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| Birth Name(s) : John Stephens |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer-songwriter, pianist |
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Full John Legend Biography
John Legend (born John Stephens, 28 December 1978, Columbus, Ohio) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist. His debut studio album, the platinum-selling Get Lifted, was released in late 2004, and features collaborations with rap artist and producer Kanye West as well as rapper Snoop Dogg. Get Lifted produced two singles: "Used to Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30) and "Ordinary People" (US and UK top 30). Legend has won five Grammy Awards. Prior to the release of his debut album, Legend's career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Notably, Legend sang the hooks for hits by Slum Village ("Selfish", also featuring Kanye West), Jay-Z ("Encore"), and Dilated Peoples ("This Way"); played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything is Everything"; and sang background vocals on Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road."
Legend's career began at the age of 3, when his grandmother began teaching him to play gospel piano. By the time he was 7 years old, Legend was singing with the church choir and taking lessons in classical music. Legend attended Springfield North High School, graduating as Salutatorian at 16. He was also prom king and president of the student council.
Legend attended the University of Pennsylvania (Class of 1999), where he studied English with an emphasis on African American literature and culture. While at Penn, he helmed Counterparts, a coed jazz and pop a cappella group as President (1997-1998) and Musical Director (1998-1999). Legend's lead vocals on the group's recording of Joan Osbourne's "One of Us" propelled the song to critical acclaim, landing it a coveted spot on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate A Cappella compilation CD.
Oddly enough, his first job after graduating from Penn was not in the music business -- Legend began working for the Boston Consulting Group in Boston and then New York City. Before becoming a mainstream artist, Legend hit the nightclub circuit in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., performing as an independent artist and distributing live LPs such as John Stephens and Live at SOB's.
It was John Legend's roommate and former Penn classmate, Devon Harris, professionally known as Devo Springsteen, who introduced Legend to his cousin and then up-and-coming hip hop artist Kanye West. Since that meeting, Legend and West have worked closely together, with West signing Legend as the first artist to join his new label, G.O.O.D. Music. Legend sang many of the melodic hooks on West’s demo, which would eventually become the Grammy Award winning album The College Dropout; in turn, West provided rhythm tracks for Legend’s demo, which would evolve into Get Lifted. Recently, Legend contributed to fellow G.O.O.D artist Common's LP, Be, and provided vocals for "High Road" on the album The Rising Tied by Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda).
Legend performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit. He also performed during the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, and he performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA. also he performed at the Grammy Awards.
In an interview with MTV.com, Legend said the new album would contain his favorite song that he has written to date, entitled "Again." He said he actually came up with the idea for the song and wrote some of it while sitting on a subway. He stated that the song was also the inspiration for the album's title.
The video for his latest single, "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", features Alexandre Rodrigues and Alice Braga from the critically acclaimed film, City of God.
Legend recently launched the Show Me Campaign, through which his fans are encouraged to donate funds toward improving the living situations and prospects of the poor in Ghana.
On July 26, 2007, he hosted a John Legend Network Members Only Party and Concert called "The Kings & Queens Bash" at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA. There were 500 participants in attendance and he introduced the acts from his new label, Homeschool Records to his John Legend Network fans: Estelle, Vaughn Anthony, Lucy Woodward and The James Gang. Nikki Jean, a local Philadelphia artist also performed. A highlight was John Legend's rendition of the hit song Ordinary People which he performed with jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet. The John Legend Network facilated a contest where a fan could win a chance to sing "King & Queen" with John Legend (the duet that John Legend recorded with Mary J. Blige) and the winner was Dorothy Saintus of Crest Hill, Illinois, where she and John Legend performed the duet live in front of everyone there.
In 2007, John Legend became the spokesman for GQ Magazine's THE GENTLEMEN'S FUND™, an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice.
In May 2007, John Legend partnered with Tide to raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard's Parish- 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 that Tide is helping to rebuild in that community. |
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