John Legend: How a Voice Breaks Through

So what's amazing to me is that I hear your voice on all of this music-

Mm-hmm

... and I didn't know you were, like, here in New York.

Like, I coulda walked down the block-

Yeah

... and knocked on the door and said, "Yo, brother."

Yeah.

[laughs] So-

I was living in the East Village, uh, uh, at, uh, St. Mark's and-

That's where I was born

...

Second Avenue.

[laughs]

[laughs]

I was ...

You know the Orpheum Theater that, uh, had the Stomp show?

I know it all, brother.

We, we were right next door to that, uh, building, and I started playing gigs all around town.

So what was your smallest show? 'Cause we all started doing little things.

Yes.

My smallest show, I was actually not living in New York yet, but I commuted down.

I, I took that job at Boston Consulting Group, and the first year they placed me in Boston.

Mm-hmm.

So I was living in Boston, but I still wanted to play gigs in New York, so, uh, my friend and I booked a, a acoustic gig for me at a place called The Living Room down in the Lower East Side.

You probably know it.

So what's amazing to me is that I hear your voice on all of this music-

Mm-hmm

... and I didn't know you were, like, here in New York.

Like, I coulda walked down the block-

Yeah

... and knocked on the door and said, "Yo, brother."

Yeah.

[laughs] So-

I was living in the East Village, uh, uh, at, uh, St. Mark's and-

That's where I was born

...

Second Avenue.

[laughs]

[laughs]

I was ...

You know the Orpheum Theater that, uh, had the Stomp show?

I know it all, brother.

We, we were right next door to that, uh, building, and I started playing gigs all around town.

So what was your smallest show? 'Cause we all started doing little things.

Yes.

My smallest show, I was actually not living in New York yet, but I commuted down.

I, I took that job at Boston Consulting Group, and the first year they placed me in Boston.

Mm-hmm.

So I was living in Boston, but I still wanted to play gigs in New York, so, uh, my friend and I booked a, a acoustic gig for me at a place called The Living Room down in the Lower East Side.

You probably know it.