What’s left to be said about music maven John Legend? His soulful voice has lent itself to pop and hip-hop favorites by other artists; he’s produced bangers for everyone from Kanye and Jay-Z to Alicia Keys and Estelle; and his own songwriting, including the massive success of “All of Me,” has made John Legend a versatile hit-making machine. He’s still creating and collaborating; last year, Legend did everything from jazzing it up with Norah Jones to providing gospel vibes for rap duo Clipse. John Legend is set to perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 4, at Fantasy Springs. For tickets and more information, visit www.fantasyspringsresort.com.
What was the first concert you attended?
I grew up in the church, so a lot of the early music exposure I had was just going to church and then going to gospel concerts that were at my church or in the larger church community that I grew up in, so all of my early concerts were in the Pentecostal church.
What was the first album you owned?
I’ve always had a hard time with that question, because I’m not exactly sure. Remember those Columbia/BMG services where, if you tape a penny to the form, they would send you eight CDs and then sign you up for a club? It was cassettes at that time, so my first ones were Whitney Houston, Anita Baker and Luther Vandross, and then we had some gospel recordings like BeBe and CeCe Winans.
What bands are you listening to right now?
In the streaming era, it’s interesting, because there’s a lot of stuff that’s old. I make a lot of playlists, and so I listen to stuff from the ’60s and ’70s; I listen to stuff from now; I listen to hip-hop from the ’90s and early 2000s. It’s quite a range of things. The current artists I really like are Leon Thomas III and Olivia Dean, and I listen to a lot of hip hop—Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, The Creator I listen to. The new Clipse album is probably my favorite album of the last year or so.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
AutoTune. I’m not a fan. I’m more into the idea of having grit in your voice and having humanity in your voice. I’m not a big fan of the use of AutoTune, except when it kind of makes sense artistically for a purpose, but as for the overall sound of a person’s voice, I’d rather hear more texture and humanity.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
I wish I had been able to see Nina Simone live. That’s probably my biggest, “Man, I missed my chance.”
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. I have gotten that question before, and I truly don’t believe in them. I feel like I don’t have to feel guilty about liking anything.
What’s your favorite music venue?
There are a few. I love the Royal Albert Hall in London. There’s something special and kind of majestic about playing there. I love the Hollywood Bowl here in L.A.; I love the Rady Shell down in San Diego. I love Red Rocks, and I love Carnegie Hall in New York. Probably the coolest place to play in my life was St. Peter’s Square at that concert at the Vatican we did last year. It’s pretty much the first ever big concert they’ve ever had there, so it’s not a normal venue, but they made it work for that. It was pretty incredible.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
It’ll sound vain if I answer this question, but it’s always my song, because I’m always writing in my head all the time. Right now, I’m writing a musical, and I’m always hearing ideas that I’m batting around in my head all day, and humming them and going back to my notes and writing more ideas down. When I’m hearing things repeatedly throughout the day, it’s usually originals that no one’s heard yet.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
I would say Stevie Wonder, more than any other artist, has influenced me, and his body of work has lived with me the most. Marvin Gaye’s probably a close second.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I feel like talking to Quincy Jones would be cool. I was friends with him, but I didn’t get to pick his brain all the time, and just hearing him tell more stories about those early days with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles and all the artists he was producing way back in the ’50s and ’60s would be fun.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
My father-in-law has always wanted for us to play at his funeral, and he always says he wants “What a Wonderful World.” I think that’s a good answer.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which I happen to be on, but that’s not why. It was so influential to me at a very pivotal time in my life musically. I was, like, 19 or 20 when it came out, and it was really just a guide post for the kind of music I wanted to make at that time.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
I just heard this song the other day called “Jesus and John Wayne,” and it just stuck with me. I didn’t even know if it was a big song, or if it was that new, or if it had been around for a while, but somehow it came up in my algorithm on Spotify, and I was just like, “I feel like not enough people are talking about it,” because it’s so good.
