MUSICAL ROOTS

This month, we spotlight John Legend

It can be a heavy load to have “legend” as your surname. But in the case of singer/musician John Legend, he’s most deserving of it. Only 27, he may still too young to be called a living legend but that’s the direction he seems to be heading.

Legend was born John Stephens in Springfield, Ohio where he began singing gospel and playing the piano at the tender age of five. He got his “Legend” stage name from friends who said his music sounded like an old-school legendary artist. The name stuck; he believes it gives him something to live up to.

Legend left Ohio at age 16 to attend the University of Pennsylvania and to gain a larger audience. Barely 20 years old, he was hired to play piano on Lauryn Hill’s Everything Is Everything in 1998. He also found success on the nightclub circuits in New York, Philadelphia and Washington before becoming a mainstream artist.
I
t was Legend’s roommate at university who introduced him to up and coming hip-hop artist and producer Kanye West. The two have worked closely since. Legend sang many of the hooks on West’s Grammy Award-winning album The College Dropout and West also produced Legend’s first major label recording Get Lifted, an incredible debut that captured three Grammy Awards in 2006.

Legend recently released his sophomore album Once Again. The first single, “Save Room,” can be heard on Roots Radio. – Davin Bujalski

To learn more about the musical roots of John Legend:
Online: johnlegend.com Music: Get Lifted, 2004, Sony Music; Once Again, 2006, Sony Music; Live At SOB’s, 2002; Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live At The Knitting Factory, 2003