Behind the Legend

Fame, glory, awards-but John Legend has also faced baby loss, his wife being cancelled and the souring of his friendship with Kanye West

- OLIVE POMETSEY

Of all the places you might expect to find John Legend, an innocuous co-working space in central London is pretty far down the list. Yet, on an unseasonably warm autumn afternoon, this is the venue the singer has been corralled into, somehow making his way past workers on their lunch break, playing ping pong, gathered by the coffee machine or savouring the last bites of their Pret lunches.

“I’m great!” beams 45-year-old Legend, all good manners and seasoned professionalism. One imagines a celebrity of his stature (that is: 10 million albums sold, 16m Instagram followers hooked on his every move) might prefer the view of a king-sized bed in a palatial hotel room over the quasi-inspirational artwork that hangs on the walls — not least because he arrived in the capital only three hours ago and has a gig tonight.

For many, this is the overriding image of Legend (born John Roger Stephens) — sitting at a grand piano, wearing a tux and surrounded by loved ones. Most people know him as a wholesome family man. A doting husband and father of four, who croons his way to the top of the charts with sentimental ballads such as 2013’s All of Me, dedicated to his wife of 11 years, model and Insta-juggernaut Chrissy Teigen. He is, without exaggeration, one of the most accomplished musicians of his generation, with 12 Grammys, two Emmys, an Oscar and a Tony to prove it. Yes, that makes him an EGOT. No, the list of accolades doesn’t end there.

But we’ll get on to all that later. Because, given the results of the recent US election, it would be remiss to not also discuss his political credentials. This is a man who spent his teens reading about civil rights heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr and, at 15, wrote a self-prophesying essay that vowed to make Black history. How? By becoming “a successful recording artist” who uses his platform to “fight for change and justice”, he says.