John Legend will be flying high from the adrenaline of GRAMMY Awards weekend when his Love in Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood Resort commences. Legend, already in the pantheon of EGOT performing artists, released his last album, Bigger Love, in 2020, so he had no qualifying solo material to be considered this year. Instead, he picked up an Academy Global Impact Award from the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective the night before performing at MGM Grand Garden Arena during the 2022 Awards ceremony.
For someone who counts at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony in his collection, Legend seems to take his status and fame in stride. He’s a firm believer in the fusion of spirituality and music, and an ardent endorser of practicing mindfulness. It’s his ability to stay in the moment that’s made his career climb seem so effortless.
Work does not seem like work when it is a passion, however, and Legend’s passion is for piano.
He was born John Roger Stephens in Springfield, Ohio, to music-loving parents. “My mother was the church choir director,” he said during a March 21-26 stint as guest host of the Radio Headspace podcast. “My father sang in the choir and played the drums, so I grew up in the church and I grew up around a lot of music.”
An upright piano was the centerpiece of the Stephens’ living room, and Legend begged his mother to let him take lessons. “I had this drive. I wanted to be good at this thing that I loved. I wanted to play music for other people. I grew up in the church and watched other musicians playing in front of the audience and I wanted to be one of those people who could move people with their music.”
Legend did wind up performing in church and practiced his lessons diligently. He skipped two grades in school, got an English degree and entered a professional career in management consulting before making serious moves in music. His piano playing can be heard on “Everything Is Everything” from Lauryn Hill’s 1998 debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and he contributed backing vocals to tracks by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys before Kanye West discovered him and produced his 2004 debut album, Get Lifted.
That album contained his first huge hit, “Ordinary People,” which earned Legend Best Male R&B Vocal Performance honors at the 2006 GRAMMY Awards. Get Lifted won for Best R&B Album that year and Legend was named Best New Artist. He’d win nine more GRAMMYs in the ensuing years, most recently in 2021 for Bigger Love.
Legend earned a Best Original Song Oscar in 2015 for “Glory” from the film Selma, a Tony in 2017 for co-producing a revival of August Wilson’s Jitney and an Emmy in 2018 for playing the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. And while Legend probably won’t literally walk on water in Zappos Theater during Love In Las Vegas, fans expecting to be moved by his music will not be disappointed.
Planet Hollywood Resort, 8 p.m. April 22-23, 27, 29-30, May 4, 6, Aug. 5-6, 10, 12-13, 17, 19-20, Oct. 14-15, 19, 21-22, 26 & 28-29, starting at $69 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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