the times | Thursday December 3 2020 1GT 3
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Chrissy to share her story
harmonious, positive, jazz and soul-
tinged pop that is accessible to
everyone. Any political messages
within the music tend to be subtle
— Penthouse Floor from 2017 is a call
for racial equality disguised as a sexy
slow jam — while he specialises in
straightforward love songs with
universal sentiments, big on melody
and feeling, reminiscent of the soul
greats and ideal for slow dances at
weddings and other family functions.
In a piece of inspired casting, Larry
David got Legend to play a plausible
version of himself as the singer at a
bat mitzvah for a 2007 edition of Curb
Your Enthusiasm.
“I always wanted to have my voice
heard and to inspire as many people
as possible,” says Legend, who got his
break in 2001 after meeting Kanye
West, who went on to produce his first
album, Get Lifted, in 2004. “But I had
to seek around, which may be why I
didn’t get a record deal until I was in
my mid-twenties. I knew I could sing.
I could write a bit too.
“But there are so many other things
that go into it. You have to decide who
you are, then you have to convince the
public that what you are doing is
important and necessary. I tell my
contestants on The Voice that success
in music requires an entrepreneurial
spirit. That’s why some talented
people succeed and others don’t,
especially now when so much is
happening online.”
In a year when everything else
ground to a halt The Voice proved
to be something of a lifeline for
Legend. He should have been touring
his new album, Bigger Love. Instead he
was stuck at home, at least when he
wasn’t filming a new season of the
talent show.
“My entire career this year has been
The Voice,” he says with a chuckle. “I
was lucky to have it at a time when
most musicians haven’t had a steady
gig to rely on. I made Bigger Love, I
was so proud of it, and then there was
this empty feeling of not being able to
tour. Given the good news we have
heard about the vaccine, I look
forward to getting out there again.”
As 2020 comes to a close, there
is one more thing Legend can wave
goodbye to. He is no longer People
magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. On
November 30 he relinquished the
title to the actor Michael B Jordan.
“I’m glad my reign is over,” he says
before going off to do whatever
former sexiest men alive do when
they are married with kids. “It is
nice to be
on the cover
of People
magazine, but
all the people
who don’t think
you are the
sexiest man alive
are only too
happy to tell you
what they think
about you.”
As it turns out,
the US president
was one of them.
Bigger Love by
John Legend
is out now
on ColumbiaJohn Legend and
Chrissy Teigen. Below:
in hospital after their
son Jack was stillbornside of a life that, judging by most of
Teigen’s posts, is the very image of
#blessed. “We’re wealthy, we’re
successful, we’re well known; it seems
we have the perfect life,” Legend
concedes. “This is a reminder that
we’re human and we experience
tragedy and pain just like everybody
else does.”
Legend’s life, unlike his music, has
been anything but smooth. One of
four children born to a seamstress and
a factory worker in Springfield, Ohio,
he was home-schooled by his mother
until he was 12, learning piano from
four and singing in his church choir
from seven.
“Being home-schooled meant I
skipped two grades, so I started high
school at 12 and college at 16,” he says.
“And I was really shy and socially
awkward. Most teenagers are, but
when you’ve been home-schooled
and you’re so much younger than
everyone else it’s definitely worse. But
I was a really good student and I loved
singing, so music helped introduce me
to the world when I was too shy to
enter it otherwise.”
Legend’s entry into the school
system came when his mother,
previously the driving force of his
education and passion for music,
fell into drugs after her own mother
died. She ended up in jail, leaving
Legend’s father to look after the
children on his own.“I haven’t done the psychoanalysis
on it,” he says, a touch witheringly
perhaps, on my suggestion that early
trauma drove his ambition. “But when
my mum was with us she was the one
doing the home schooling and
encouraging me to
pursue music in a
passionate way, so
actually she got me
off to a good start.”
As for going to
college at 16, Legend
dealt with it by telling
people he was 17.
“I lied about my age
to make it seem a
little less weird,” he
confesses. “But I liked
being out there on
my own because the
family had already
been through so
much, with our parents
getting divorced and
being estranged from
our mum.
“It was the social side that was
difficult. I was younger, poorer and
shyer than everyone else, from a small
town when most were from the big
city, in a majority white college. For all
kinds of reasons I felt different. Music
was my way of connecting with
people, of opening up.”
That might help to explain why
Legend landed on the style he did:COVER AND BELOW: GETTY IMAGES; CHRISSY TEIGEN/INSTAGRAM Have you heard about Ariana
Grande’s animal rescue?
Ohh, I like Ariana. Is Animal Rescue
her new song? Doesn’t sound like
the stuff she normally sings about,
but I know these stars like to attach
themselves to causes these days and
that’s a good one.No. It’s her animal rescue. She has
launched an animal rescue centre
in Los Angeles.Oh, right, good for her.
She has set up Orange Twins
Rescue with Scott and Brian
Nicholson, identical twins who
are her choreographers. According
to the centre’s website, it was
“created by three friends who
passionately share the same
mission in life. Our mission, first
and foremost, is to rescue and
rehabilitate animals in need.”What animals are they looking
out for?Strays, the old, the neglected and
abused. “We do not discriminate,”
they say.
Is she an adopter herself?You could say that. She has at
least ten dogs that have come
from rescues.Does she have a type?
Not really. According to Modern
Dog magazine her dogs include
labradoodles, a pit bull, a
chihuahua, a dachshund-German
shepherd and a Yorkshire terrier.
She has the name of Myron, her
pit bull mix, tattooed on her foot.
The centre already has more than
80,000 followers on Instagram,
but has some way to go to catch
Ariana herself, who has 208 million
followers. Or indeed her pet
pig, Piggy Smallz, who has
387,000 followers.Does she ever sing about them?
Well there is that song she sang
brilliantly at the One Love
Manchester benefit concert for the
victims of the Manchester Arena
attack. It’s really a love song, but
I imagine she just
can’t stop singing it
whenever she
walks into a pet
rescue and claps
eyes on a new
friend. “So one
last time, I need
to be the one
who takes
you home.”j
inging it
he
a pet
claps
ew
one
need
neThe lowdown
Ariana Grande