![\"Musician](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/johnlegend-photobyphildesimone-8325.webp.jpeg\")
John Legend at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida on Aug. 25, 2024. Credit: Phil DeSimone \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nJohn Legend at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida on Aug. 25, 2024. Credit: Phil DeSimone \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
Years before the awards, while he was still collecting small payments like the $500 check from Columbia Records for work on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, John Legend<\/a> was always Mr. Even-Keeled. Last week, ahead of a solo concert in Clearwater, the man born John Stephens told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he\u2019s just naturally that way.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I tell people is I don\u2019t have some secret to attaining this level of calm. It\u2019s my natural disposition,\u201d Legend, 47, said, adding that the things that upset him the most are injustices.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that sounds like a political answer, but it\u2019s the truth. As I\u2019m watching the news, as I\u2019m seeing contempt for human life and disregard for human life in some of our leadership\u2014that\u2019s the kind of stuff that makes me really angry,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think it motivates me to do what I can to try to make things better and be active politically, because it truly angers me when I see injustice and disregard for human life.\u201d<\/p>\n Legend doesn\u2019t get too deep into that during \u201cAn Evening of Songs & Stories,\u201d a show he\u2019s reviving after spending last year celebrating the 20th anniversary of the triple-Grammy winning album Get Lifted. Instead, the two-and-a-half-hour concert, which visited Tampa Bay in 2023<\/a> and 2024<\/a>, finds the EGOT<\/a> philanthropist and activist spending about 45 minutes between songs talking and really pulling the curtains back on the ups and difficult downs that shaped his life and viewpoint. Complete with personal photos and revealing disclosures, the show is a rare look into the psyche and heart, really, of a man known for making being a Legend look easy.<\/p>\n Legend, 13-time Grammy winner, caught back up with CL last week to talk a little about the gig, and dive into other topics like suffering, songwriting, and why he\u2019s not giving his daughter a smartphone until she turns 16 (sorry, Luna!).\u00a0<\/p>\n Tickets for An Evening of Songs & Stories with John Legend happening Tuesday, March 18 at Clearwater\u2019s Ruth Eckerd Hall are still available and start at $92.25.<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m gonna try to get you in and out of here in 15 minutes. I know you got a lot going on. How\u2019s it going today?<\/p>\n It\u2019s going great. Just a normal day in L.A. I took the kids to school in the morning, worked out and now I\u2019m talking about these shows coming up\u2014looking forward to it.<\/p>\n I want to do a quick checkup on the shows. I haven\u2019t seen this show since \u201924. What I thought I observed, and tell me this is kind of similar to what folks who maybe will be seeing you for the first time will experience: You talk for about 45 minutes. It\u2019s a two-and-a-half hour show, lots of pictures. There was a great medley with songs that you\u2019ve been on, including some gospel standards that you love, a wardrobe change\u2026 Does that sound about right? I don\u2019t want to give too much away.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll be similar to what you\u2019ve seen before when I\u2019ve done the solo shows. Most of last year we were touring with the full band doing the Get Lifted 20th anniversary tour, but we came back to the show because we love doing it, and I personally love doing it, and my audience really enjoyed connecting with me on a deeper level, I think. I share a lot of vulnerable moments about my growing up and some of the struggles we had in my family. I talk about the stories behind some of these songs, and like you said, I talk about some of the records I was a part of early in my career before people knew who I was, so it\u2019s a really fun night for me. I found that my fans are really enjoying it, because they love getting that deeper connection with artists.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m wondering, are you going to talk at all about the work that you\u2019re doing with Pharrell and what you kind of have coming up? I mean, it\u2019s kind of cool, you won the EGOT already. So it\u2019s like you just got it out of the way; you can just keep creating art and keep moving forward.<\/p>\n I think winning the EGOT certainly makes awards matter even less than they did before. And even before, I think I really was focused on the art, and really focused on making the best art I could possibly make, and making sure that it was something I was proud of and something I was excited to share with my audience, and I definitely am excited for people to hear what we do next.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how comfortable I am asking you, but I\u2019m just going to ask you because I\u2019m so interested in how you write songs. I know you love songwriting, the craft, the fact that you show up in the morning and then you do work and there\u2019s something there that wasn\u2019t there before. You\u2019ve talked extensively about it. I\u2019ve watched you bang around chords and stuff in that Splice video<\/a>, but I\u2019m wondering if this is something you would do for me, and you could tell me, \u2018no.\u2019 I\u2019m wondering if you would tell me the name of your most recent voice note and song idea. Maybe play a part of it, and maybe talk to me about what you\u2019re hearing in the note there as you revisit a moment where maybe you woke up in the middle of the night and put a note down. Are you willing to do that?<\/p>\n I put in the voice note this morning. I don\u2019t want to play it for you yet, because it\u2019s for a special project that we haven\u2019t announced yet, but it\u2019s for Broadway. I sang it into my phone this morning, actually, when I was working out. I\u2019d gotten some pages from our book writer yesterday with dialog ideas and a pitch for a song at a certain moment. And so my job after that is to go and write it, write the song. An idea came to me this morning when I was in the gym and I sang it into my phone, which is what I tend to do, writing an idea.<\/p>\n I think we\u2019re on an embargo about this news, but by the time we pub, the world will know about your work on \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball.\u201d Is that what you\u2019re working on?<\/p>\n You\u2019re good for that, and we\u2019re producers of that, so I\u2019m not responsible for any of the songwriting for that. Obviously that\u2019s Andrew Lloyd Webber, one of his classic shows, and it\u2019s reinterpreted through the ballroom scene in New York. It\u2019s a really fun, exciting and imaginative send up of the original. So we\u2019re excited for people to see it, and we\u2019re excited to be producers on it,<\/p>\n Forgive me, I\u2019m gonna jump around a little bit. The last time I talked to you, we were talking about a Christmas album<\/a>, and I think Luna was still at the age where she was maybe gonna realize what Christmas was. And I\u2019ve been listening to your kids album with Sufjan Stevens,<\/a> and I think about him a lot. His music helped me through a lot of grief\u2014Carrie & Lowell especially. I think about him, especially as he works through GBS<\/a>. My brother and I\u2014he used to work for the Jesuits\u2014and we talk a lot about suffering in the world. And I know you have this song \u201cShow Me,\u201d<\/a>it\u2019s kind of this question, asking what you\u2019re going to do about the world. And I don\u2019t know how comfortable I feel asking this question, but when I think about Sufjan, I think about him being in that chair, and I think about suffering, but outside of how you react to suffering, how do you process the suffering in the world? And how do you explain suffering to your kids?<\/p>\n You know it\u2019s difficult to explain suffering to your kids, but what I try to do is help them understand: one that they\u2019re fortunate to be in the position that they\u2019re in, but that other people aren\u2019t so fortunate. And we try to expose them to the work that Chrissy and I do when it comes to helping other people and include them in that as much as possible. We know we can\u2019t solve everything, and fix everyone\u2019s pain, and alleviate everyone\u2019s suffering, but we try to do what we have the power to do, which is use our platform and our resources to help as many people as we can. So we try to demonstrate to our kids how important that is to us, and hope that they learn by example that that\u2019s something that they should do in their lives, too.<\/p>\n And I know, I think you mentioned, you know, sometimes therapy in your relationship, you have to work at trying not to be a fixer, maybe in the context of Chrissy and when she\u2019s venting to you.<\/p>\n Oh man, you\u2019re pulling good notes.<\/p>\n I mean, I love talking to you, You\u2019re so, I don\u2019t mean \u201cpolished\u201d in, like, a bad way, but you\u2019re always on, right? You always know what to say. And, I mean, God, you\u2019re the kid who, at 15, wrote an incredible essay for a McDonald\u2019s contest<\/a>. I guess what I\u2019m trying to say is I was thinking about something that you did in Florida. You raised a shit ton\u2014excuse my French there\u2014of money for the state when Amendment 4 was on the ballot<\/a> in 2018. That\u2019s the movement to restore voting rights for felons who did their time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your\u2019re someone who shows up, right? You were at one of the first court hearings for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. I\u2019ve seen you speak to the Black, Brown and College Bound summits<\/a>. Here you visited the prisons too. How much are you still visiting prisons with free America? I know you have a lot of different initiatives<\/a> out there.<\/p>\n Yeah, we still do. And one of the things that we\u2019ve done lately is really trying to highlight the problem of death in jail in prison. We\u2019ve been working with a no more more jail death initiative<\/a> in Louisiana. We just amplified the message of \u201cThe Alabama Solution,\u201d<\/a> which focuses on their issue with the harm and death caused to some of the folks who are incarcerated In Alabama. That film is nominated for an Academy Award, and we\u2019re doing what we can to get the message out about that as well. I had nothing to do with producing it, we just think it\u2019s an important message because I visited so many prisons and jails and talked to families, folks who lost some of their loved ones who were incarcerated at the time.<\/p>\n The issues are really important to me, because I get to see the human beings who are affected by it. And it\u2019s not just intellectual, it\u2019s not just reading about it. It\u2019s really being proximate to the issues and to the human beings who are affected by these issues. And once you do that, you build this emotional pool toward doing something. You know you can\u2019t just sit back and watch it happen. You want to do something to help. So we\u2019re doing what we can to help, in regards to preventing deaths that are really preventable in our jails and prisons, and really recognizing the humanity of people, even when they\u2019ve made a mistake that landed them in prison or jail.<\/p>\n Again, I\u2019m going to bounce around so I\u2019m sorry, because I only have 15 minutes. You mentioned being on the road to celebrate Get Lifted. I love your story about that $500 check from Columbia after you contributed to the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and you\u2019ve talked about being grounded because you have all these friends from your Ivy League life, and they work in finance, and they work in academics. They have bylines in the New York Times, you know. And your group chats are so robust, and you can talk about things that are so outside of music and just so outside of small things. I\u2019m wondering, is Dr. Deborah Kenny one of those friends?<\/p>\n She\u2019s definitely one of my friends. I didn\u2019t meet her in college or in my younger years, but I was able to meet her as I was having more conversations around improving our schools, improving public education. And now I\u2019m on the board of the school group that she founded, Harlem Village Academy\u2014and they do just remarkable, remarkable work. We are publishing her book, which kind of explains her approach to education. And what I love about it is she\u2019s working in urban schools, and a lot of times, most of her students are Black and brown, and a lot of times you find that there\u2019s kind of an implicit lowering of expectations for kids who come from that kind of background. And what I love about her approach is that she doesn\u2019t lower her expectations for them. She has really high expectations, and she also has high expectations for herself as an educator and the educators she works with to give them a truly high quality education that encourages them to be great critical thinkers, great writers, great lovers of reading and learning. I just love her philosophy. Not only is it great for running schools, but I think it\u2019s a great book for parents who are trying to prepare their kids for life, and so we\u2019re really excited that we\u2019re publishing that. The book is called \u201cThe Well Educated Child,\u201d<\/a> and it\u2019s coming soon.<\/p>\n Do you think it\u2019s too lofty of a goal for yourself to stick to that pact you have with your other parents to not give your kids a smartphone until they\u2019re like 16? I heard Luna trying to get you to compromise<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ha! You have to stick together as parents. You know Jonathan Haidt, has been going around talking about his book, \u201cThe Anxious Generation,\u201d<\/a> and what I love about his whole I press campaign is that he\u2019s been really practical to parents about how they can work on this together in kind of alliance with each other. One of the main things is the idea of collective action, because if one or two parents kind of break the pact and let their kids use the phone before everyone else does, it starts that domino effect of everybody else saying, \u2018Well, she gets to do it, he gets to do it.\u2019 And so we\u2019re trying to be really thoughtful with our fellow parents at our kids\u2019 school, to stick together and really abide by the commitments we\u2019ve made to each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because we\u2019ve seen the research and seen the negative effects that social media and smartphones have had on our young people, and we\u2019ve seen enough\u2014we know enough, with the data, and we know that we need to protect them and their brains while they\u2019re still early in development. And I think they\u2019ll thank us for it later. They won\u2019t thank us for it now.<\/p>\n Luna was pretty convincing. I\u2019m gonna try to squeeze in two or three questions, maybe one that will just ruin my chance to interview again. You\u2019re Mr. Even Keel. Everything looks easy with you. I know that\u2019s not the truth, and you\u2019re pretty open about that. But what are some things that you, John Legend, John Stephens, struggles with still today?<\/p>\n You\u2019re right, I\u2019m pretty even-keeled, all the time. There\u2019s not really much time when I\u2019m not. I\u2019m just naturally that way. What I tell people is I don\u2019t have some secret to attaining this level of calm. It\u2019s my natural disposition. The things that upset me the most are injustice, honestly. And I know that sounds like a political answer, but it\u2019s the truth. As I\u2019m watching the news, as I\u2019m seeing contempt for human life and disregard for human life in some of our leadership\u2014that\u2019s the kind of stuff that makes me really angry, and I think it motivates me to do what I can to try to make things better and be active politically, because it truly angers me when I see injustice and disregard for human life.<\/p>\n You toured with Sade<\/a>. Can you just tell me if she\u2019s going to do it again soon? I know you didn\u2019t know about Beyonce at the DNC, but what do you know about Sade man?<\/p>\n I hate to break it to you, but I don\u2019t know. I am very much hopeful that that happens again, that we get another album again. You know, because she takes her time, but when she does come out she makes it worth it. And I was so honored to be on that tour, and I would do it again, if she wanted to do it again.,<\/p>\n I would love to see that. Thanks for your time. Always good to talk to you, and congratulations on just everything. It\u2019s cool to see you do it.<\/p>\n Thank you. I appreciate your level of research and engagement. So thank you.<\/p>\n Of course, man, it\u2019s my pleasure. Talk to you soon. Thank you.<\/p>\n Alright. Bye, thanks.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Mar. 12 \u2013 18, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773607749_872_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773607749_163_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773607749_549_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n