Transcript

John Legend Reveals He Struggled for Years Trying to Live Up to His Stage Name · Direct From Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest

0:00
Speaker 1: Derived from Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest. John Legends back with
0:04
Speaker 1: a new album simply titled Legend, after his last name,
0:06
Speaker 1: though it's not his real last name. He was born
0:09
Speaker 1: John Roger Stevens and was given the nickname by a
0:12
Speaker 1: close associate when he was a complete unknown, and he
0:15
Speaker 1: struggled with the decision to use name professionally. He tells Billboard.
0:18
Speaker 1: At that point, I was unsigned, and I wondered should
0:21
Speaker 1: an unsigned artist be called themselves John Legend. It's a
0:24
Speaker 1: lot to say, but I took it on and I've
0:26
Speaker 1: been trying to build a career ever since and live
0:28
Speaker 1: up to it. And I feel like it's finally time
0:31
Speaker 1: to call myself Legend. It's a stage name that's been
0:33
Speaker 1: following me for almost twenty years, and I feel like
0:36
Speaker 1: I'm ready to embrace it. Legend is out now. That's
0:39
Speaker 1: direct from Hollywood.