John Legend Biography
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John Legend (born John Stephens on December
28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio) is an American R&B and neo soul 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 as well as rapper Snoop Dogg and the
singles "Used To Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30) and "Ordinary People"
(US top 40). He also collaborated with Slum Village on the song
"Selfish" (US top 100), also featuring Kanye West. Legend also played
the piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything is Everything" and sang
background vocals on Jay-Z's "Encore" and Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know
My Name."
* * * *
Biography
Legend was an excellent student and had the
opportunity to attend the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League
university in Philadelphia. There, he was a member of the coed a
cappella group "Counterparts." 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 New York City.
Before becoming a mainstream artist, Legend often hit the nightclub
circuit in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC 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" label. 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.
Legend frequently cites gospel, R&B, and
hip hop as his main musical influences.
Awards
2005: BET Awards: Best New Artist
Discography
Albums
2004: Get Lifted #4 US, #12 UK (2005
release)
Singles
2004: "Selfish" (Slum Village feat. Kanye
West & John Legend) #55 US
2004: "Used To Love U" #74 US, #29 UK (2005
release)
2005: "Ordinary People" #24 US, #27 UK
2005: "So High"
* * * *
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Legend
Date Article Copied:
August 26, 2005
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