John Legend (born John Stephens) is an African-American R&B and neo soul singer, songwriter, and pianist. His debut album, the US top 5 LP Get Lifted , was released in 2004. It features collaborations with rapper and producer Kanye West, and the singles "Used To Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30) and "Ordinary People" (US top 40). He also collaborated with Slum Village on the song "Selfish" (US top 100), also featuring Kanye West.

Legend was an excellent student, and had the opportunity to attend the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia. There, he was a member of the coed a cappella group "Counterparts." At Penn, Legend majored in English, with an emphasis on African American literature and culture. Oddly enough, his first job after graduating from Penn was not in the music business- Legend began working for the Boston Consulting Group in New York City. It was John Legend's roommate and former classmate at Penn, Devon Harris, who introduced Legend to then up-and-coming hip hop artist Kanye West, who is Harris' cousin. Since that meeting, Legend and West have worked closesly together. Legend sang many of the melodic hooks on West’s demo, which would eventually become 'The College Dropout'; and West provided rhythm tracks for Legend’s demo, which would evolve into 'Get Lifted'.

Discography

Studio albums

• 2004: Get Lifted