JL on HomeSchool Records/Estelle/his new release (October 15, 2007)
In the midst of getting busy on his next album, John Legend is also busy getting the word out about Estelle. The British singer/rapper/songwriter/producer's "Shine" will be the first release on Legend's HomeSchool label through Atlantic Records. "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)" is the lead single from the project, slated for release Feb. 12, 2008. Executive-produced by Legend, "Shine" features production by Wyclef Jean, will.i.am, Swizz Beatz and Mark Ronson as well as Legend, who also has a cameo in the "Wait" video. Guests include Kanye West (on the track "American Boy") and Cee-Lo. Asked about other artists on the HomeSchool roster, Legend tells Billboard.com that no one else is signed yet and the label is non-exclusive. "This isn't a blanket imprint. There will be some artists a label partner may like and some they don't. I'm doing this one at a time." Estelle, whose music draws comparisons to Lauryn Hill, was born in West London. She's previously released material through her own label, Stellar Ents, including the album "The 18th Day" and two "Da Heat" mixtapes. She first met Legend several years ago at Roscoe's chicken and waffle eatery in Hollywood; he and West were taking a break from working on the latter's "The College Dropout" when Estelle came up to their table and introduced herself. The now New York-based Estelle will be visiting major cities starting in November, according to Legend. She tosses aside concerns raised about the failure of many British R&B/rap artists to connect with stateside audiences, saying "I'm just going to be me, and keep my mind on what I do. I think people will get it." Legend agrees. "It's all about the songs and music. British soul artists haven't come with the right music. Estelle has the right music and producers; her music will speak for itself. She's undeniably a star." As for his next album, Legend says he's three songs (one of which features will.i.am) into what he's planning as a summer 2008 release. In the meantime, he's just returned from Zanzibar and Tanzania where he shot the video for his latest single, "Show Me." It was directed by Lee Hirsch, the filmmaker behind the 2002 South Africa documentary "Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony."
Celebs make the scene at Steve Nash roast (October 14, 2007)
Prada shoes, retro-inspired gourmet food and really tall guys set the scene at Steve Nash's celebrity roast to benefit his foundation at Scottsdale's Hotel Valley Ho Friday. The night began with a media-soaked red carpet walk and a cocktail reception for approximately 200 guests, mostly casually appointed pro athletes, their designer-wearing girlfriends and wives, and other Valley socialites. They also got a poolside performance by five-time Grammy singer/songwriter John Legend, a four-course gourmet meal prepared by nationally acclaimed chef Charles Wiley and a celebrity shootout. Nash arrived at the hotel with his sister around 5 p.m. wearing gym shorts and carrying his dry cleaning, but he cleaned up well in a dark blue suit and baby blue button-up when he walked the red carpet a few hours later with eye-candy R&B musician Legend.
"I like to follow the games, especially during the play-offs," said Legend. "But, I only occasionally play because I'm not that fast or that tall." Legend looked pleased with himself after he contributed to two of the 40 shots made, raising a total of $8,000 from Lucia.
Free John Legend Download From Starbucks (October 12, 2007)
Today, October 12th, pick up a free download from John Legend at Starbucks! Grab a "Song Of The Day" card at Starbucks then download "Show Me" on iTunes for free. For more info go here.
New candids added (October 11, 2007)
Added new candid pictures of John and his girlfriend, Christy Teigen shopping in Soho on September 29, 2007 in New York City. Click below to see them all.
Steve Nash Foundation Benefit (October 11, 2007)
Though he's used to cameras and microphones being shoved in his face, Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash admits he feels uncomfortable being the center of attention. He'll have to get over it, quickly. All eyes will be on him Friday as coaches, teammates and friends dish all the Nash dirt they can come up with as part of a celebrity roast to benefit the Steve Nash Foundation. His anxiety may be warranted. Teammate Raja Bell and coach Mike D'Antoni surely will have locker-room gems to share with members of the crowd, who are paying $1,500 each to be a part of the evening. Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, Suns favorites Dan Majerle and Eddie Johnson and Nash's coach at Santa Clara University, Dick Davey, also will be on hand to share some beauties. Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Legend will perform. World-renowned chef Charles Wiley will prepare treats.
John Legend to attend Pop!Tech 2007 Conference (October 11, 2007)
The Human Impact, will convene this year from October 17-20, 2007, in Camden, Maine, and will explore the influence human beings have on the world and on each other. Participants will include leading cognitive scientist and New York Times-bestselling author Steven Pinker, Grammy-award-winning R&B artist John Legend, healthcare pioneer Dr. Victoria Hale, leading humanitarian Zainab Salbi, award-winning photographer Christopher Jordan, and biotechnology pioneer Jay Keasling and nearly three dozen other presenters and performers. Pop!Tech has also secured a Who’s Who list of corporate partners, including companies such as Lexus, Nokia, Yahoo!, eBay, National Geographic, Steelcase and Fast Company. Read more.
John interviewing Estelle (October 10, 2007)
Click here to see a video of Estelle being interviewed by John. She's talking about her album coming this February 2008. Click below to view the caps.
JL to shoot video for "Show Me"! (October 9, 2007)
Forget the bling, the cars and the girls normally seen in music videos. R&B singer John Legend is shooting the video for his next single, "Show Me," in Zanzibar, Tanzania, a remote island in East Africa. But he didn't travel all the way from New York for just a video shoot. The trip is actually for Legend's Show Me Campaign, an organization aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in villages across Africa. The Grammy winner was moved to action after reading "The End of Poverty" by economist Jeffrey Sachs. He says the book's focus on how Africa needs infrastructure and not just aid made sense to him. "It seemed like such a practical and smart approach to adjusting extreme poverty," said Legend. Read more here.
Ok, so I guess the video for "Another Again" will not be released after all (?)
A touch of Estelle (October 9, 2007)
Estelle's new single, Wait A Minute (Just A Touch), has been blazing the airwaves for about a month or so now. But, that doesn't mean that the surprise and excitement that greeted the news of her signing to John Legend's Homeschool label has subsided. It's so good to have an artist that has really paid dues winning for once. Estelle's hip-hop career 
began behind the counter at Pete Real's Deal Real record shop. From there, she graduated to open mics at DJ Pogo's classic rave Lyrical Lounge. MC TY would often push her on stage. The next step was appearances on records, like Domestic Science by Skitz and, a little later, Trixsta by Blak Twang. By now, the people were after some proper released product from the west London-born vocalist. While it's true that her mixtape series, Da Heat, kept her hot, a full two years passed between Trixsta and her debut single proper 1980. 1980's follow up, Free, was also a top twenty hit and a third single, Go Gone, also charted respectably, but the very dope album, The 18th Day, failed to move mad units, despite her buzz, and the obvious quality of the record. So, when it came time to get her second album together, her old record company V2, 'gently suggested' that she take her music down a rockier path. Read more.
Gallery Update (October 8, 2007)
Added pix of JL performing in Snowmass Village at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Festival.
John Legend for Gap campaign (October 7, 2007)
One year ago Gap launched their (Product) Red campaign, created to help prevent, care and treat AIDS in Africa. According to Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, “Since launching last year, (Product) Red has contributed more than $45 million to the Global Fund to finance programs that help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.” This year, the company recruited new celebrities such as actress Anne Hathaway, Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend, and Wyclef Jean for the new ads shot by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The campaign also reintroduces a series of images that debuted this summer of Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines, actor Terrence Howard and actress Abigail Breslin. Each individual in the campaign wears a Gap (PRODUCT) RED item in a way that expresses their own personal style. The ads will run in November issues of fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, Glamour, Lucky, Marie Claire, GQ and Harper’s Bazaar as well as in weekly magazines such as US Weekly and Entertainement Weekly. On October 5th, Gap also launched a limited edition T-shirt called “(2 WEEKS)” referring to the two weeks of antiretroviral (ARV) medicine in Africa that the sale of the shirts will support. The prices for the Gap Red collection range from $28 for a cotton t-shirt to $198 for a leather jacket. Half of the profits from the sales will go directly to the Global Fund to help finance AIDS programs in Africa. The collection is now available in selected Gap stores around the world as well as online. Thanks to Brooke.
John Legend Champions Charity in Africa (October 7, 2007)
R&B singer John Legend isn't in Africa to perform his song "Show Me" but to champion his charity group: the Show Me campaign. The organization aims to eradicate poverty in African villages. The Grammy winner was moved to action after reading "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs. The book helped him realize how much money it would take to have an impact on extreme poverty. Now he has teamed with the author to learn how Sachs' own poverty-fighting organization, Millennium Promise, works in destitute African villages. The Show Me Campaign's philosophy is based on Millennium Promise's -- integrating development programs that address problems ranging from proper hygiene to education to farming techniques to clean drinking water. Legend calls it a comprehensive program that tackles the issues that contribute to a poverty trap that villages can't escape. Legend will visit various villages in Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria, where Millennium Promise has begun successful pilot programs. It's a vision trip of sorts for Legend and the Show Me campaign, which is in its infant stages. "Our specific goal is to fund the village in Tanzania and others that we're visiting," Legend told ABC News. "And the program is a five-year program to raise $1.5 million to fund it, and we've already raised a few hundred thousand dollars." The project has been funded with income from charity events and online donations from fans. Legend said the money will flow to the right resources. "It doesn't give cash," he said. "It does things like buy fertilizer, or set up Internet connections or buy malaria bed nets or have scientists come in and help them clean their drinking water and make sure it's healthy." He said there is no corruption because the money is trackable and the results have been good. In a country of plenty and waste, Legend hopes that his fans will become aware of the dire situation beyond the borders of the United States. "Some people will say with some justification that we have a lot of problems here at home that we still need to solve," said Legend. "But I don't believe you have to choose between Americans and Africans or between Americans and folks in Afghanistan or Cambodia and Laos. I think we're all human beings and every life is valuable and poverty anywhere is something we should address."
John Legend Launches Homeschool Records (October 5, 2007)
John Legend makes the move from singer/songwriter to entrepreneur with his launch of Homeschool Records. Legend’s first artist is a female British R&B/hip-hop artist and producer UK import named Estelle. Homeschool Records in partnership with Atlantic Records will release Estelle’s album ‘Shine’ early in 2008. The two met when Estelle was producing her first album ‘18th Day’, which John was featured on. Estelle describes the relationship with John by saying “there aren't many [producers] that I respect on a level to help me write songs or upgrade/push me as an artist... but John is one of them." Estelle's United States debut will feature collaborations with Wyclef Jean, will.i.am, Swizz Beats, Mark Ronson and Kanye West, as well as a duet with John Legend. Mr. Legend remarked “This album is truly an accomplishment. She will be one of the most exciting breakthrough talents of 2008. Mark my words." Click here for more info on Homeschool Records.
The third age of Clinton (October 5, 2007)
Bill Clinton has always had a problem with leaving. One muggy night this summer, he took the stage at a Manhattan dance club, where several thousand young people - confidently identifying themselves as "philanthropists of the future" - had gathered to support his charity. Naturally, adulation engulfed him. But when he handed over to the R&B pianist John Legend, the crowds began to drift homewards; Clinton, it was assumed, had slipped out of a back door into a waiting limo, off to the next engagement. It was only much later, after Legend's long performance ended, that he ambled back into the spotlight, pink-cheeked and pink-tied, a beaming grandfatherly presence, wishing the remaining audience-members a safe trip home. He'd been there the whole time - and would remain, it quickly became apparent, until nearly the last outstretched hand had been shaken. Read more.
Conversations with Carlos Watson (October 4, 2007)
Remember a few weeks ago when JL was on Conversations with Carlos Watson, but many of you missed it? Now you watch it online here. Click below for the captures. Thanks Mira.
John Legend "Someday" (From The August Rush Soundtrack) (October 4, 2007)
John has a song called "Someday" on the soundtrack for the Warner Bros Film "August Rush". It tells the story of a charismatic young Irish guitarist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a sheltered young cellist (Keri Russell) who have a chance encounter one magical night above New York's Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, August Rush, orphaned by circumstance. Now performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger (Robin Williams), August (Freddie Highmore) uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth. Written by DeathtoGlitter. August Rush will be in theaters November 2007. You can listen to "Someday" here.
New photoshoot added (October 4, 2007)
John Legend poses at a portrait session in Los Angeles, CA on May 1, 2007. HOT!!
Gallery Update (October 3, 2007)
John Legend poses at a portrait session for AOL on June 30, 2006 in NYC.
iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store & Starbucks Now Playing Service Go Live (October 2, 2007)
Starbucks and Apple just kicked off the iTunes Wireless Music Store for Starbucks in NYC. Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz was there, along with Apple iTunes VP Eddy Cue and musical guest John Legend. There were about 50 or 60 people inside the location. Shultz made a speech, saying the formation of the store will benefit both "customers and artists" by "allowing music to be discovered in a unique way." At the event, they handed out Song of the Day cards which will go out free to customers, and let participants test out the service. After Legend debuted his new single "Show Me," Schultz announced that the singer was the first person to purchase a track from their store in Starbucks, but this wasn't the case: I did it about 20 minutes before that dude. Tomorrow kicks off the official rollout: 600 Starbucks in New York and Seattle will be wired with the iTunes Store, with Starbucks locations in most major cities to be iTunes'd up by the end of 2008. Click the thumbnails below to see the images.
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