Born John Stephens on December 28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio,United States .When Legend was 4, he started playing gospel and classical piano with his grandmother . 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.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, now professionally known as Devo Springsteen, 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 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] also he preformed at the Grammy Awards.
www.johnlegend.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Legend
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