John Legend on his music mentors | GRAMMYs

Опубликовано 30 августа 2010, 21:44

On Aug. 19 John Legend dropped by The Recording Academy headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., to perform a few songs, chat with GRAMMY.com and even pick up a surprise replacement GRAMMY Award. Legend is in the midst of a tour with the Roots supporting their new album Wake Up, a collection of classic '60s and '70s R&B. During his visit, Legend played a few solo songs at the piano, including the album's title track, originally a hit for Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (and their vocalist, Teddy Pendergrass), and "Shine," the album's only original song.

"[These] songs evoke an era of activism and a time when musicians were really a part of the social movements that were happening, and their music reflected that," says Legend on why the concept of the album appealed to him.

Legend himself has always leaned toward a rich, classic R&B sound with piano-based arrangements. His roots lie in traditional gospel singing, and his piano skills landed him an early role backing Lauryn Hill on her "Everything Is Everything" track from the GRAMMY-winning The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill album in 1998. By 2004 he had formally launched his solo career with a live album, Solo Session, Vol. 1: Live At The Knitting Factory, which was followed by Get Lifted and a slew of GRAMMY Awards.Subscribe NOW to GRAMMYs on YouTube: grm.my/1dTBF8H

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The recording industry's most prestigious award, the GRAMMY, is presented annually by The Recording Academy. A GRAMMY is awarded by The Recording Academy's voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions (GRAMMY Awards Voting Process:grammy.org/recording-academy/a... The annual GRAMMY Awards presentation brings together thousands of creative and technical professionals in the recording industry from all over the world.

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John Legend on his music mentors | GRAMMYs
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