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John Legend (born '''John Stephens''', " ( U.S. top 100, UK top 30) and "Ordinary People" (U.S. and UK top 30). Legend has won five Grammy Award s. Prior to the release of his debut album, Legend's career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with more established artists. Notably, Legend sang the Hooks for Hits by Slum Village ("Selfish", also featuring Kanye West), Jay-Z ("Encore"), and Dilated Peoples ("This Way"); played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything is Everything"; and sang background vocals on Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor 's "High Road." BIOGRAPHY Legend's career began at the age of 3, when his grandmother began teaching him to play Gospel piano. By the time he was 7 years old, Legend was singing with the church choir and taking lessons in classical music. Legend attended Springfield North High School , graduating as Salutatorian at 16. He was also prom king and president of the student council. Legend attended the compilation CD. Oddly enough, his first job after graduating from Penn was not in the music business -- Legend began working for the Boston Consulting Group in Boston and then New York City . Before becoming a mainstream artist, Legend hit the nightclub circuit in New York City, Philadelphia , and Washington, D.C. , performing as an independent artist and distributing live LPs such as ''John Stephens'' and ''Live at SOB's''. It was John Legend's roommate and former Penn classmate, Devon Harris, professionally known as Devo Springsteen , who introduced Legend to his cousin and then up-and-coming hip hop artist Kanye West . Since that meeting, Legend and West have worked closely together, with West signing Legend as the first artist to join his new label, G.O.O.D. Music . Legend sang many of the melodic hooks on West’s demo, which would eventually become the Grammy Award winning album '' The College Dropout ''; in turn, West provided rhythm tracks for Legend’s demo, which would evolve into '' Get Lifted ''. Recently, Legend contributed to fellow G.O.O.D artist Common 's LP, '' Be '', and provided vocals for "High Road" on the album '' The Rising Tied '' by Fort Minor ( Mike Shinoda ). RECENT ENDEAVORS Legend performed during the pregame show of , John Legend and Carrie Underwood Set for All-Star Halftime Show - NBA and he performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA. Musical performers announced for Major League Baseball All-Star Week - Major League Baseball also he performed at the Grammy Awards. He is also featured in the Black Eyed Peas song, " Like That ". The song " Ordinary People " was originally meant to be for a Black Eyed Peas project, but Legend decided to keep it for himself and recorded the song after he had been signed to Columbia Records. Legend appears on the soundtrack to the film '' The Second Chance '' with the song, "Refuge". The first single from his second album, '' Once Again '', was " Save Room ". The album was released October 24 , 2006 , and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq , and Will.i.am . In an interview with MTV.com, Legend said the new album would contain his favorite song that he has written to date, entitled "Again." He said he actually came up with the idea for the song and wrote some of it while sitting on a subway. He stated that the song was also the inspiration for the album's title. The video for his latest single, "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", features Alexandre Rodrigues and Alice Braga from the critically acclaimed film, '' City Of God ''. Legend recently launched The Show Me Campaign http://www.showmecampaign.org/, through which his fans are encouraged to donate funds toward improving the living situations and prospects of the poor in Ghana. John Legend is also rumored to be working on Michael Jackson 's Next Album . Legend appears in a recent commercial for a Lexus SUV , in which Legend is shown listening to Nina Simone 's "Backlash Blues" (recorded live in Paris , 1968, on ''The Great Show'' LP ) and describing his experience with the music. He is also notable for performing closing music in many of Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs ' keynote presentations. On 7 July 2007 , Legend participated in the Live Earth Concert In London , performing "Ordinary People". On July 8 , 2007 , he participated in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux , Switzerland , with India.Arie . On July 11 , 2007 , he participated in the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart , Germany , with Amy Winehouse . On , Vaughn Anthony , Lucy Woodward and The James Gang. Nikki Jean, a local Philadelphia artist also performed. A highlight was John Legend's rendition of the hit song Ordinary People which he performed with jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet. The John Legend Network facilated a contest where a fan could win a chance to sing "King & Queen" with John Legend (the duet that John Legend recorded with Mary J. Blige ) and the winner was Dorothy Saintus of Crest Hill, Illinois, where she and John Legend performed the duet live in front of everyone there. DISCOGRAPHY Studio albums Live albums
Singles Guest appearances Other appearances
Appearances on Mixtape s
AWARDS/NOMINATIONS
PHILANTHROPY After reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs ' book, " The End Of Poverty ", John Legend was inspired to visit Ghana to learn more about making life better for others. This is when he started The Show Me Campaign in 2007. With this campaign, Legend is calling on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who reside in Bossaso Village and few other non-profit organizations that the campaign partners with. In 2007, John Legend became the spokesman for GQ Magazine 's THE GENTLEMEN'S FUND™, an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice. In May 2007, John Legend partnered with Tide to raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard's Parish - one of the most devastated areas hit by Hurricane Katrina . He spent a day folding laundry at The Tide Clean Start mobile laundromat and visted homes that Tide is helping to rebuild in that community. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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