John Legend's Darkness and Light concert comes to China this week. Here are some John facts to read up on before his show.
1. His first performance on a major album...
was not as a singer, but as the piano player on Lauryn Hill’s classic 90s track ‘Everything is Everything’ (the one with the music video depicting New York City as a giant vinyl record spinning on a player).
2. He's friends with...
Kanye West. Though they deal in very different styles of music, West is a close friend of Legend’s, and was essential to launching his career. Legend co-wrote and sang background vocals on several songs on Kanye’s groundbreaking debut The College Dropout (credited by his given name, John Stephens), while Kanye helped produce Legend’s debut album, Get Lifted.
3. He and his wife (Chrissy Teigen) live in...
a mansion formerly owned by Rihanna in LA. Teigen once admitted in an interview that she’s opened some of Rihanna’s mail.
4. In addition to a whopping 10 Grammy Awards, he also won...
an Oscar for Best Original Song for penning the track ‘Glory’ from the film Selma, and a Tony Award for co-producing August Wilson’s play Jitney for Broadway. This means he’s only an Emmy Award away from becoming an EGOTer.
5. When he was a teenager, he worked as...
a wedding singer. We wonder if any of those couples have looked back at photos and realized who sang for them!
6. The song that launched his career was...
'Ordinary People,’ the single from his Grammy-winning debut album Get Lifted. However, the song almost didn’t appear on the album; he originally wrote it for the Black Eyed Peas.
7. His stage name derives from...
a nickname given to him by poet J. Ivy, whom he met while working with Kanye West at the beginning of his career. J. Ivy said to him, “I heard your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school. You sound like one of the legends.” Legend was originally disinclined to use a stage name in lieu of his real name, John Stephens, but when Kanye West and others in the industry began referring to him as “John Legend,” he relented.
8. Growing up, he was...
an exceptionally brilliant student, and was offered admission on scholarship to Harvard, Georgetown and Morehouse College. He eventually attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in English
9. Before every show, he has a tradition of eating...
half a rotisserie chicken.
10. He's also worked...
producing films. Legend took on the role of executive producer in a film for the first time in 2016’s Southside with You, a critically praised romantic biopic about Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date in Chicago in 1989.
11. He wrote his hit song 'All of Me' for...
his wife, Chrissy Teigen. The music video, shot in Italy’s Lake Como, features footage of their wedding, and was directed by a photographer friend who’d introduced the couple seven years earlier. Fans apparently have a tendency to propose to their SOs when Legend sings the song at concerts.
Mar 8, 8pm, Mercedes-Benz Arena, see event listing.
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