In 2004, John Legend (then known primarily as an in-demand all-star
studio session man) stepped into the solo spotlight as a premier
singer-songwriter-pianist-performer in his own right with his debut
album Get Lifted. Driven in part by the hit singles "Ordinary People"
and "Used To Love U," Get Lifted was a critical and commercial triumph,
earning John an astounding eight Grammy nominations -- he won Best New
Artist, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Ordinary People") and
Best R&B album -- and selling more than three million copies
worldwide.
For most performers, achievements of that magnitude
would be the culmination of a dream. For John Legend, however, awards
and sales are merely fringe benefits. His real goal and gift is to tap
into something honest and true within his audience and himself and to
connect on that level. When asked what he hopes his fans will glean
from his much-anticipated sophomore album, John replies, "I want them
to hear that I've grown. That I'm trying to take them to new places and
to be excited about that. This album is an expansion more than anything
else. I'm trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have
grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences. Get
Lifted was me then. This is me now."
Once Again, John's new
album, is many things, chief among them, it's a pop/soul album fueled
by intelligence, intuition, sensuality, spirit and a creativity made
possible when which includes Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West, Craig Street
and will.i.am, who brought the lead single, "Save Room," to John.
Breezy and sexy, "Save Room" is a joyful, cool love song, inspired by
an old AM radio single, "Stormy," by the Classics IV (a 60's Top 40
band best-known for "Spooky"). As John recalls, "will brought the
sample. I didn't even know the original. I just knew it was a nice
organ sound and wanted to write to it. I just started mumbling along
to it, finding my place in the melody and it worked for me."
Laced
with a somewhat more dramatic flair is the mid-tempo "Where Did My Baby
Go." Says John, "It was one of the only songs written before I began
recording this album, and was in my head for a long time. I didn't know
what I was going to do with it because at the time it didn't sound like
anything I'd done before. It ended up fitting perfectly because I ended
up writing more stuff in that direction so it became a precursor to
where I was going this time."
John takes a somewhat political
perspective on the stately "Coming Home," which he says is "about a
soldier who wants to come back to his family and his uncertainty about
being away and whether or not he might die. It's subtle but it still
manages to speak to some important issues about life and death, war and
peace."
Relationship ups and downs are the subject of the swaying
Kanye West-produced "Heaven Only Knows." "It's a song that just came
together in a natural effortless way, which is how Kanye and I work,"
John explains. "He played me a sample and a drum loop, and I started
writing around it." Legend recorded 30 tracks, including four with
Kanye, for his new album. Two of the West-produced tracks made the
final track list, with West also serving as co-Executive Producer of
the album. "On a creative counsel level," John says, "I benefit from
his taste and judgment."
"Show Me," which John cites as one of
his favorites, is hushed, haunting and deliberately ambiguous.
Co-produced by Raphael Saadiq and Craig Street (Me'Shell Ndeg..Ocello,
Cassandra Wilson), "Show Me" was, according to John, "intended to be
about God, but I also wanted it to have the feel of a romantic song as
well. But while I could have done what I usually do and write about a
relationship, this felt like such a spiritual song. I've never sung or
recorded my voice like that. When I'm with a girl and I have a song in
my head I kind of whisper it in her ear, like an intimate whisper.
That's how I did the vocal for this song."
Even more so than he
did on Get Lifted, John went boldly in his own creative direction on
Once Again, opting to write, not from a marketing standpoint, but from
his heart and soul and personal experience. "I listen to a lot of
music," he says about the preparation for the album. "The producers I
work with -- like Kanye, will & Craig -- listen to a lot more and
we just brainstorm and don't limit it to what 's going on in urban
music right now. I didn't wanna put a box around it. You make music,
try and make it as good as you possibly can, trust the people around
you and hope and pray that what you really love is something a lot of
other people will also love. With Get Lifted, we managed to make a
strong record that people related to. We succeeded because it was
distinctive and touched a chord. So I figured, 'Let me just keep making
music that's really good and that touches people. Music that they can
feel, which has some beauty to it and that transcends what the
marketers are gonna tell you, and we'll figure out a way to get it to
people.'"
John Legend (nee Stephens) grew up in Ohio, surrounded
by every musical influence from gospel to hip-hop. While attending the
University of Pennsylvania (where he majored in English), Legend found
time to make his own music, whether it was recording his own albums,
performing at talent shows and open mics, or directing the choir at a
local church. In fact just months before he began work on Get Lifted,
Legend finally ended a nine-year tenure as music and choir director at
Bethel A.M.E. Church in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In 1998, John
got his first taste of success, playing piano on "Everything is
Everything," off Lauryn's Hill's multiple-Grammy winning album, The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. He also honed his chops touring
throughout the East Coast, opening up for bigger R&B acts, and
recording and selling several live concert albums. In 2001, a college
roommate introduced John to the then up-and-coming producer/artist
Kanye West. By 2002, Legend was part of West's creative team,
appearing on albums by Talib Kweli, Common, Mary J Blige and on West's
2004 breakthrough The College Dropout. That same year John lent his
vocal talent to Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name" and appeared on
Jay-Z's acclaimed Black Album.
In late 2003, Legend became the
first artist signed to Kanye's KonMan Entertainment (later renamed
Getting Out Our Dreams) with a deal with Columbia Records followed in
May 2004. Preloaded with pre-release buzz, Get Lifted debuted at ..7 on
the Billboard Top 200 and ..1 on the R&B Album chart the week of
its release three days after Christmas 2004.
Three years ago,
John Legend was a highly regarded session musician. Today he's an
artist who proves that, even in an age of expediency and crass
commercialism, real talent not only still matters but will be
acknowledged. When asked how success has affected him, John replies, "I
think I'm happier, not just because of winning Grammys and selling
records, but because it's really fulfilling to have all these things
happen with something you love to do. To have the chance to see your
music be elevated and to have almost universally positive response to
that music, makes me feel better every day. I feel more confident and
inspired, and that's fun. I'm feeling truly creative and I'm hoping
that feeling will stay around, because my hope and belief is that most
people are down to grow and explore with me."
Links:
Official Website
John Legend on Myspace
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