E-mail a friendJohn Legend
airdate March 18, 2005
Multi-talented John Legend has an old-school R&B vibe and is living up to the 'legend' of past soul greats. His CD, "Get Lifted," hit the charts with a bullet. Legend was singing and playing piano at age 5 and directing the church choir at age 10. After college graduation, he played local NY clubs and released CDs that he sold at shows. He was also an impressive session musician, working with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears and the Black Eyed Peas. Signing with Kanye West resulted in his first major label release.
John Legend
Tavis: John Legend is an awfully talented singer-songwriter whose major label debut, 'Get Lifted,' is one of the most critically acclaimed CDs of the year. In February, he performed on the Grammy awards. Of course you know that 'cause you saw 'em, didn't you? Currently on tour with Alicia Keys. I know you'll see him there as well. In just a few minutes on this program, he'll play a song off the new CD. Can't wait to hear that, but first, this brother's even trying the acting thing. Don't you hate guys with that much talent? Playing his idol, one Steveland Morris, make that Stevie Wonder, in an episode of 'American Dreams.' Here now a scene from 'American Dreams.'
Emcee: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Stevie Wonder.
'Stevie': Baby, everything is all right, uptight, out of sight,
Baby, everything is all right, uptight, out of sight
Tavis: John Legend, how you living?
John Legend: I'm good, man. How are you?
Tavis: I'm well. Nice to see you. I gotta tell, it took me-- I was telling you before we came on the air it took me a while... As a kid, I used to hate the name--sorry, mom. I used to hate the name Tavis Smiley growing up. It was a name that nobody could pronounce. Tavis. I got called Travis, still do. People couldn't pronounce it. Strange. I used to hate my name growing up. Over the time, over the years, I've learned to like the name. It's a good TV name. Tavis Smiley. But Tavis Smiley ain't got nothing on John Legend. What a cool name is that!
Legend: It's a pretty cool name. I wish I could say it was just, you know, the name I grew up with, but it's a name--a nickname that was started by a few friends of mine. They thought I sounded like I came from another era, so they started calling me the legend, John Legend, and it kind of stuck, so we stuck with it.
Tavis: Well, it works, so stick with it. Speaking of legends, I had a chance to play--to guest-star in an episode of 'American Dreams' myself. They wrote a piece for me and asked me to come on to play one of my heroes, Thurgood Marshall, and I was just blown away. First I said no, like, 3 times, 'cause I'm not even an actor. Who am I to go and try to step up and play one Thurgood Marshall? I was overwhelmed, but I had a great time on the set, but playing your idol Stevie Wonder had to be cool.
Legend: It's a lot of pressure, though. Ha ha ha! 'Cause, you know, Stevie is Stevie, and you don't just go and do Stevie, but it was cool. I had a really fun time. I just looked at the old videos and tried my best to get into his character, and I think it came out pretty well.
Tavis: As an artist--never mind 'American Dreams,' respectfully-as an artist, what do you most respect or like about Stevie? And I ask that because if you ask any number of artists who they love, Stevie is always on everybody's short list, so why is he on your short list?
Legend: Well...it's hard to say anything that hasn't been said about Stevie, but, I mean, the songwriting was just beautiful. I'm a big student of songwriting. I love the art of songwriting, and the people that do it well just impress me so much, so you just listen to the melodies, how memorable they are, the lyrics, how interesting they are, the chords, the progressions. Everything about it was interesting and ahead of its time, and even the production, which he did as well, was ahead of its time, and you listen back to it, and it's still relevant now, it still means so much to everybody, and that's why everyone loves him. I mean, 'cause what's not say about him?
Tavis: Let me ask you a strange question here, if I might, given that response. How does one have an appreciation and embrace a love for the old-school stuff and make it relevant and interesting and embraceable by a new generation? That if you look at all the stuff that they are buying, one could make the case that they wouldn't appreciate something representing the old school. How do you make it relevant?
Legend: Well, there's some things that are timeless about music. Uh, melodies that people can relate to. Messages that people can relate to. Those things, they're gonna be important, they're gonna be relevant, no matter what, and we do things to update it. We, you know, change the production a little bit. My production of my album isn't straight old school. It's a mixture of old school and new, and so we do things to flip the old school. But there are certain things about music that are timeless, and we want the music that we make to be classic music that 20 years from now people will be calling the old-school music that they listened to then, and we want it to be still relevant to them. And so I think the things that stay in music, the things that are important in music, that last, are those elements of songwriting that can never change, even though the production changes.
Tavis: All right, let me ask you a very impolitic question, get you in a little trouble here since you're here. I wonder whether or not you believe, to your point, that 20, 30, 40 years from now, people will be playing, radio will be playing the stuff that's being made by your contemporaries today. We celebrate Stevie Wonder and a lot of the old-school artists whose stuff is still being played regularly on radio. Will 30, 40, 50 years from now, radio be playing the stuff that's being cut as we sit here?
Legend: Some of it, they will.
Tavis: Yeah.
Legend: But there's a lot of music that was made 30 years ago that they're not playing now. They only play the best of the old stuff, so they're gonna play the best of this stuff, and there's some good stuff out. People are always talking about how there's no good music out now, but there's good music out, and some of my good friends make it. People like Kanye West, Jay-Z, um, people I admire. There are a lot of people making great music right now, and the best of today's generation, I think, will get played in the future. But we're not hearing all the crap that was made 30 years ago. We're just hearing the best stuff that was made 30 years ago, 'cause there was some crap, I'm sure.
Tavis: Good point. Ha ha ha. Good answer. Good answer. Good answer. Good answer. Um, let me ask you... You mentioned Kanye West a moment ago. Everybody knows that you and Kanye are--you know, collaborate and are contemporaries. What people might not know, except for those real hard-core John Legend fans, and I know they're watching, but for those who are just being introduced to John Legend, the story of how you and Kanye got to meet is pretty fascinating.
Legend: Well, I met him through my college roommate.
Tavis: Ha ha ha. Yeah.
Legend: The college dropout meets the college graduate through a college roommate.
Tavis: Ha ha ha.
Legend: Um, and my roommate is Kanye's cousin. My roommate's name is Devon Harris. He's also a producer on my album and a good friend of mine. But, um, we were living in New York after we graduated. We went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and we moved to New York. We were roommates in New York, and Kanye moved to New York not too long after that, and Devon introduced us. He thought we should work together. I was already performing at clubs in New York, and Devon invited Kanye to come to Jimmy's Uptown up in Harlem, and Kanye came to the club, checked me out, and was like, 'Wow. This guy's good.' He took my demo and checked it out and was like, 'Yeah. I want to work with you.' So he, um, brought me to his house, played me some beats, and I wrote some music, some songs to the beats he played for me, and he had me start singing hooks on his demo at the time, which became 'The College Dropout,' but at the time, he was still trying to get a record deal himself, and at the same time, he was helping me get a record deal. And so he was giving me beats, I was singing hooks for him, and it was a start of a good musical relationship, and we just kept working together.
Tavis: I wonder, years from now when you look back on what I'm certain is going to be the pantheon of a monumental musical career, whether or not you will look back at that moment of living--rooming with his cousin and meeting him, as divine intervention or something that just happened.
Legend: It was a very important moment in my career. Absolutely. It opened a lot of doors, and I've collaborated with a lot of people since then, and a lot of that was through Kanye... Jay-Z, Dilated Peoples, Slum Village, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson. A lot of people I've worked with was through my relationship with him. I'm signed to his production company, which kind of helped me launch my album myself, and that relationship has been very important to the start of my career.
Tavis: You're gonna perform here in just a second. I'm excited about that. I want to get out of the way and make room for that. Let me ask you right quick, though, how much of your success, you think, has to do with the fact that you know the music? Prince and I have these conversations from time to time about how much advanced, how much, uh, more value there is on his music, how much better he is at it in part because he knows his music thing. You mentioned University of Pennsylvania, no poo-butt school, Ivy League, and graduated with, what, magna cum laude?
Legend: Yeah.
Tavis: I graduated 'Thank you, Lordy.' You got a magna cum laude, but--
Legend: Ha ha ha.
Tavis: That's not the issue.
Legend: Lordy, lordy.
Tavis: Yeah. But you know this music. How important do you think is that to your success, that you actually know how to play, you know what you're doing?
Legend: I think it's very important. I wouldn't have been playing on all those albums I played in if I wasn't a musician.
Tavis: Right.
Legend: Because Kanye, he's great at making beats, but he doesn't know, kind of, the music, the theory, the chords, and the things of that nature, and so he would bring me in for that side of things. And so if it wasn't for that, a lot of the opportunities for collaborations I had earlier in my career wouldn't have happened, and I wouldn't be the songwriter I am, and the songs, for me, are everything. There wouldn't be an 'Ordinary People' if I didn't know music, and so it's critical...for me.
Tavis: I want to hit 'Ordinary People' in about 30 seconds. Uh, can you do better than this? I mean, the pressure's on now.
Legend: Yes, I can do better.
Tavis: All right.
Legend: Uh, I just wrote a song--
Tavis: Ha ha ha.
Legend: I just wrote a song that is better than any song on there, or at least as good.
Tavis: You gotta love a brother with confidence. Of course, when your name is John Legend, you better step to it. You better come correct with a name like that. Up next, John Legend performs 'Ordinary People.' I can't wait to hear this. His web site, by the way, johnlegend.com. , to learn more about this brother. Performance in just a moment. Stay with us.
From his terrific CD 'Get Lifted,' here is John Legend performing 'Ordinary People.' Enjoy. Good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.
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