Legend fans are just ordinary people (Springfield News Sun reportage)

By Andrew McGinn, Cox News Service
Thursday, February 09, 2006

Writing a fan letter is, like, so 20th century.
Building a Web site is the modern way of showing your appreciation, and John Legend should consider calling his next album "Get Uploaded." The Springfield-raised R&B sensation is inspiring Internet fan sites - built by fans for fans - that chronicle his every move.
"I feel he's not as big as he should be," said Alexander Cowan, a freshman at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale who launched liftedbyalegend.com last year. "I built it just because I'm a fan and maybe to attract more fans." In the months leading up to Wednesday's Grammys, where the North High graduate was up for eight awards, Cowan's site logged 6,500 hits. OK, so more than 2 million people worldwide have purchased Legend's first album, but the "endless hours" Cowan put into the site haven't exactly been in vain.
"I'm doing it out of love for John Legend," he explained.
And that love knows no borders. Putting the world in World Wide Web, Ewelina Zarychta's john-legend.net isn't just another Legend site - it might be the only Legend site from Poland. "I first saw him on MTV," Zarychta, 18, said last week from her home in Glogow. "There are very few good songwriters nowadays. He's truly blessed."Admittedly, Legend isn't all that popular in central Europe. In fact, as of December, he'd only sold a few more than 650 CDs in Poland. That might explain why Zarychta's site, launched in October, is in English. She plans to soon add a Polish section to the site. "My mission is to promote him," she said. "If you've ever heard John's voice, you know what I'm talking about."
The message board at johnthelegend.com, which bills itself as the "1st unofficial Web site dedicated to John Legend," is where fans from across the globe come together to talk all things John. The board's 779 registered users come from as far away as Africa, Japan and Norway, said site creator Nikki Noble. A 31-year-old graphic design student in suburban Chicago, she launched her site a month before "Get Lifted" even came out. "I couldn't believe he didn't have an unofficial site, because he's so talented," Noble said. "He has such a humble spirit, which makes you want to do it." But it all comes back to the music. "There was one point when I wouldn't listen to the radio because everything sounded the same," Noble said. "When I heard 'Ordinary People,' that's when I was sold." Her site plans to host John Legend Day in July. Fans from across the country are expected to descend on Springfield for two days, and they'll do stuff like take a "Legendary bus tour" - a tour of town.
Over here, Legend's fans are celebrating his rise to fame. But over in Poland, one Web mistress has some work to do.
"He will be a real legend very soon over here," Zarychta predicted.

Reach Andrew McGinn at amcginn@coxohio.com