John Legend Had to ‘Negotiate’ with a Porn Producer to Use His Stage Name

Ever wondered how John Legend became a Legend? It started in the early 2000s while he was collaborating with then-fellow unknown Kanye West.

In the first episode of Amazon Studios’ new series Word+Music, featuring Legend and premiering Nov. 30 on MGM+, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter discusses his childhood, his creative process, his wife Chrissy Teigen and the genesis of his stage name, while performing some of his best-known songs.

For more than 20 years, Legend had been going by his birth name, John Roger Stephens, and then when he was working with the rapper on West’s 2004 debut album The College Dropout, he had a fateful creative encounter. They were collaborating with a spoken-word artist from Chicago named J. Ivy, who was blown away by the musical prowess of this kid named John Roger Stephens.

“Now J. heard me singing, playing and doing all I was doing on those College Dropout tracks, and he was impressed,” Legend, 46, recalls in his episode of Words + Music during an extended introduction to the song “So High,” from his 2004 debut album, I Get Lifted. “He said, ‘Man, we’re gonna have to call you the legend.’ ”

Being an “old soul” with a “throwback voice, this throwback style,” Legend liked the sound of the impromptu moniker. Soon, West and everyone else was calling him John Legend. “So I had to decide whether or not I was going to assume this stage name,” he says. “Now part of me is saying, ‘How you going to call yourself Legend? You don’t even have a record deal yet.’ ”

That would come eventually, but he decided to just go for it anyway. “It’s going to make people pay attention, and then I just got to go live up to it,” he says, explaining his reasoning at the time.

Living up to it was the easy part. As his lawyer eventually informed him, there was one legal catch: He had to trademark the name before he could use it professionally. “And lo and behold,” Legend says, “there’s a porn producer—I kid you not—a porn producer who dabbled in rockabilly music, and he went by the name Johnny Legend.”

He adds: “The fact that he made music, rockabilly music, and his name was Johnny Legend, meant that there was a possible trademark infringement case.”

“We had to find Johnny Legend, negotiate with him, cut a mutually exclusive deal stating that he was Johnny Legend, and I was John Legend,” he continues. “He wouldn’t sue me. I wouldn’t sue him. He wouldn’t try to get into the soul music business pretending to be John Legend. And I’m happy to make clear that I kept my side of the agreement. I didn’t produce any porn, didn’t make any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend.”

The rest is the stuff of legend and Legend. The artist formerly known as John Roger Stephens signed with Columbia Records in May 2004 and released I Get Lifted that year on Dec. 28, his 26th birthday. “And you know what? It really did feel like a new birth,” says Legend, who went on to win 13 Grammys, including one for best new artist.

A spin-off of the Audible series of the same name, Words + Music is co-produced by Gunpowder & Sky, whose CEO Van Toffler says, “Throughout the new Words + Music series, we’ve enabled musicians to bring their songs and stories to life in real time through compelling visuals, high-res art, and tech-enhanced volume stages. There’s still nothing more human, powerful, or emotional than a killer marriage of music, performance, and imagery.”

“Words + Music has more than achieved our goal of reimagining and revolutionizing [MTV’s] Storytellers and Unplugged — with a touch of acid and a healthy dose of naturally occurring steroids,” he adds.

Words + Music premieres exclusively on MGM+ on Sunday, Nov. 30, with the John Legend episode. Sheryl Crow will follow on Dec. 7, Elvis Costello on Dec. 14 and Alanis Morissette on Dec. 21.