He’s already a legend! Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio, where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to go to college in Philadelphia, and it was there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens, Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything” in 1998. After completing college, he moved to New York, where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and became an in-demand session musician, playing and occasionally writing for a wide array of artists, including Alicia Keys, Twista, Janet Jackson and Kanye West. It wasn’t until West signed the young talent to his new label that he adopted the Legend name. Get Lifted, his first studio album, was released in 2004. On the strength of enduring single “Ordinary People,” the album reached the Top Five of the Billboard 200. This led to three Grammy Awards. Once Again followed in 2006 and went platinum. 2008’s Evolver spun off the sprightly crossover hit “Green Light.” Legend followed it with September 2010’s Wake Up!, in which he was backed by The Roots. The album featured covers of still-relevant, socially-aware songs like Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody” and Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy.” He released Love in the Future in 2013. John Legend continues to tour all over the world.
