John Legend: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Anthony Hamilton
• Avant
• Cody ChesnuTT
• Kem
• PlantLife
• Rahsaan Patterson
• D'Angelo

• Stevie Wonder
• Prince
• Maxwell
• Donny Hathaway
• Lenny Kravitz
• Aretha Franklin
• Babyface

• Trey Songz
• Mario

• Estelle
• Kanye West

Birth Name:

John Stephens

Genres:

R&B and Soul Music, Contemporary R&B Music, Rock Music

Decades Active:

2000's

Cultural Impact

Low

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

Neo soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of contemporaries Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D'Angelo. Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy 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 Lauren 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 releasing CDs that he would sell at shows. He also became an indemand 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 with 2004's Solo Sessions Vol.1: Live at the Knitting Factory.

- Wade Kergan, All Music Guide