Did you know that John Legend played piano on “Everything Is Everything” from Lauryn Hill’s Grammy-winning solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill way back in 1998? Or that he sang backup vocals on Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name” in 2003? Or that his 2005 breakout single “Ordinary People” was originally intended to be a Black Eyed Peas chorus?
The singer/songwriter told all those stories and more, spanning his almost quarter-century in music, to a crowd of only hundreds at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre, part of SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series presented by American Express, which also put on concerts by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre earlier this month.
Legend took the crowd back to the very beginning, when he was a 19-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and directing a choir. He sat at the piano — all by himself onstage, as he was the entire show — and played some dulcet chords to set the tone for story time.
“One of my choir members was friends with a young lady named Ms. Lauryn Hill,” Legend recalled to wild cheers. “I always dreamed that I would be making music for a living, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. Lot of times you need lucky breaks along the way. Even though you have a dream, even though you have talent, sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right time. My first lucky break came with Ms. Lauryn Hill. She was working on her solo debut album after the success of the Fugees, and my friend invited me to go to the studio with her and meet her and hang out and see what she was doing. I said, ‘Yeah, definitely, I’ll go.’
“So we got to the studio, she’s working on new music, and I’m just hanging out, and my friend’s like, ‘John! You gotta go over and play a couple of songs for her. Let her know how you can sing and play.’ After I sang and played a couple of songs, Ms. Hill asked me to play on the song she was working on then. It was called ‘Everything Is Everything.'”
At that point, he played the instantly recognizable melody that opens the third and final Miseducation single, a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
“So that was me on the piano in that song — bet you didn’t know that!” Legend said with a laugh.
In addition to the Lauryn Hill story, he continued his musical history lesson by recalling meeting Kanye West and working on their debut albums together, as well as Slum Village’s “Selfish,” Estelle’s “American Boy” and Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name.”
Legend saved room for some of his best-known hits, of course, playing “Ordinary People” in full after telling its origin story and wrapping up the show with his Hot 100 chart-topper “All of Me,” as well as playing some brand-new songs from his Sept. 9-released eighth album, Legend. If you weren’t in the building, Legend’s concert will air Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s The Pulse and at 8 p.m. ET on Heart & Soul.
Find the full set list below:
Tonight (Best You Ever Had)
Save Room
When I Used to Love You
Love Me Now
Nervous
Conversations in the Dark
Ordinary People
Wonder Woman
All She Wanna Do
Green Light
Wild
All of Me
Continue reading from original source Billboard...
Related
John Legend Talks New Album 'Legend,' His Complicated Relationship With Kanye West & More
09/29/2022The singer/songwriter told all those stories and more, spanning his almost quarter-century in music, to a crowd of only hundreds at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre, part of SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series presented by American Express, which also put on concerts by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre earlier this month.
Legend took the crowd back to the very beginning, when he was a 19-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and directing a choir. He sat at the piano — all by himself onstage, as he was the entire show — and played some dulcet chords to set the tone for story time.
“One of my choir members was friends with a young lady named Ms. Lauryn Hill,” Legend recalled to wild cheers. “I always dreamed that I would be making music for a living, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. Lot of times you need lucky breaks along the way. Even though you have a dream, even though you have talent, sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right time. My first lucky break came with Ms. Lauryn Hill. She was working on her solo debut album after the success of the Fugees, and my friend invited me to go to the studio with her and meet her and hang out and see what she was doing. I said, ‘Yeah, definitely, I’ll go.’
“So we got to the studio, she’s working on new music, and I’m just hanging out, and my friend’s like, ‘John! You gotta go over and play a couple of songs for her. Let her know how you can sing and play.’ After I sang and played a couple of songs, Ms. Hill asked me to play on the song she was working on then. It was called ‘Everything Is Everything.'”
At that point, he played the instantly recognizable melody that opens the third and final Miseducation single, a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
“So that was me on the piano in that song — bet you didn’t know that!” Legend said with a laugh.
In addition to the Lauryn Hill story, he continued his musical history lesson by recalling meeting Kanye West and working on their debut albums together, as well as Slum Village’s “Selfish,” Estelle’s “American Boy” and Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name.”
Legend saved room for some of his best-known hits, of course, playing “Ordinary People” in full after telling its origin story and wrapping up the show with his Hot 100 chart-topper “All of Me,” as well as playing some brand-new songs from his Sept. 9-released eighth album, Legend. If you weren’t in the building, Legend’s concert will air Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s The Pulse and at 8 p.m. ET on Heart & Soul.
Find the full set list below:
Tonight (Best You Ever Had)
Save Room
When I Used to Love You
Love Me Now
Nervous
Conversations in the Dark
Ordinary People
Wonder Woman
All She Wanna Do
Green Light
Wild
All of Me
Continue reading from original source Billboard...
Upvote
0