|
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
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 releasing CDs that he would sell at shows.
He also 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 with 2004's Solo Sessions
Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory. Get Lifted,
his first studio album, was released later in
the year. |
