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For a guy whose breakout song was titled “Ordinary People,” John Legend is anything but ordinary.
He sings like the soul singers of 40 years ago. He talks about business acumen and uses words like “fallacy” in his interviews. He has a degree in English. He’s dedicated to charity work.
And just look at the name — John Legend. With a surname like that, would you really expect him to be ordinary?
“I stand out from the crowd, and I think that’s cool,” says Legend (real name John Stephens).
Legend broke onto the music scene in 2004, a protege of a then-up-and-coming Kanye West. Legend had sung in an acapella group at the University of Pennsylvania and was referred to West to sing hooks on some of his songs.
Kanye liked what he heard and made Legend the first artist signed to his G.O.O.D. Music label. Legend released “Get Lifted” in 2004, then “Once Again,” in 2006 and “Evolver” in 2008, building a songbook hefty on love songs and oozing with the soul of yesteryear.
In those five years, Legend has won six Grammys and been honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, while notching beloved songs such as “Save Room,” “Green Light” and “Slow Dance.”
Thus far in his career, Legend has been more a critical darling than a pop-chart hitmaker — but that’s to be expected from a guy whose music harkens back to Marvin Gaye rather than rolling with the trends of today.
“I’m always paying attention to what’s on the radio, I always know what’s going on, I know what artists are doing,” Legend says. “But my label, they respect me for who I am and they appreciate the fact that I’m different.”
Which means when you hear John Legend, you hear his actual singing voice — not auto-tune, the popular effect used by many contemporary R & B singers to computerize their vocals. T-Pain is most famous for using that technique.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s a bit overdone, but I don’t mind it in certain instances,” Legend says. “But I get the sense that everybody is trying to use it now, because only a few people can actually sing really well. The ones who can’t sing really well, they figure it’s a way to equalize themselves. I think there’s going to be auto-tune fatigue pretty soon.”
Speaking of fatigue — somehow it doesn’t affect Legend, who wears many hats aside from crooner.
He’s a label chief, having started his own Homeschool Records and making an impact with his first signee — British singer Estelle, who has the hit single “American Boy” last year. His brother Vaughn Anthony is also signed to the label.
“We try to focus on quality over quantity,” Legend says. “But we also want to accomplish a lot as well.”
Aside from music, he stays busy with charity work. While some musicians have one or two charities they work with, Legend has a handful.
He started the Show Me Campaign, which raises money and awareness for poverty in Africa. He’s a supporter of The Global Fund, which fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Last month Legend held a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden where proceeds went to fighting AIDS in Africa.
He’s also a spokesman for Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a nonprofit that grooms minority business leaders.
For the concert tour he’s on now, Legend has made efforts to be eco-friendly, using green products and reducing the pollution from his tour buses.
“I read a lot,” Legend says. “I care about what’s going on in the world. I have a sense of justice and a sense of morality. In my head, I feel like I can fix anything. If I see problems and I feel like I can help, then I try to help out.”
Considering how unordinary Legend is, it’s probably not a surprise to learn he worked at a management consulting firm before his music career took off.
“Everything I’ve done in life, from school to traveling, to the jobs I’ve had, it just gives me a sense of curiosity,” Legend says. “It gives me perspective on the world. It makes me someone who thinks about how the world works and how to solve problems more.”
And, of course, it also gave him plenty of soul.
