January 12, 2005 @ 7:27 am

Online Exclusive: Hot 97 and S.O.B.'S Present John Legend

Laylah A. Barrayn

Dec. 23, 2004- S.O.B.'S, New York

An R&B crooner can't push around a name like “Legend” just for the heck of it - this ain't hip hop, man. The sinew of John Legend's voice is luckily his redeemer: from somewhere deep inside rouses a pecu

Dec. 23, 2004- S.O.B.'S, New York An R&B crooner can't push around a name like "Legend" just for the heck of it - this ain't hip hop, man. The sinew of John Legend's voice is luckily his redeemer: from somewhere deep inside rouses a peculiar sound, it's all warm and roasted. Mr. Man even has himself an ear-splitting falsetto that'll make El Debarge raise a brow. It's not enough to catch a John Legend show just anywhere. Recently, he played the bling'd out BB Kings Blues Club in Times Square (New York) and he also headlined a show at the alternative Bowery Ballroom, downtown. What'll give you bragging rights is if you caught his 'homecoming' at S.O.B.'s. This NYC hotspot serves as a significant venue in Legend's career because nearly three years ago, while struggling to make a name for himself, the nightclub/restaurant opened its doors for Legend (then known as John Stephens) to record one of his first live albums. John Legend retuned full circle to S.O.B.'s on the eve of his Columbia Records debut, Get Lifted. John Legend walks through the crowd, up the mini-stack of stairs to the stage so casually you'd think he's a member of the band. In a way, he is. He plants himself in front of electric piano and begins to pound out the spectacular "Let's Get Lifted," which is also the opening song on Get Lifted. Here his two background singers held him down with a nearly operatic falsetto on the adlibs. Aside them were a powerful bass provided by one of the most wicked drummers in hip hop today, a gentleman named Swiss Chris. Legend's bill is stamped "paid in full" as he's been steady on the grind for a few minutes now. Philly knows him. For New Yorkers, he's like a cousin. He ran with a collective of NYC soul singers and his current background singer Alia Marie. A couple years ago someone probably handed you a cardstock flier to see a singer named John Stephens. If you were curious, you checked out the show and ended up witnessing John Legend in the making. If you skipped it; you now stand in need of a late pass. John Legend's voice is so many things happening at once. During his performance it's hard to place a finger on where exactly his vocal sensibility lies: his range isn't just a continuum of notes but is a pastiche of moments in American music. From one intonation to the next you'll hear Nat King Cole to James Ingram to Bilal. Is he a character singer? He switches up vocal styling like an enraptured MC. Seemingly, he can cover anything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Prince. But, at the end of the day, Legend is, hands down, the aesthetic scion of the gospel greats, known and unknown. Forget the fact that he was singing about infidelity. The groove on "She Don't Have to Know" had the jammed packed audience, many couples in attendance, on an auto-hypnotic, leaning back tip. Too funky of a ditty to take a moral stance, I supposed. Not to mention that when John sings, "Oh, stealing moments just to be with you" is some of the sexiest lulling this side of Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones." From the way Legend treats "Ordinary People" there's a good chance that this song is his baby. From the crowds response some might have gone home and made a few babies. It's at once a tearjerker and an aphrodisiac. Seemingly, it'll explode to the top of the charts once released as the second single. "Ordinary People" is a minimalist power ballad that features only Legend's gospel-folksy voice and his keys. If this was your favorite song, surely you were in a rapture when Legend did a TIVO on us and preformed it twice in a row ending the second time in a crescendo of Latin infused percussion and bass. I'll let you do your homework on Mr. Legend. Don't get too flustered when you find out that Miss Lauryn Hill left the piano up to him on her hit single "Everything is Everything" and whatever 70's soul singer you thought you were singing with on Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," that was Legend too. John's somewhat a triple threat. Not only is he easy on the visage, but he's a magician on the ivories; an amazing vocalist and a great song writer.

Article tags: Online, Exclusive, Hot, 97, And, S.O.B.'S, Present, John, Legend 

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