abAy Musicology: John Legend,,,

Birth name John Stephens
Born December 28, 1978 (1978-12-28) (age 30)
Origin Springfield, Ohio, U.S.
Genre(s) R&B, Soul, pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Musician
Instrument(s) Vocals, piano, keyboards
Voice type(s) Baritone
Years active 2000–present
Label(s) Sony Urban, GOOD Music
Website www.johnlegend.com

Legend was born in Springfield, Ohio, to a seamstress and a factory worker who spent two years in the National Guard. Legend has 3 siblings: an older brother, Ronald Stephens II; a younger brother, Vaughn Anthony; and a younger sister, Missy Stephens. Vaughn is touring with Legend as one of his backup singers. He has been signed with JL's Home School record label and is working on a solo album of his own.[3]

At the age of four, Legend began playing the piano and at the age of seven, he performed with his church choir. When he was ten, his parents divorced, causing his mother to suffer a breakdown.[4] His family stressed the importance of education.

Legend attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African American literature.[5] While at Penn, he helmed Counterparts, a coed jazz and pop a cappella group as president (1997–1998) and musical director (1998–1999). Legend's lead vocals on the group's recording of Prince's "One of Us" propelled the song to critical acclaim [6] landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD.

After graduating from Penn, Legend began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, first in Boston and then in New York City. Before becoming a mainstream artist, Legend joined the nightclub circuit in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., performing as an independent artist and selling the live LPs John Stephens and Live at SOB's.

Legend's roommate and Penn classmate, Devon Harris, professionally known as Devo

Springsteen, introduced Legend to his cousin and then up-and-coming hip hop artist Kanye West. Since that meeting, Legend and West have worked closely, with West signing Legend as the first artist to his new label, GOOD Music. Legend sang many of the melodic hooks on West’s demo which would eventually become the Grammy Award-winning album The College Dropout; in turn, West provided rhythm tracks for Legend’s demo, which would evolve into Get Lifted. Recently, Legend contributed to fellow GOOD Music artist Common's LP, Be, and provided vocals for "High Road" on the album The Rising Tied by Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda).

the albums