Legend faces the unpredictable

R&B singer John Legend woos audiences with his soulful voice.

He surprised fans with the release of “Green Light,” an up tempo, funky number off his album “Evolver.” An instant Billboard hit, the energetic song features rapper André 3000 of OutKast.

Legend, 30, will perform with India Arie and Vaughn Anthony at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Orpheum Theater. Tickets start at $79.

Legend recently spoke with us about his tour, music background and heartfelt lyrics.

Q. How's the tour going?

A. It's going beautifully. We've had great crowds. We've been selling out a lot of places.

Q. Before you sold the 5 million albums or won six Grammy Awards, what was life like for you?

A. I grew up in Springfield, Ohio. Right before I was selling lots of records, I was a management consultant (for Boston Consulting Group). My life has taken me to a few different places. I grew up in the church so I learned how to play in church. My family is very musical. So that was definitely a big part of my life and how I developed my performing style.

Q. When did you realize you were going to be a performer?

A. I started playing piano when I was 4. I was surrounded by musicians, so it's something I took to. We had a piano in my house and at both of my grandparents' houses. Pretty early on I knew. I was getting church and school solos.

Q. Who did you look up to?

A. My grandmother ... Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross ... all were talented performers. But a lot of times it was people around me like my grandmother who really influenced me. She taught me how to play gospel, but I also took classes from a classical teacher.

Q. You've spent some time with singer/songwriter/producer Raphael Saadiq.

A. I spent a few days with him and we wrote a couple songs, one of which was “Show Me.” It ended up being one of my favorite songs on my last album. He was also on my tour last year. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a wonderful artist. I've always looked up to him.

Q. What other artists are you excited about working with in the future?

A. I've worked with so many people. It would be cool to do something with Beyoncé. I just saw her at the Essence festival. She's incredible and clearly one of the best performers alive.

Q. Tell me about your acting roles. I loved you in “Soul Men.”

A. “Soul Men” was fun. Really, it was less about me performing than it was getting into cool costumes. I spent most of the day in makeup. I really enjoyed working with Bernie (Mac) and Samuel (Jackson). Bernie was so much fun to be around. It was so sad when he passed away. There are certain people you felt like were going to live forever and they end up passing away so soon. Bernie was fun to be around. He had so much fun showing me he could sing.

Q. What are your thoughts of Michael's passing?

A. I'm definitely saddened by it. It's been an interesting few weeks. It's been a bittersweet thing. Young kids started learning all these songs that we knew growing up. So it's become like a resurrection of his great music. I seriously think he was the greatest musician who put out popular music. The silver lining of his death was that we were able to celebrate his music. It's just really tragic how it happened. He didn't get a chance to do his comeback tour. We were all rooting for him to come back.

Q. How do you see your music career advancing?

A. Everyone wants to be (at Jackson's status) but it's more than a notion to get there. He made music that was truly worldwide, especially “Thriller.” It was true global dominance. We're all trying to make that kind of album.

Q. Doesn't that frighten you to be larger than life?

A. No. I'm an adult, and part of what happened to him was that fame struck when he was a child. He never got a childhood. There has been a lot of speculation about his personal life. It's hard to know. But part of what's troubling is that he didn't get to spend his life as a child. For us artists who came into this as an adult, our personalities are formed. So fame doesn't affect you as much.

Q. But your music has changed as you've evolved. Your tempo from “Ordinary People” to “Green Light” is more upbeat.

A. It just happened. We were fooling around with the music and came up with this groove. It felt good so we wrote a song to it. That's just the creative process, everything is so unpredictable. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, you'll never hear it. I felt like “Green Light” worked.

Q. Do you have a favorite album?

A. I feel like every album I finish is better than the one before. There's something special about your first album because it's how your fans were first introduced to you. That's their first impression. It's going to be lasting. If they fell in love with you, it's kind of hard for them to keep falling in love after that. If you evolve as an artist sometimes it's hard for fans to follow you. Every artist has to deal with that. You still want to have that hunger and creativity in that first album. I feel like I still have that. Creatively, I feel really strong about song writing and making great music.

Contact the writer:

444-1075, j.loza@owh.com

« Entertainment

Share