John Legend on his career and still wanting to make a difference as he returns to Hong Kong
Whether he is singing love or protest songs, the US singer has proved a huge success, but it did not come easy, and despite 10 Grammys, and an Oscar – for the song Glory, from the film Selma – there is plenty more he wants to achieve
Before John Legend can play at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo on March 10, as part of his Darkness and Light World Tour, he first has to succeed in reaching the city.
Things didn’t go so well on his previous trip to Asia, when he was on board a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo in December last year that had to turn back after four hours when an unauthorised passenger was discovered on board.
“That was pretty insane,” he says. “I only want to go in one direction this time.”
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Legend, who has played Hong Kong once before, in 2013, might have had a slow-burn start to his career, but he hasn’t stopped making up for it since.
The 39-year-old, born John Roger Stephens in Springfield, in the American state of Ohio, started performing as a child in a Pentecostal church; he has produced five solo studio albums and one collaborative effort, with The Roots; won 10 Grammys, an Oscar – for the song Glory, with rapper Common, from the film Selma – a Golden Globe and a Tony Award; acted in an Oscar-winning film; become the owner of a successful film and TV production company; and written and performed the fourth most played wedding song in the world.
Before that, though, there was a long period of trying to establish himself, during which he held down two jobs at the same time – musician and management consultant, for Boston Consulting Group.
“I didn’t sleep at all back then, working all day as a consultant and then working all night playing clubs, ” he says. “I was doing all that because I knew that my real dream was to be a musician. For three years, I was playing clubs and meeting producers, managers and other musicians.