Red crush: John Legend
A Grammy award-winning, multimillion megastar with a kickass wife to boot… John Legend may be softly spoken, but he has a lot to shout about, says Scarlett Russell
He may have 10 Grammys, but the musician is still a family man at heart
John’s had some throat problems,” comes the email. I’m about to interview John Legend mid-way through a world arena tour of his latest album, Darkness And Light. He’s been singing for weeks now, and his voice has taken a battering. But I know this long before his publicist tells me, of course, because Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, is with him on tour and has been narrating their antics via Twitter. “Touring life with John is basically him resting his voice and never speaking, and me saying, ‘Are you mad at me?’ every 45 minutes,” she informed her five and a half million Twitter followers, in the typically deadpan style that has made Teigen – a model, cookbook author and presenter of the US’S Lip Sync Battle – as big a star as her husband.
Sadly, there’s no sign of Teigen jumping on the phone today. Legend calls me from a quiet hotel room in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, voice croaky and manner, well, subdued. He apologises. “I have to budget my speaking time because I’m singing pretty hard every night. Just the normal wear and tear of being an artist. I’m drinking a lot of cocoa and tea.” How very un-rock’n’roll. But this is what makes Legend stand out. And why we at Red love him. Of course there’s the music (who hasn’t hummed along to Ordinary People or swayed at a wedding to All Of Me?) and the #relationshipgoals marriage, but he’s also the least starry, diva-ish or outlandish American R&B star around. There’s no bling; just a simple wedding band. His rider requests on tour are: water, vegetables, fried chicken, tea and red wine. “I just focus
There are a lot of things in the world that need to CHANGE. Getting rid of Trump is the OBVIOUS start
on the work – the music, the writing, the performing,” he says. “Those are the things that got me here and what keep me focused.”
I’VE LONG BEEN A FAN OF LEGEND. Used To Love
U has featured on the ‘most-played’ playlist from my first ipod to my current Spotify. All Of The Lights blasted from the tinny radio in my dad’s Nissan Micra when I was allowed to drive it seven years ago. I defy anyone to watch his Oscars performance of Glory, the anthem he co-wrote for 2014’s Selma – or, for that matter, his acceptance speech – without watering eyes. In a world of autotune, Legend’s biggest assets are his voice, his piano and his melodies. And in an industry full of brash, brazen characters, he speaks softly but firmly of admiration for his peers and love for his family. He posts pictures of Disneyland, birthday cakes and camels. He re-tweets missives about International Women’s Day and democracy. He is the poster-boy for the strong yet sensitive man, and I applaud him for it.
John Legend, 38, was actually born John Roger Stephens in Springfield, Ohio. During college he wound up in the studio with Lauryn Hill (his keys can be heard on The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill) and found his big break when a roommate introduced him to his cousin, Kanye West. To date, along with his Oscar for Glory,
Legend has a Golden Globe and 10 Grammys. He also recently made his movie debut in that little-known Hollywood musical, La La Land. Like his hero Marvin Gaye, Legend sings not just of love, but of politics. In Penthouse Floor (from Darkness And Light), he sings, “Oh man look at the times, didn’t they notice, notice, only future I can see, ain’t what it used to be”. I ask how much the current state of politics in the US inspired the album. “It was my first album as a married man and as a new father, so I was inspired by both those things and by the world around us, and what I wanted the world to be like for my daughter,” he says.
There’s a song dedicated to her: Right By You (For Luna). He lets out an exasperated sigh when I ask about the atmosphere in America now. “It’s a mess. We have a president who’s on the verge of impeachment and he’s just an awful guy, a national embarrassment and hopefully he’s gone soon. There
are a lot of things in the world that need to change. Getting rid of Trump is the obvious start.”
LEGEND MET TEIGEN IN 2006 ON THE SET OF HIS VIDEO FOR STEREO. They married in Lake Como in 2013. “We hit it off immediately and were very attracted to each other at first sight,” he chuckles. “I don’t know if you’d call that love – sometimes it takes a while for love to develop and blossom – but I knew I loved her within six months of dating. It didn’t take long for me to realise I could see myself marrying her.” By far Legend’s most famous song is All Of Me: more than 12 million sales worldwide, and the song Legend is requested to play more than any other. “I’ve lost count of the number of times people have asked me to play it at their wedding,” he laughs. “Or be a guest at their wedding. People I’ve never met! It’s very flattering.” The video to All of Me features Legend and Teigen blissfully loved-up: frolicking in the sand and writhing in the sheets. He wrote it as a homage to her. “The first time I sang it to her was in bed,” he says. “I whispered the whole song to her and she cried.”
On one hand, the song is romance personified – “Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections”. Other lyrics – “What’s going on in that magical mind? I’m on your magical mystery ride… Even when you’re crying you’re beautiful too” – seem all the more poignant and beautiful since Teigen’s revelation earlier this year that, after Luna’s birth in April 2016, she suffered from post-natal depression. In a piece for US Glamour, she said, “I didn’t have an appetite. I never left the house. There was a lot of spontaneous crying.” All Of Me may have been penned three years before, but it’s easy to believe how supportive Legend would have been through this time. Teigen said, “Rarely would I muster up the energy to make it upstairs for bed. John would sleep on the couch with me, sometimes four nights in a row,” and revealed he still brings her medication.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” he tells me softly, when I asked how he first discovered his wife was suffering from depression. “There wasn’t one moment where I knew something wasn’t right, I just gradually noticed more and more that there was a dark cloud over our interactions. Her mood was darker.” How did he cope? He takes a deep breath. “I blamed myself. I thought it was something I’d done wrong. I worried I hadn’t been the best husband or father I could be, but I started speaking to people I trusted, and realised it was a natural reaction to giving birth that her body was making. I’d heard of post-natal depression but I never really knew until I experienced that and started talking about it.” Now the couple are tackling it together. “We love each other and take care of each other, and that’s part of what it is to be married,” he says. “It strengthens your marriage when you go through challenges, you come through it together and it’s strengthened us as a couple.” The pair were also vocal about undergoing IVF to conceive Luna after struggling to get pregnant, and I wonder if Teigen’s depression has affected their plans to extend their family. “Absolutely not,” he says. “I can’t wait for more children. My wife going through that was a learning experience for both of us, for sure, but it made me see up-close-and-personal how challenging it is to bear a child, to be a new mother.”
On the subject of Luna, Legend’s pride shines down the phone. He dotes on being a father. Luna and Teigen are with him on tour and Luna’s even been to one of his shows, with headphones. “Normally she’s at the hotel asleep when I’m performing, but it’s very special having my family with me,” he says. It’s also a rare time she gets to hear her dad’s music – he’s against playing any of his songs to her at home. “I never have,” he says with another chuckle, clearly shying away of such an ostentatious act. “The early days of Luna being born, everything about her stands out,” he gushes. “Every first word, every first step. The first time she really knew I was Dadda was probably the most exciting time yet. We were at home, just playing with her, and she comes out with, ‘Hi Dadda’. Being a father made me rethink everything in my life. I suppose the biggest thing is that I realised how important family is, protecting them, supporting them and doing what I need to do. That comes above all else.”
There you have it: a multi-millionaire pop star with a devotion to family and politics – and a penchant for tea. We’re listening.
The Darkness And Light tour runs in the UK from 8th to 20th September; Johnlegend.com
It STRENGTHENS your marriage when you go through challenges, you come through it TOGETHER