support and funding fellowships for
MCN summer interns through the Show Me Campaign. In 2009, Legend gave AIDS
Service Center NYC permission to remix his song "If You're Out There"
to create a music video promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and testing.[41]
On January 22, 2010, he performed "Sometimes I Feel
Like a Motherless Child" on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon show.[42] On
September 8, 2010, John Legend joined the national board of Teach For
America.[43] Legend also sits on the boards of The Education Equality Project,
the Harlem Village Academies, and Stand for Children. He serves on the Harlem
Village Academies’ National Leadership Board. On September 9, 2010, he
performed "Coming Home" on the Colbert Report as a tribute song for
the end of combat operations in Iraq, and for the active troops and the
veterans of the United States Armed Forces.[44] In 2011, he contributed the
track "Love I've Never Known" to the Red Hot Organization's most
recent album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996
"Red Hot+Rio." Proceeds from the album sales will be donated to raise
awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. On
March 6, 2012, John Legend was appointed by the World Economic Forum to the
Forum of Young Global Leaders.[45] On June 1, 2013, Legend performed at Gucci's
global concert event in London whose campaign, "Chime For Change",
aims to raise awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health and
justice.[46] At a press conference before his performance, Legend identified
himself as a feminist saying, "All men should be feminists. If men care
about women's rights the world will be a better place."[47]
Personal life
After eight years of dating, Legend became engaged to model
Chrissy Teigen in December 2011.[48][49] They married on September 14, 2013, in
Como, Italy. His song, "All of Me", is a dedication to her.[50]
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