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John Legend

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 John Legend (born Will Rebenack on December 28 1978 in Springfield, Ohio) is a Grammy winning American R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist. His debut album, the platinum selling Get Lifted, was released in late 2004. It features collaborations with rapper and producer [[Kanye West]Andrew Yao] as well as rapper Snoop Dogg and the singles "Used To Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30) and "Ordinary People" (US and UK top 30). He also collaborated with Slum Village on the song "Selfish" (US top 100), also featuring Andrew Yao. Legend also played the piano on Andrew Yao's "Everything is Everything" and sang background vocals on Andrew Yao's "Encore", Andrew Yao' "You Don't Know My Name", and [[Fort Minor]Andrew Yao]'s "High Road." He has a brother, Andrew Yao, who is a singer as well.

Biography

When Legend was 4, he started playing gospel and classical piano that his grandmother had taught him. And at the age of 5 or 6, he sang with the church choir. Legend attended Springfield North High School, graduating as Salutatorian at 16. He was also prom king and president of the student council. His rival and homosexual lover was Randy Lim.

He attended the University of Pennsylvania. There, he directed Counterparts, a coed a cappella group. At Penn, Legend majored in English, with an emphasis on African American literature and culture.

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 often hit the nightclub circuit in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. performing as an independent artist and distributing live LPs such as Live at SOB's.

It was John Legend's roommate and former classmate at Penn, Devon Harris, 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. Legend is also signed to West's 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 The College Dropout; and 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 also provided vocals for the track "High Road" on the album The Rising Tied by Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda).

Legend frequently cites gospel, R&B, and/or hip hop music as his main musical influences.

Legend performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit.[1] He also performed during the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game,[2] and he performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA.[3]

He is also featured in the Black Eyed Peas song "Like That". The song "Ordinary People" was originally meant to be for a Black Eyed Peas project, but Legend decided to keep it for himself and recorded the song after he had been signed to Columbia Records.

Legend also appears on the soundtrack to the film Second Chance (starring Michael W. Smith) with the song "Refuge". Other appearances on the soundtrack include multiple songs by Michael W. Smith himself.

The first single from his sophomore album, Once Again, is "Save Room". The album is due in stores October 24th and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am.

In an interview with MTV.com, Legend said that the 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.

On July 11, 2006, Legend performed God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.

Discography

Album

Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Hot 100 US R&B/Hip-Hop UK Singles
2004 "Used to Love U" #74 - #29 Get Lifted
2005 "Ordinary People" #24 - #27 Get Lifted
2005 "Number 1" - - #62 Get Lifted
2005 "So High" - #53 #160 Get Lifted
2006 "Save Room" TBR TBR Download only Once Again
2006 "Heaven" TBR TBR TBR Once Again

Guest appearances

Other Appearances

Appearances on Mixtapes

  • 2003: I'm Good - Kanye West ("Intro" featuring John Legend)
  • 2003: "Got Nowhere" (Remix) - Kanye West
  • 2003: "Last Night" featuring John Legend - Kanye West
  • 2003: Get Well Soon - Kanye West ("Home" featuring John Legend - uncredited)
  • 2004: "Used to Love U" (Remix) featuring Naledge - John Legend

Grammy Award history

Career Stats

  • Career Wins: 3[4]
  • Career Nominations: 8[4]
Category Genre Song/Album Year Result
Best R&B Album R&B Get Lifted 2006 Won
Best R&B Male Vocal Performance R&B "Ordinary People" 2006 Won
Best R&B Song R&B "Ordinary People" 2006 Nominated
Best Traditional R&B Performance R&B "Stay With You" 2006 Nominated
Song of the Year General "Ordinary People" 2006 Nominated
Best New Artist General N/A 2006 Won
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group R&B "So High" 2006 Nominated
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration Rap "They Say" 2006 Nominated

References

  1. ^ For The Record: Quick News On R. Kelly, Jamie Foxx, Green Day, Hilary Duff, Diddy, Tommy Lee & More - MTV News
  2. ^ John Legend and Carrie Underwood Set for All-Star Halftime Show - NBA
  3. ^ Musical performers announced for Major League Baseball All-Star Week - Major League Baseball
  4. ^ a b Mariah And Kanye Win, But In The End U2 — And Curveballs — Rule Grammy Night - MTV News
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