Background

John Legend was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio. He is one of four children of Phyllis Elaine (Lloyd), a seamstress, and Ronald Lamar Stephens, a factory worker at International Harvester.

Education

Legend was homeschooled by his mother. At the age of four, he performed with his church choir. He began playing the piano at age seven.

At the age of 12, Legend attended Springfield North High School, from which he graduated salutatorian of his class four years later. According to Legend, he was offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown University and Morehouse College. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African-American literature.

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" (written by Eric Bazilian of The Hooters) received critical acclaim, landing the song on the tracklist of 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. 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.

Career

Stephens moved to New York City, working for the Boston Consulting Group by day and playing piano and singing in nightclubs; he sold self-produced CDs (John Stephens (2000) and Live at Jimmy’s Uptown (2001)) at those appearances. In 2001 he was introduced to the up-and-coming producer Kanye West and began contributing keyboard music and backing vocals to tracks by other artists, among them Alicia Keys, Talib Kweli, and the Black-Eyed Peas. During that time he adopted the stage name John Legend.

Legend worked on West’s debut album as a rap musician, The College Dropout (2004). After West formed his own label (G.O.O.D. Records) with Sony Music, the first album he produced was Legend’s major-label debut, Get Lifted, released in the final week of 2004. Buoyed by the ballad “Ordinary People,” the album rose up European and American popular-music and rhythm-and-blues charts. It garnered eight Grammy Award nominations and won for best R&B album and best male R&B vocal performance. In addition, Legend took the award for the best new artist. His sophomore effort, Once Again (2006), won plaudits as well as Legend’s second Grammy for best male R&B vocal performance (for the single “Heaven”). Legend was a co-winner (with Joss Stone and Van Hunt) of the award for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals for their rendition of the Sly and the Family Stone song “Family Affair” on the tribute album Different Strokes by Different Folks.

Legend’s popularity continued with his 2008 studio release, Evolver. His 2010 collaboration with the Roots, Wake Up!, won three Grammys - best R&B album, best traditional R&B vocal performance (“Hang On in There”), and best R&B song (“Shine”). In 2013 his album Love in the Future yielded the smash hit single “All of Me.” The following year Legend and rapper Common recorded the gospel-influenced song “Glory,” written by them for the film Selma (2014). The song, which invokes a call to end racial injustice, won both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for best original song. Legend’s fifth studio album, Darkness, and Light (2016) yielded the hit song “Love Me Now” and featured collaborations with Chance the Rapper, Miguel, and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.

In 2017 Legend coproduced August Wilson’s Jitney on Broadway, and he received a Tony Award when the drama was named best play revival. The following year Legend played the title role in a well-received live telecast of the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. As a co-producer, he garnered a Creative Arts Emmy Award when the show won for best live variety special. With that honor, he became one of the few entertainers to win an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). In 2019 Legend became a coach on the televised singing competition The Voice.

Achievements

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  Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Legend is known for such acclaimed albums as 'Get Lifted' and 'Love in the Future.' In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Legend won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award in 2015 for co-writing the song "Glory" from the film Selma. He has also won ten Grammy Awards. In 2017, Legend received a Tony Award for co-producing Jitney for the Broadway stage. In 2018, Legend portrayed Jesus Christ in the NBC adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his acting role, and won for his role as a producer of the show, making him one of 15 people and the first black man to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Legend is also the second youngest to achieve the EGOT status.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Soul Men 2008
  • Southside With You 2016
  • La La Land 2016

• music

  • Get Lifted 2004
  • Another Again 2006
  • Evolver 2008
  • Love In The Future 2013
  • Darkness And Light 2016
  • A Legendary Christmas 2018

Religion

Legend sang in a church choir at the age of only 4 years old. Legend was the choir director, pianist and head of the music department at Bethel AME Church in Scranton, PA from the year 1995 to 2004.

Politics

While building his music career since then, Legend has become unusually informed about, and active in American politics. He sat down with editor-at-large John Harwood during a political swing to promote Democrat Stacey Abrams, the African-American women running for governor of Georgia, and the Florida ballot initiative Amendment Four to restore voting rights for felons who’ve completed their sentences. Over drinks at The Abbey, an Orlando, Florida, entertainment venue, they discussed criminal justice reform, Democratic presidential politics, and the Twitter fights he and his wife Chrissy Teigen have waged with President Donald Trump.

Views

John considers himself a staunch feminist, having stated at a recent Chime for Change event, "All men should be feminists. If men care about women's rights the world will be a better place."

Quotations: "Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure."

"The best training is to play by ear: trial by fire."

"I’m trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences."

"Sometimes there’s that perfect moment when the crowd, the music, the energy of the room come together in a way that brings me to tears."

"Whatever awards come, they come. It’s going to be a fun night either way."

Membership

Legend was a member of the prestigious senior societies Sphinx Senior Society and Onyx Senior Honor Society while an undergraduate at Penn.

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  Sphinx Senior Society

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  Onyx Senior Honor Society

Personality

Before every show, John eats half of a rotisserie chicken.

He has 2 dogs, one French bulldog called Pippa and one English bulldog called Puddy.

Physical Characteristics: Height - 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)

Weight - 158 lbs (71 kg)

Hair Color - Black

Eye Color - Dark Brown

Distinctive Features - Slanting eyes, Soft voice

Shoe Size - 11.5 US (10.5 UK)

His voice is a lyric baritone.

Interests

• Legend says he would really like to visit India and Eastern Europe someday.

• Politicians

  Stacey Abrams

• Writers

  He loves reading, especially biographies and other non-fiction books.

• Sport & Clubs

  Legend is involved in numerous social and charitable causes. He is a supporter of the Harlem Village Academies, a New York City organization that runs several charter schools.

• Athletes

  Is a huge Ohio State football fan, and says he watches 90% of the Buckeyes' games on TV.

• Music & Bands

  John Legend says some of his musical role models include Boyz II Men, LL Cool J, MC Hammer and Michael Jackson.
  
  His favorite music to listen to when he wants to set a romantic mood, is anything by Marvin Gaye.

Connections

Legend met model Chrissy Teigen in 2007 when she starred in the music video for his song "Stereo". They became engaged in December 2011. They were married on September 14, 2013, in Como, Italy. The 2013 song "All of Me" was written and is dedicated to her; the music video was reportedly displayed at their wedding. The couple's first child, a daughter was born in April 2016. On November 21, 2017, Teigen announced via Instagram that she was pregnant with the couple's second child, and on January 28, 2018, that their second child would be a boy. He was born in May 2018. Both children were conceived via in vitro fertilization.

Father:

Ronald Stephens

Mother:

Phyllis Stephens

Spouse:

Chrissy Teigen

(born November 30, 1985)

She is an American model and author who made her debut in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2010 and, alongside Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge, appeared on the cover in 2014.

Brother:

Vaughn Anthony Stephens

Brother:

Ronald Stephens II

Sister:

Phyllis Stephens

Daughter:

Luna Simone Stephens

(born 2016)

Son:

Miles Theodore Stephens

(born 2018)

colleague:

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer.

colleague:

Common

(born March 13, 1972)

He is an American rapper and actor.

References

• Best of John Legend: Updated Edition
• The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry