John Legend is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about him!
1.His real name is John Roger Stephens
2. He was born on December 28, 1978.
3. He is one of four children of Phyllis Elaine (née Lloyd), a seamstress, and Ronald Lamar Stephens, a factory worker and former National Guardsman.
4. Throughout his childhood, Legend was homeschooled on and off by his mother.
5. At the age of four, he performed with his church choir.
6. He began playing the piano at age seven.
7. The first time he ever went on a plane was at age 16.
8. At the age of twelve, Legend attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later.
9. According to Legend, upon his alutatorian graduation,he was offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown University and Morehouse College.
10. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African-American literature.
11. While in college, Legend served as president and musical director of a co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group called Counterparts.
12. One of his first jobs as a teenager was as a wedding singer.
13. 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 Cappellacompilation CD.
14. John 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.
15. Hill hired him to play piano on “Everything Is Everything”, a song from her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
16. He graduated college in 1999, and thereafter began produc.nd Live at Jimmy’s Uptown (2001), which he sold at his shows.
17. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Legend began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.
18. 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.
19. 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.”
20. 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.
21. John 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 7 on the US Billboard 200, selling 116,000 copies in its first week.
22. 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.
23. In January 2008, Legend sang in a video for Barack Obama, produced by will.i.am called “Yes We Can”.
24. 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.
25. In May 2007, Legend partnered with Tide laundry detergent to raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard Parish, (Chalmette, Louisiana), 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.
26. On January 22, 2010, he performed “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon show.
27. After four years of dating, Legend became engaged to model Chrissy Teigen on December 2011.
28. John Legend says some of his musical role models include Boyz II Men, LL Cool J, MC Hammer and Michael Jackson.
29. He met Michael Jackson while on a trip to Bahrain.
30. John Legend appears in a recent commercial for a Lexus SUV, in which Legend is shown listening to Nina Simone’s “Backlash Blues” and describing his experience with the music. He is also notable for performing closing music in many of Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote presentations.
31. He performed at the wedding of footballer Ashley Cole to Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy.
32. Legend signed on as the new face of Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur Baileys Irish Cream in January 2008.
33. Legend has an English bulldog named Puddy and a French one called Pippa.
34, His favorite music to listen to when he wants to set a romantic mood, is anything by Marvin Gaye.
35. Before every show, he eats half a rotisserie chicken.
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