John Legend

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=181162" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jamey Graves"><U>Jamey Graves</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jam Pain Society"><U>Jam Pain Society</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id182.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Janis Ian"><U>Janis Ian</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jimmy Buffet"><U>Jimmy Buffet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Joey McIntyre"><U>Joey McIntyre</U></A>   |   <B>John Legend</b>   |   <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Journey"><U>Journey</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="justincase"><U>justincase</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id214.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jaheim"><U>Jaheim</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> John Legend</div> <bR> <div> <B>Living Legend: Rising star makes local stop</b></div> <div> By Kristi Singer</div> <div> <I>Star-News Correspondent</I></div> <div> Published October 21, 2004</div> <bR> <div> Wilmington will get to hear the latest newcomer to the neo-soul/hip-hop world when John Legend plays a show Saturday at Marrz Theatre. The singer, songwriter, musician, arranger and producer is touring in support of his upcoming Sony Urban/Columbia Records debut <I>Get Lifted</I>, which comes out in December. The album includes appearances by Kanye West and Snoop Dogg and production work by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Legend (born John Stephens) may be making his major label debut, but he's no amateur. Working for years as an independent artist, he got his break through his college roommate and collaborator Devo Harris, who's Kanye West's cousin. After Mr. West checked out one of Mr. Legend's performances, he invited Mr. Legend to sing hooks for songs that eventually made it on Mr. West's 2004 Roc-A-Fella debut, <I>The College Dropout</I>.</div> <bR> <div> Since then, Mr. Legend has done session work with a list of high-profile artists including Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Eve, the Black Eyed Peas and others.</div> <bR> <div> I caught up with Mr. Legend a day after his tour opening for Kanye West and Usher ended. He called from a train heading to Washington, D.C., on his way to hang out with friends on his night off. Here's what he had to say about the tour and his upcoming release:</div> <bR> <div> <B>You just came off the Usher tour, how did that go?</b> </div> <div> We just finished yesterday. The last day was in Hartford. Played Madison Square Garden a couple of nights ago. That's pretty big deal in anyone's career, playing Madison Square Garden.</div> <bR> <div> <B>How did Usher's fans react to you?</b> </div> <div> Very positively, they seemed to know who I was before I started singing. And once they heard me they really gave me a lot of enthusiasm.</div> <bR> <div> <B>What was one of the most memorable moments on the tour?</b> </div> <div> It was good to be in Columbus, Ohio, which was near where I grew up. We had a show there and a lot of my family came. It was cool to have all of them there.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell me about 'Get Lifted'. What's the sound like? What can people expect?</b> </div> <div> I call it "feel good" music. It's very soulful, pretty upbeat and has a mixture of soul, hip-hop and gospel flavors going on together.</div> <bR> <div> <B>What were your artistic goals when making this album?</b> </div> <div> I just wanted to make it as good as possible. I wanted to love every song on there. I wanted to arrange it to be interesting in the sense of never a dull moment in a song, like it's always moving somewhere. I wanted the songwriting to be on-point completely as far as lyrics, melodies, structure of the songs. I just wanted it to be on-point.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Did you feel that you were successful with all of that?</b> </div> <div> Yeah, I do. It's all a matter of opinion, but I kept working at it until I felt like it was exactly what I wanted. I didn't put any track on there that I didn't love completely; didn't put any arrangement on there that I wanted to fix anymore. I got it to where I was really happy with it.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Why did you title your debut 'Get Lifted'?</b> </div> <div> It's based off the intro song on the album, <I>Let's Get Lifted</I>. The idea of the song is I've got something new for you, it's different, it's going to make you feel good. The lyrics kind of play with the idea of getting high on drugs, but also on love and good music.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Wanna go?</b></div> <div> WHO: John Legend with special guest TBA. Opening act DJ Battle.</div> <div> WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday</div> <div> WHERE: Marrz Theatre, 15 S. Front St.</div> <div> TICKETS: $12 in advance, $14 day of show. There will be a $3 surcharge at the door for those under 21. Advance tickets available at Buddha's Belly, Yellow Dog Discs or online at Marrz.net.</div> <div> DETAILS: 772-9045 or marrz.net. All-ages.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>