What is John Legend's net worth?
John Legend is an American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and philanthropist who has a net worth of $100 million. That is a blended combined net worth with his wife since 2013, supermodel Chrissy Teigen. John Legend is responsible for the vast majority of the couple's wealth, though Chrissy has earned at least $10 million per year every year since 2018 from modeling, endorsements, and television projects.
John Legend began his career in the early 2000s, collaborating with well-established artists like Kanye West and Alicia Keys. Legend's debut album, "Get Lifted," released in 2004, was both a commercial and critical success, earning him his first Grammy Awards, including Best R&B Album and Best New Artist. This marked the beginning of a remarkable career that has spanned nearly two decades.
Throughout his career, John Legend has released several critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums, such as "Once Again" (2006), "Evolver" (2008), and "Love in the Future" (2013). His most notable hit, "All of Me," from the "Love in the Future" album, became a chart-topping success and a wedding anthem worldwide. In 2018, Legend achieved the prestigious EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards) by winning an Emmy Award for his role as a producer on "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert." This remarkable feat made him the first African-American man and one of the youngest artists to attain all four major entertainment awards. In addition to his musical accomplishments, John Legend has been a dedicated philanthropist and social activist, championing causes such as education, criminal justice reform, and human rights.
Early Life
John Roger Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio. His parents, Phyllis and Ronald had four kids. His mom was a seamstress who sang and was the director of the church choir. His father worked at an International Harvester factory and was a drummer. His grandma was the church organist. John began performing with the church choir at four. He was homeschooled. He learned to play the piano when he was seven. Legend skipped two grades in school due to his academic prowess. He enrolled at Springfield North High School at 12 and graduated at 16 as the salutatorian of his class. Legend was accepted to Harvard, Morehouse, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown. He attended UPenn.
Legend was the musical director of Penn's co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group The Counterparts during college. The group's recording of the Joan Osbourne song "One of Us," was chosen for 1988 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. Legend met Lauryn Hill in college and she hired him to play piano on the song "Everything is Everything," from her iconic album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."
Legend graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in African-American literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.
Early Career
After college, Legend worked as a management consultant while he started writing, producing, and recording his own music. He released his self-titled demo in 2000 and "Live at Jimmy's Uptown" in 2001, which he self-released and sold at his gigs. He soon began sending his demo to record labels. In 2001, Legend was introduced to Kanye West, who was a then-an-up-and-coming-hip-hop artist. West hired Legend to sing the hooks in his songs. West also signed Legend to his label.
Legend chose his stage name from an idea the poet and songwriter J Ivy said to him. Ivy basically said that Legend's music sounded old school like one of the Legends. So he began calling John Legend. So did West. Eventually, Legend adopted the name himself as well.
Success
Legend's debut album, "Get Lifted," was released on Kanye West's GOOD Music label in December 2004. The album debuted at number seven on the U.S. charts. "Get Lifted" won the Grammy Award for Best R&B album in 2006. Additionally, Legend was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Artist. Four singles were released off the album. Legend c0-wrote the Janet Jackson song "I Want You," which was nominated for an award at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005. Over the next handful of years, Legend made appearances on a number of albums for other groups and musicians including Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z, The Black Eyed Peas, and Stephen Colbert, among others.
Legend also was working with Michael Jackson on an upcoming album prior to his death. When Jackson died, only one song had been written.
In February 2006, Legend performed during the pregame show at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan as well as at the NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas.
In the summer of 2006, Legend performed a song called "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song" with Hoots the Owl on "Sesame Street."
Ian Gavan/Getty Images
"Once Again," Legend's second album, was released in the fall of 2006. The album hit number three on the charts and debuted on top of the R&B/Hip-Hop charts. He won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his song "Heaven." He also won a Grammy for his collaboration on the song "Family Affair." In October 2008, he released his third album, "Evolver." The single "Green Light," featuring Outkast's Andre 3000. The song had the highest ranking on the song charts since his song "Ordinary People."
In 2010, Legend and the Roots released a collaborative album, "Wake Up!" In 2011, Legend won three Grammy Music Awards: Best R&B Song for "Shine," as well Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Hang On in There," and Best R&B Album.
In 2013, Legend released his album "Love in the Future," which reached number two in the U.S. and the U.K. The third single from the album, "All of Me," became an international hit. The song is dedicated to his wife Chrissy Teigen. He performed the song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2014, "All of Me" was the third best selling song in the U.S. and U.K.
His album "Darkness and Light" was released in 2016. In 2018, he released the album "A Legendary Christmas."
On May 21, 2019, Legend was the winning coach on "The Voice" with his artist Maelyn Jarmon.
In 2020, Legend performed in a special Quarantunes benefit concert. In May 2020, he released his seventh studio album, "Bigger Love." In July 2020, Legend performed Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" with Andra Day at a fundraised for Joe Biden's presidential campaign.
In November 2021, Legend signed with Republic Records after a 17-year contract with Sony Music ended. In September 2022, his eighth studio album, "Legend," released.
Personal Life
Legend met model Chrissy Teigen in 2006 when she starred in the music video for his song "Stereo." They became engaged in December 2011 and were married on September 14, 2013, at Villa Pizzo in Como, Italy. The couple had a daughter in April 2016, a son in May 2018, and a daughter in January 2023, all born via vitro fertilization. In June 2023, they had a fourth child, a son, born via surrogacy.
In November 2019, Legend was named People's Sexiest Man Alive.
In an appearance on Dax Shepherd's podcast "Armchair Expert" in the summer of 2020, Legend admitted to having a history of cheating on his girlfriends, especially back in his 20s. Legend talked about being two years younger than his classmates in high school and college and thus, not getting a lot of attention from women. When he did, he lapped it up and acted irresponsibly. He was quick to add that all of that changed when he met Chrissy Teigen. His wife, an expert Twitter troll, took the bait, tweeting, "Especially…the other sh*t is the 10s and 30s, so better be talking the tens, idiot." Legend and Teigen met when he was 28.
Legend was one of a number of celebrities who took to social media to pay tribute to the late civil rights icon John Lewis when he passed away in July 2020. He tweeted: "Thank you, John Lewis, for being a warrior for justice. Thank you for loving us so much that you devoted and risked your life to bring us closer to freedom. As we mourn and remember his incredible life, let's rededicate ourselves to carrying on his legacy."
Real Estate
In January 2016, John and Chrissy paid $14.1 million for a mansion in Beverly Hills that was previously owned by Rihanna. Rihanna bought the house in 2009 for $6.9 million and immediately uncovered a number of structural problems, notably that in even a mild rain the home would apparently "flood." Rihanna sold the home in 2012 for $5.2 million. John and Chrissy listed this home for sale in 2021 for $22 million and accepted $16.8 million a few months later. Here's a video tour of this home:
In April 2020, Legend and Teigen bought a $5.1 million modern contemporary house in West Hollywood, California – not far from their current Beverly Hills home, which they purchased for $14.1 million in 2016. Their real estate portfolio also includes two penthouses in New York City. They bought one in May 2018 for slightly over $9 million and the second in April for $8 million.
In September 2020, John and Chrissy paid $17.5 million for a mansion in Beverly Hills.
In January 2022, John and Chrissy placed a duplex New York City apartment on the market for $18 million. The property was originally two apartments. John and Chrissy acquired the first apartment in 2018 and the second in 2020. In total, they spent $16.70 million on the two apartments.
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