8/2/2019 The Evolution of John Legend

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December 20, 2008 - December 26, 2008, The Washington Afro-American B3

By Zenitha Prince

Washington Bureau Chief

John Legend is well on his way to earning his

name.

Its been a while since the then-Kanye West

sidekick emerged from behind the scenes as the

voice on the hook of Slum Villages Selsh.

Now, three albums and several Grammy awards

later, Legend is at the top of his game, ushering

in a new era of baby making music and

evolving as The Voice of 21st century R&B.

As the head of HomeSchool Records, Legend

is also set to transform the musical landscape as

he already has with the introduction of British

phenomenon, singer and rapper, Estelle.

Beyond entertainment, the multi-faceted

artist has also emerged as the face of civic

leadership through his work with the campaign

of President-elect Barack Obama and his efforts

to end poverty via his Show Me Campaign.

Currently on tour showcasing his new album,

Evolver, Legend took the time after sold-out

shows in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to

chat with theAFRO about his latest project and

more.

AFRO: Towards the end of Green Light

Andre 3000 says, Sometimes you gotta step

from behind the piano and let them know

whats going on. Did that challenge in any

way inuence this album and your concert

performances? (The D.C. performance was

crazy good by the way.)

John Legend: I think the album

wasnt really inuenced by that particular

statement. The album was a result of me and

my collaborators just going in to the studio to

try to make some great music. I wanted to make

an album with great songwriting and a great

sound. Thats all.

When it comes to live performances, Ive always

gotten up from the piano when I thought it was

appropriate for the song. Now that Im doing

songs from three albums, I get up from the piano

a little more because Evolver is less piano-

driven. Its been fun putting this show together

because there is a nice range of material from

Get Lifted to Once Again to Evolver. The

show has a nice balance of up-tempo, mid-tempo

and ballads. Im glad you enjoyed the show. I

really have fun performing it every night.

AFRO: What was your goal with this

album? What message did you want to give your

audiences about John Legend the songwriter,

performer, producer, man?

JL: Well, I just want people to love the

album, rst of all. I want them to listen to it all

the time. I want the songs to make you smile,

make you dance, inspire you, make you think,

etc. Thats what great music is supposed to do,

and thats what I was aiming for when making

this album.

AFRO: As a child of the Caribbean, I

was particularly enamored with Cant Be My

Lover featuring my man Buju Banton and No

Other Love. Did you intentionally inject that

Caribbean avor in there or did these songs just

evolve that way? How did the collabo with Buju

come about?

JL: I intentionally decided to try to

make some reggae-inspired tracks on this

album. When Ive done performances in the

Caribbean at various festivals, Ive done

reggae remixes of my own tracks and some

collaboration with reggae artists, but these are

the rst original songs Ive tried to compose. I

did it because I thought my voice and my singing

style would t well with reggae. So I reached out

to the producer Supa Dups, who I worked with

on Estelles song Come Over. We worked in

Miami for a couple days in November 2007 and

came up with No Other Love and Cant Be My

Lover. I was really happy with both songs and

decided to put them on the album. I reached out

to Estelle to contribute to No Other Love and

Supa Dups reached out to Buju for Cant be My

Lover. Im really happy with the results .

AFRO: Some fans have attributedEvolvers

The Evolutionof John Legend

John Legendperormed beore

cheering

sometimes

swooningans at

DAR Constitution

Hall in

Washington, D.C.,

on Dec. 6 as part o

his Evolvertour.

Photo by Danita Delaney

I want the songs to make you smile, make you dance, inspire

you, make you think, etc. Thats what great music is supposed to

do, and thats what I was aiming for when making this album.

Continued on B4

By Edith Billups

Special to the AFRO

Sophisticated Lady -An

Evening with Denyce Graves

will feature the critically

acclaimed vocalist and Duke

Ellington School of the Arts

alumna in a diverse recital

on Feb. 25 at the Kennedy

Center that will include

classical music, along with

pop, Americana, spirituals and

jazz.

A benet for the

Georgetown-based performing

arts high school, Graves isa D.C. native and one of

the opera worlds brightest

stars. She rose to stardom

after being raised by a single

parent near the Blue Plains

sewage plant in Southeast

Washington. A graduate of

Oberlin College Conservatory

of Music and the New

England Conservatory, Graves

has performed in some of

the worlds most renowned

opera houses. Tickets for

the singers hometown

performance went on sale

Dec. 10 at the Kennedy Center

box ofce and are expected to

sell out quickly.

A mezzo-soprano with a sultry voice

and commanding on-stage presence,

Graves said she is excited about the

February concert because this school is

the reason that I have the life that I have

today. Often, I am called upon often to

do benet performances, and I tell the

agency that they have to put a cap on

them because I have to make a living, too.

However, this one is quite different and

has a lot of meaning.In recent years, Ellington, a college

preparatory public school, has suffered

from a drop in funding and personnel.

According to Rory Pullens, head of school

at Duke Ellington, The cost of running

a premiere arts school has always been

more than the revenues than the DCPS

system has been able to provide at Duke

Ellington, not that because they havent

wanted to, but because there

are limitations as to how far

a district can go in terms of

providing all the resources for

every program.

Therefore, Duke Ellington

has always sought to attract

additional revenue through

various creative outlets, and

one such way has been to

have our alumni, who have

a national and international

presence, to come back and

put on a benet concert for

the school because there are

so many needs. This is what

Denyce Graves is doing.Pullens noted the concert

represents something that

cannot be shared in words.

It gives Duke Ellington a

broader exposure and it lets

people know that this school

is doing something so worthy

that someone of Denyces

stature will take the time to

reach back.

According to Graves,

life could not be better these

days, as she settles into a

newly purchased home in

Bethesda, Md., and raises her

4-year-old daughter Ella. She

also continues to maintain

a satisfying relationship with a French

composer, who is the father of her only

child.

For several years, unbeknownst to

many, the singer suffered from depression

while trying to maintain the perfect

image of what others wanted her to be.

Her fairytale marriage of 15 years to

her manager/husband failed and she

Courtesy Photo

Opera singer Denyce Graves will perorm Feb. 25 at the

Kennedy Center in a beneft concert or her alma mater, the

Duke Ellington School o the Arts.

Denyce Graves to Perorm Beneft Concertat Kennedy Center

Continued on B4

By Natalie Cone

Howard University News Service

WASHINGTON In a packed synagogue, a diverse audience

gathered last week to hear one of the queens of literature, Nobel

Laureate Toni Morrison.

David Dulaney, a teacher at The Barrie School in Silver

Spring, Md., sat with the 10 students of his African-American

literature class. Joyce Sebian and her daughter, Beth, excitedly

waited to hear Morrison speak as they glanced through her new

novel, A Mercy, which Joyce is now reading in her book club.

Morrison, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 and the

Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her novel Beloved, made an appearance

at Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington to discuss her newbestselling novel.

The story takes place in 1682, a time when America was just

emerging, and the denition of a slave was not just someone

brought to the country from Africa. During that time, almost

anyone of any race could be a slave.

Its less about slavery in the sense that we think of it today,

Morrison told the audience. Whats interesting is how slavery

becomes married with race in this country. It wasnt always that

way.

The beautifully written book switches back and forth from a

rst person to a third person perspective. The rst person narrative

is in the voice of Florens, an Africa slave girl who was given to

Jacob Vaark by her owner, at the suggestion of the girls mother,

as payment for a debt.

Vaark is an Anglo-Dutch trader who claims to detest slavery

and takes great pride in that fact. He disassociates himself from

the trade mentally, even though he inadvertently supports the

system by loaning money to plantation owners.

Florens is taken to Vaarks home where she joins three otherwomen, Rebekka, Vaarks wife; Lina, their Native American

servant, and Sorrow, a quiet girl who was also given to Vaark as

payment for a debt. Though hes master of the three women, he

does not mistreat them. Together they forge a small family.

Everything changes when Vaark dies of small pox and the

women are left to care for themselves in a time when the promise

and threat of men was where security and risk lay, Morrison

writes in the book.

Author Spotlight

Toni Morrison Talks oNew Novel on Slavery

Continued on B4

8/2/2019 The Evolution of John Legend

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B4 December 20, 2008 - December 26, 2008, The Washington Afro-American

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1/2

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sometime departure from your usual fare to commercial

interests. Did the pressure to sell inuence your choices in this

album?

JL: Everybody wants to sell records and have hit songs, butI dont let that cloud my creative vision. I gure that if I make

great music, its going to sell. So I focus on that rst. Once you

make the music, you have to market it right, choose the right

singles, etc., to maximize it. But, most importantly, you have to

make great records.

AFRO: Mr. Legend in all three of your albumsand more

so inEvolver, I thinkyou come across as a very smooth, very

elegant, dare I say master of seduction. Is that an alter ego or are

you the same in your real life?

JL: Everybody has their own style and approach to

seduction. I think mine works pretty well, and I think my

songwriting reects my personality and the way I think and

carry myself. Im probably not as smooth as I portray myself in

my lyrics though. Who is?! Im still a nerd at heart. But there

are plenty of young ladies who like that in a man. So Im gonna

stick with what works for me!

AFRO: You were an avid supporter of President-electBarack Obama during his campaign. Where were you when

election results were announced and how did it feel to know

that he would become the next president of the United States?

What message would you give to the millions of singers, actors,

college students and other ordinary people who contributed to

his victory about the role they should play in framing the future

of this country and perhaps, the world?

JL: I was in Los Angeles when the results were

announced. My band and I had just done a taped performance

that afternoon. (I absentee voted in New York a week

early). We rented out the V.I.P. room in the hotel bar and had

them set up a TV so I could watch the results with the band and

crew and some friends. We pretty much knew he was going to

win, but every time a swing state came in, we cheered. And

we nally popped champagne when the networks called it for

Obama. I was thrilled. I was emotional. I was inspired. It

was a beautiful feeling. The sense of euphoria and optimism

lasted for a while, and Im still feeling really good about

it. Its exciting to have a new administration that, though itwill make some mistakes, is at least being led by a brilliant,

thoughtful individual and a set of highly competent staff

and cabinet members. Its exciting to have been part of this

campaign. The campaign was truly driven by the people, not

by the establishment. Everyone who volunteered, voted and

contributed should be proud.

AFRO: Will you be in D.C. for the presidential

inauguration and are you performing in the festivities?

JL: Ill be there. Were still conrming the details of my

appearances and performances, but I wouldnt miss it.

The Evolution of John LegendContinued from B3

underwent surgery for a non-cancerous

polyp on her vocal chords. These days,

however, the 40-something singer saidthings are good and she is happy.

[Since 1980] I have been working

98 percent of the time in America, said

Graves. Previously, I was working mostly

in Europe. She remains ercely close to

her mother who she says helps me out a

lot with Ella.

She calls her only child beautiful and

bossy and more outgoing than the shy,

awkward child that she was. She is more

comfortable in social situations, and she

loves to sing, Graves said. We cant stop

her!

One of three children who sang in their

family gospel group, The Inspirational

Children of God, Graves was raised in

a strict, Christian home, listening to The

Mighty Clouds of Joy and Mahalia Jackson.

She was able to pull her life together duringthe difcult times, because of my faith,

and because of my belief in something

other than this life here. I know that God

has a hand in my life.

She notes that this has been evident

since she was a kindergarten student and

was taken under the wing of her music

teacher, Judith Grove Allen. It was almost

a mystical relationship, as the two crossed

paths repeatedly during Graves childhood.

She was able to recognize my love for

music, and I loved going to her class from

kindergarten to middle school, she said.

By the time she had advanced to high

school, Grove was the principal at Ellington

and encouraged Graves to apply. Heaven

sent this woman and she guided me and set

me on this path, said Graves.

Today, Graves is one of the most

respected female opera singers in the

world, but it has not come without battling

obstacles such as racism in an art formGraves believes has a tradition and people

who have their own ideas of what they like

to see.

I have people who made no bones

about it. People told me right in my face,

and at least you know what you are dealing

with. Some general directors said there was

no way they would hire me.

She cites as an example the time when

she was asked to play Juliet by the producer

of the opera, by the director did not want

a Black Juliet. The rst day I showed up,

he wouldnt even shake my hand or look at

me. But I showed up every day and made

sure my voice was ready. I even showed up

at rehearsals where I didnt have to be. One

day slowly, he started to acknowledge me,

and slowly, slowly he began to accept that

I was doing this role and was part of this

project. Later, that same director offered

the singer another role in France.

Graves called the incident, a very

important lesson for me, and I am proud

because there were so many ways to handle

that. I came to understand that often it is

hard for people to imagine your face in

a role unless people see your face in the

role. In the end, it was about the talent,

and it brought something different to the

production itself.

Graves notes that for African-American

male singers, the blocks can be even harder

to hurdle. Most of the roles are written for

the lead, and some feel uncomfortable with

African-American men in leading roles,

Graves said.

Still, she sees some progress and is

tremendously excited about Barack Obama

becoming the 44th president of the United

States. For me this has been an enormousachievement. Even before he has taken

ofce, he has brought change. I have a

tremendous excitement about where we

are going. When Barack spoke in 2004, I

called my best friend in Switzerland and I

said he could be president. After Obama

was nominated, the singer vowed, I didnt

care where I was in the world. I said that I

would y back to vote for him, and I voted

in Maryland.

Graves believes that Obama and others,

like her idol, Leontyne Price, represent the

best of preparing yourself to your ability.

Leontyne, for instance, is the reason I am

singing. The sheer beauty and power of her

voice changed my life.

And she empathizes with singers who are

called divas because they demand excellence

of the people they are working with. We are

trained to be super critical of every single

note. It is the art of beautiful singing, and

we are judged in that way. When you are

out there on the front line, its just you and

Jesus. Nobody is going to know that the

conductor asked you to sing it that way. At

the end of the day, you have to responsible

for your choices because they are only going

to remember that you sang it that way.

For the Feb. 25th performance, Graves

will be accompanied by outstanding musical

accompanists, including students from the

Duke Ellington High School Choir. For

tickets, call the Kennedy Center box ofce at

202-467-4600 or call 800-444-1324.

Continued from B3

Denyce Graves to Perform

The story forms as Rebekka contracts small pox,

and Florens is sent on a journey to get help. Morrison

uses the story to show how enslavement affects the

characterswho they are and who theyre forced to

become. The novel is only 167 pages, but Morrison, in

that short space, weaves a complex and poetic story.

Morrison, who also wrote about slavery in Beloved,

dismissed critics who say she should give the subject a

rest.

There is no fnal or ultimate closing the door to

slavery, she said, or closing the door to the holocaust,

or closing the door to war. You dont close the door on

a period. Thats closing the door to your past.

Morrison explained her novels unique title.

A Mercy was simple; it sounded almost

accidental, she said. God provides mercy, but a

mercy, thats something only a human can offer.

Toni MorrisonContinued from B3

D.C. Arts and Entertainment Calendar

Dec. 18

The Sweet Heaven Kings Gospel Celebration

Kennedy Center-Millennium Stage, 2700 F St., N.W., D.C.6 p.m. A 16-member gospel percussion and brass ensemble

performs holiday music with powerful singers. Free. For moreinformation: 202-467-4600 or visit www. kennedy-center.org.

Dec. 19A Glympse of Glory: Birthing the Vision of Holiness

Howard University, Cramton Auditorium, 2455 6th St., N.W.,D.C.7 p.m. Priase in Motion presents a play about a teenagegirls who nds and fullls her destiny. Includes music, dance

and more. $20 with group specials. For more information andto purchase tickets: 240-788-3596 or visit www.praiseinmotion.info

Author Spotlight

Toni Morrison