I first saw John Legend in 2005, in a small club in Melbourne, a few months after his debut album Get Lifted came out and started picking up buzz.
I was a young journalist writing for a free music magazine, and he was the talk of the industry – a gifted young songwriter on the US RnB circuit whose piano-led sound caught the attention of Kanye West, leading to a deal with Good Music. At that point, Legend had also already contributed to Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
He was regarded as a kind of unicorn – a gifted musician, songwriter and bandleader with the smooth and weathered vocals of soul music legends such as Bill Withers and Donny Hathaway.
John Legend performs at New Year’s Eve Gala at the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Theory Eleven Entertainment
What I remember most about that packed room is how immediate the set felt.
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