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Posts tagged as “John Legend”

John Legend to Handle Music For WGN Slavery Drama "Underground"

By goodblacknews on July 30, 2015

 John Legend is bringing his talents to a TV drama about Southern slaves fighting for freedom.

WGN America says Legend and his production company will be in charge of the score and soundtrack for “Underground.”
The drama is in production in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It stars Aldis Hodge as the organizer of an escape effort by plantation slaves. Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Christopher Meloni co-star.
WGN America told a Television Critics Association meeting Wednesday that Legend’s company will also serve as an executive producer for the drama.
In a statement, Legend says he believes the story of people brave enough to risk everything for freedom will be inspirational.
He and rapper Common won an Oscar this year for writing and performing the song “Glory” from the civil rights movie “Selma.”
“Underground” will air in 2016 on WGN America.
article via blackamericaweb.com

John Legend Pens All-Too Important Essay: "New York Failed Kalief"

By goodblacknews on June 12, 2015

John Legend
John Legend hasn’t been keeping quiet on police brutality or mass incarceration. Now, he is taking it a step further with his essay for Vulture speaking out on the suicide of Kalief Browder, the young man who spent three years on Rikers Island without a conviction.
Legend is justifiably upset about Browder’s treatment while incarcerated, and he recalls meeting him in 2013 after seeing him in a television interview.
From Vulture:

New York failed Kalief. The list of things that went wrong in his case begins with his first encounter with the NYPD, whose practice of targeting black teens is well documented. The idea that being accused of stealing a backpack would lead to his arrest and detention would be absurd if it weren’t actually tragic. He should not have been tried as an adult, or had prosecutors, defenders, and judges so overwhelmed with cases that he waited three years for trial, violating his constitutional right to swift justice. He should not have been held in an adult jail where he would spend 700 to 800 days of those three years in solitary confinement. He should not have spent one day being abused by guards or the others incarcerated there.
This Martin Luther King Day, Governor Cuomo publicly released findings from a task force he began last year to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice found that the patterns and practices at Rikers violate the human rights of adolescent males in jail. Rikers shouldn’t even have a youth unit. The RNDC, where Kalief spent three years, where 18-year-old Kenan Davis hanged himself this week, should not exist. Right now legislators in Albany are considering legislation that would end the automatic prosecution of 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, and remove youths like Kalief from Rikers and other jails throughout the state. Kalief died because our system is broken, and lawmakers can act now to stop tragedies like this in the future.

Read Legend’s entire essay here.
article by Ariel Cherie via theurbandaily.com

Common Delivers Commencement Speech, Receives Honorary Doctorate at Winston-Salem State University

By goodblacknews on May 15, 2015

The rapper known as Common, (Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.), delivered the commencement address at the WSSU graduation in Bowman Gray Stadium.
Common delivered the commencement address at the WSSU graduation in Bowman Gray Stadium. (Photo: David Rolfe)

WINSTON-SALEM — Award-winning hip-hop recording artist and actor Common encouraged nearly 1,000 graduating students from Winston-Salem State University to follow and trust in their paths to achieve their dreams.
“You want to surround yourself with people who believe in your path,” Common said Friday. “Belief is contagious. As you climb up the mountain, it will be difficult at times.”
Common, who was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., was the keynote speaker at WSSU’s graduation ceremony, which was held at Bowman Gray Stadium before about 12,000 people.
During his 27-minute speech, Common talked about his career as an actor, author and a hip-hop artist.
He mixed humor with his remarks that elicited laughter from the crowd. Some women in the audience screamed as he spoke.
He told the graduates that he was inspired by NBA star Michael Jordan, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama and Jesus.
Common said he learned as a youth playing for a basketball team in Chicago that he had to practice and work hard to achieve greatness.  Common said he dropped out of college to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist over the objection of his mother.
“I had found my path,” he said. “This voice of hip-hop would take me around the world.”
Common released his first album, “Can I borrow a Dollar,” in 1992, and he has since recorded nine others.
Common, 43, won a Grammy Award in 2003 for his song, “Love of My Life,” with singer-songwriter Erykah Badu.  Common won a second Grammy for his 2007 album, “Southside.”  He’s also a noted social activist.
During his speech, a young woman yelled to Common from the grandstand: “Here’s your wife.” Common replied, “Where are you; I want to meet you.”
The crowd laughed at the exchange.
Common told the graduating students they will face challenges in their lives, and they will not achieve their goals as quickly as they want.  “If you see the mountaintop, you know you will get there,” he said.
After his speech, the WSSU Choir and Symphonic Band performed the song “Glory” from the 2014 movie “Selma.” The song, by Common and singer John Legend, won the Academy Award in February for Best Original Song.
Afterward, WSSU Chancellor Elwood Robinson presented Common with an honorary doctorate of humane letters.  Common said he appreciated receiving the degree.  “This is one of the best days of my life to get this honor for you all,” Common said. “I’m grateful. I got a doctorate.”
article via news-record.com

John Legend Launches "Free America" Campaign To End Mass Incarceration

By goodblacknews on April 13, 2015

John Legend at Atlanta's Chastain Park Amphitheatre in 2014. (Photo by Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP)
John Legend at Atlanta’s Chastain Park Amphitheatre in 2014. (Photo by Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP)

Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer John Legend has launched a campaign to end mass incarceration by announcing today the multiyear initiative, FREE AMERICA.  He will visit and perform at a correctional facility on Thursday in Austin, Texas, where he also will be part of a press conference with state legislators to discuss Texas’ criminal justice system.
“We have a serious problem with incarceration in this country,” Legend said in an interview. “It’s destroying families, it’s destroying communities and we’re the most incarcerated country in the world, and when you look deeper and look at the reasons we got to this place, we as a society made some choices politically and legislatively, culturally to deal with poverty, deal with mental illness in a certain way and that way usually involves using incarceration.”
Legend, 36, will also visit a California state prison and co-host a criminal justice event with Politico in Washington, D.C., later this month. The campaign will include help from other artists — to be announced — and organizations committed to ending mass incarceration.
“I’m just trying to create some more awareness to this issue and trying to make some real change legislatively,” he said. “And we’re not the only ones. There are senators that are looking at this, like Rand Paul and Cory Booker, there are other nonprofits that are looking at this, and I just wanted to add my voice to that.”

"Selma" Cast Marches in Alabama; Free Screenings in 25 Cities Planned

By goodblacknews on January 19, 2015
“Selma” director Ava DuVernay and producer Oprah Winfrey joined their cast and crew to march alongside local residents of Selma, Ala., on Sunday in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“Selma” dramatizes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (played by David Oyelowo) in 1965 as he organizes and leads a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., and on Sunday cast members taking to the streets included Oyelowo and Winfrey, who tweeted, “Happy Super Soul Sunday every 1. We’re in Selma celebrating @SelmaMovie. How cool is that!”
Singer-songwriter John Legend, who won the Golden Globe for original song with Common for the “Selma” song “Glory,” also took to social media to promote the march. The artists performed the song with the Tuskegee University Gospel Choir on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
“In Selma, Alabama. Meet at City Hall at 4pm and March with us #Glory #MarchOn,” he posted with a photo of the bridge on Instagram.
Paramount Pictures, the film’s distributor, will host two free screenings of the film Monday for the general public at at the Selma Walton Theater.

“We are proud to be a part of this extraordinary effort to bring this poignant and timeless American story to the diverse students of Los Angeles,” said Debra Martin Chase, chief executive of Martin Chase Productions, and T. Warren Jackson, senior vice president and associate general counsel and chief ethics officer of DirecTV, which organized the efforts in Los Angeles.
The film, which cost about $20 million to make, has pulled in about $26 million since its limited release on Christmas Day. It earned an A-plus on CinemaScore and wide praise from critics.
“It’s a really incredible movie, because it’s playing so well in so many diverse places and has all of these organic grass-roots energy around it,” Megan Colligan, president of domestic marketing and distribution, told The Times last week. “It’s big cities, it’s small cities — it’s touching people all over.”
Colligan said one passionate fan in Louisiana reached out to Paramount asking if she could screen “Selma” at the local gym because there was no theater within 50 miles of town.
“The historical drama is a tough nut to crack to make it entertaining and inspiring, and I think Ava DuVernay figured out how to do that,” Colligan said.
article by Saba Hamedy via latimes.com

"Selma" Earns Two Academy Award Nominations, Including Best Picture

By goodblacknews on January 15, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-01-15 at 2.15.40 PM
The nominations for the 87th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, and among them were two for “Selma”, for Best Picture and its Original Song “Glory” by Common and John Legend.  The only other movie prominently featuring African-Americans that garnered a nomination is Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s “Beyond The Lights”, also in the Original Song category for “Grateful” written by Diane Warren and performed by Rita Ora.
If “Selma” does win Best Picture out this year’s field of eight, the producers accepting the Award will be Oprah Winfrey, Christian Colson, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.
A full list of nominees appears below:

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

AMERICAN SNIPER

Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers

BOYHOOD

Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers

THE IMITATION GAME

Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers

SELMA

Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers

WHIPLASH

Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers

"Selma" Earns 4 Golden Globe Nominations; Viola Davis, Don Cheadle Also Honored

By goodblacknews on December 11, 2014

selma-movie
Film and television awards season continued ramping up as the nominations for the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning.

David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. in "Selma"; director Ava DuVernay (insert)
David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma”; director Ava DuVernay (insert)

Martin Luther King Jr. biopic “Selma” scored big with nominations not only for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Original Song (“Glory” by John Legend and Common) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo), but also with the first Golden Globe nomination for an African American female director, Ava DuVernay.
“Annie” star Quvenzanhé Wallis earned a nod in the Best Actress – Comedy or Musical category and in  television, Viola Davis was honored with a nom in the Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama for her starring role in “How To Get Away With Murder.”  Don Cheadle was recognized in the Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical for his work in “House of Lies” and Uzo Aduba received a nod for her supporting work in “Orange is the New Black.”
The Golden Globes, hosted for the second year by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will take place Jan. 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and air live on NBC at 8pm EST.
Below is the full list of nominations:
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
BOYHOOD
IFC Productions and Detour Filmproduction; IFC Films
FOXCATCHER
Annapurna Pictures; Sony Pictures Classics
THE IMITATION GAME
Black Bear Pictures; The Weinstein Company
SELMA
Paramount Pictures and Pathé; Paramount Pictures
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
Working Title Films; Focus Features

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen Hire Food Trucks to Feed Protesters in New York

By goodblacknews on December 8, 2014
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend (ANDREW GOODMAN/GETTY IMAGES)

Despite New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s prediction that public demonstrations over the Eric Garner and Ferguson Grand Jury decisions would “peter out,” the protests are still going strong thanks, in part, to a generous contribution from musician John Legend and his wife model and food blogger Chrissy Teigen. The couple purchased a fleet of food trucks to serve up free food to hungry protesters in New York’s Lincoln Square.


Though neither Legend or Teigen is on the ground or taking direct credit for the trucks, Teigen did retweet the following message to her 500,000 followers:
https://twitter.com/ophelporhush/status/541671670797574144
For his part, Legend has let his art do the talking for him. The musician (who was just nominated for several Grammy awards) co-wrote a stirring track from the upcoming (and sadly timely) film Selma about the three Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 which led to to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.


The track, entitled “Glory,” contains the lyrics: “That’s why Rosa sat on the bus/That’s why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up.”
article by Joanna Robinson via vanityfair.com

Beyoncé, John Legend and Juicy J Win American Music Awards

By goodblacknews on November 24, 2014
Beyonce
Beyoncé (PHOTO CREDIT: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/ GETTY)

It was a big night in music last night at the American Music Awards. Beyoncé and John Legend won the Favorite Female and Male awards in the Soul/R&B category.  Mrs. Carter also won the Favorite Album award for her latest album, Beyoncé.

The night’s big winners also included soulful newcomer Sam Smith for Favorite Male Artist – Pop/Rock and Katy Perry featuring Juicy J took home Single of the Year for “Dark Horse.”  See the full list of winners below:

FAVORITE BAND, DUO OR GROUP – POP/ROCK
Imagine Dragons
WINNER: One Direction
OneRepublic
FAVORITE ALBUM – RAP/HIP-HOP
WINNER: Iggy Azalea “The New Classic”
Drake “Nothing Was The Same”
Eminem “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”
FAVORITE ARTIST – LATIN
Marc Anthony
WINNER: Enrique Iglesias
Romeo Santos
FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK
John Legend
WINNER: Sam Smith
Pharrell Williams

GBN Video of the Week – John Legend's "You & I (Nobody in the World)" [VIDEO]

By goodblacknews on July 14, 2014

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3bc9lS3rg&w=560&h=315]

Lesa Lakin, GBN Lifestyle Editor
Lesa Lakin, GBN Lifestyle Editor

At GBN, we love positive messages… and boy is this a lovely one. cover_jlegend04The video for nine-time Grammy Award winner John Legend‘s latest release “You & I (Nobody in the World)” is without question our video of the week, and definitely worth your time. Thanks, Mr. Legend!