At the Creative Arts Emmy’s this past weekend, John Legend became the first Black to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, known as EGOT. Earlier this year, Legend starred in an all-star live production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC. He played the leading role, Jesus The Christ, in this uber rock inspired testament of the lead figure in Christianity’s life.
In his acceptance speech, he stated “We put so much love into this performance… Even Jesus and Judas, a lot of their interaction was based on love, even there was some betrayal, even though there was some disappointment, and we put so much love into this and I’m so happy that we were able to do this and that you all love it so much and honored our show.”
So the question for many, “How did he accomplish this?” Well, in addition to being a noted songwriter and singer, Legend is an accomplished producer. He has 10 Grammys, won a Tony award in 2017 for Best Revival of a Play as a co-producer for the August Wilson’s stage play “Jitney”, and in 2015 he won an Oscar for his original song “Glory” with rap artist Common.
Not only is he the first Black man, John Legend at 39 is the youngest person to enter into this prestigious club. Other members of this “fraternity” are Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones, Rita Morena and James Earl Jones.
