John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer and actor. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything”, and making uncredited guest appearances on Jay-Z’s “Encore” and Alicia Keys’s “You Don’t Know My Name”. He was the first artist signed to Kanye West’s GOOD Music, on which he released his debut album Get Lifted (2004), which reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Legend received nine nominations at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, including nominations for the singles “So High” with Lauryn Hill and “Ordinary People”, with the latter song winning for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The album also earned him awards for Best New Artist and Best R&B Album. His second studio album Once Again (2006), spawned the single “Save Room”, and became his second top ten album on the Billboard 200 chart. The lead single from his third album Evolver (2008), “Green Light” featuring André 3000, reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. In June 2008, he released the live album John Legend: Live from Philadelphia.

Legend would later collaborate with The Roots on the album Wake Up! (2010). His fourth studio album, Love in the Future (2013), spawned the single “All of Me”. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and has attained Diamond status, being certified 14× platinum by the RIAA. In 2015, he was featured on the single “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Meghan Trainor, which reached the top ten in the U.S. Legend has since released the albums Darkness and Light (2016), A Legendary Christmas (2018). In 2020 Legend published his seventh studio album Bigger Love, which won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, and in 2022 the double album Legend.

In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Legend won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award in 2015 for co-writing the song “Glory” from the film Selma. He has received a total of twelve Grammy Awards. In 2017, Legend won a Tony Award for co-producing Jitney for the Broadway stage. In 2018, Legend portrayed Jesus Christ in NBC’s adaptation of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his acting role, and won for his role as a producer of the show, making him the first black man and second youngest person to have won all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Legend is also the recipient of the NAACP’s President’s Award. Legend has been featured as a coach on The Voice from its sixteenth season to its twenty-second season, and again from its twenty-fourth season.

John Roger Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio. He is the eldest of four children of Phyllis Elaine (née Lloyd), a seamstress, and Ronald Lamar Stephens, a factory worker at International Harvester (which also has a factory in Springfield, Ohio and is now Navistar). His father was a drummer, while “his mother sang and directed the church choir, and his grandmother was the church organist.” In 2004, Legend stated that his parents were divorced for 12 years before reuniting. Legend was homeschooled by his mother. He began playing the piano at age 4. At the age of 7, he performed with his church choir. Because of his academic talent, he skipped two grades.

At the age of 12, Legend attended North High School in Springfield, Ohio, from which he graduated as salutatorian of his class four years later. At the age of 15, Legend won a Black History Month essay competition run by McDonald’s, following the prompt “How do you intend to make Black history?” with an essay about how he intended to be a successful musician, according to an interview on the Carlos Watson Show. Legend was offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown University and Morehouse College; he ultimately decided to attend the University of Pennsylvania.

At college, Legend served as the president and musical director of the co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group the Counterparts. His lead vocals on the group’s recording of Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” (written by fellow Penn alum Eric Bazilian of the Hooters) received critical acclaim, landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. Legend was also a member of the Sphinx Senior Society and Onyx Senior Honor Society. While in college, Legend was introduced to Lauryn Hill by a friend. Hill hired him to play piano on “Everything Is Everything”, a song from her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis on African-American literature in 1999.

After graduating from college, Legend worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released two albums independently: his self-titled demo (2000) and Live at Jimmy’s Uptown (2001), which he sold at his shows. He subsequently began working on his demo and began sending his work to various record labels.

In 2001, Devo Springsteen introduced Legend to Kanye West, then an up-and-coming hip-hop artist; Legend was hired to sing during the hooks of West’s music. After signing to West’s label, he chose his stage name from an idea that was given to him by poet J. Ivy, due to what he perceived as an “old-school sound”. J. Ivy stated, “I heard your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school. You sound like one of the legends. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m going to call you from now on! I’m going to call you John Legend.” After J. Ivy continued to call him by the new moniker “John Legend”, others quickly caught on, including Kanye West. Despite Stephens’ reluctance to adopt a stage name, he eventually announced his new artist name as John Legend.