John Legend’s moniker wasn’t always so legendary. In fact, it took a legal contract to secure the right to even use his now-popular stage name.
“J. [Ivy] heard me singing, playing and doing all I was doing on those College Dropout tracks [with Kanye West], and he was impressed,” Legend, 46, recalled of his musical origins in Amazon’s Word+Music docuseries, per People. “He said, ‘Man, we’re gonna have to call you the legend.’”
Legend (born John Stephens) soon decided to go by his newfound nickname professionally.
“I had to decide whether or not I was going to assume this stage name,” he recalled in the docuseries. “Part of me is saying, ‘How you going to call yourself Legend? You don’t even have a record deal yet.’”
Legend decided to go for it, realizing that this stage name would “make people pay attention.”
“Then, I just got to go live up to it,” he said. “And, lo and behold, there’s a porn producer — I kid you not — a porn producer who dabbled in rockabilly music, and he went by the name Johnny Legend. The fact that he made music, rockabilly music, and his name was Johnny Legend, meant that there was a possible trademark infringement case.”
As a result, the now father of four needed to ask Johnny (born Martin Margulies), now 77, for the rights to become “John Legend” onstage.
“We had to find Johnny Legend, negotiate with him, cut a mutually exclusive deal stating that he was Johnny Legend, and I was John Legend,” the “All of Me” singer said. “[We agreed that] he wouldn’t sue me, I wouldn’t sue him [and] he wouldn’t try to get into the soul music business pretending to be John Legend.”
He continued, “I [was] happy to make clear that I kept my side of the agreement. I didn’t produce any porn, didn’t make any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend.”
The EGOT winner signed his first record deal in 2004, releasing his first album that same year on his 26th birthday. Since then, Legend has received tremendous musical success and accolades.
“It’s kind of surreal. It’s something I never even thought about when I started my career,” Legend told Entertainment Tonight of collecting an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award, joining the elusive club. “I probably wanted to win some Grammys and sell a lot of records, and all that started happening pretty quickly, but I never dreamed that I would be here, winning an Emmy, and being in that rare group of people that have won all four of these major [awards].”
In addition to his thriving career, Legend has made sweet music with his wife, Chrissy Teigen.
“We’ve been through it all together,” Legend exclusively told Us Weekly in September, detailing the secrets of his 12-year marriage. “I think knowing that we have each other’s back and support each other through it all is — you know, when you have that as your foundation, it’s everything.”
Legend and Teigen, 40, are parents of daughters Luna, 9, and Esti, 2, as well as sons Miles, 7, and Wren, 2.
Word+Music premieres on MGM+ Sunday, November 30.
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