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The singer and songwriter John Legend was born John Stephens in Springfield, Ohio. He grew up surrounded by music - his father played drums at the local Pentecostal church, his mother directed the choir and his grandmother played the organ. After graduating he initially worked as a management consultant, while pursuing his musical interests in the evenings. In his career to date he has won two Emmys, 12 Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony Award. His song All of Me has been streamed more than four billion times on digital platforms. Here’s what we learned from his Desert Island Discs...

1. His first musical choice is a very special cover version

Introducing his desert island selections, John says: “It's hard to say these are the eight songs that I would want to listen to forever, but these are definitely eight songs that I love and several of them have real sentimental meaning for me and were part of really important moments in my life.”

Of his first choice he says: “Of course, it's a great Beatles song, and it's been covered by many, including myself, but Nina Simone's version is very special to me. I named my daughter Luna Simone after her. I feel like if I'm on a deserted island and I wake up every morning to this song, every day is going to start beautifully.”

The song is Here Comes the Sun, first released by The Beatles in 1969, and recorded by Nina Simone in 1971.

2. President Biden’s inauguration was a challenging gig

John performed another song closely associated with Nina Simone - Feeling Good - at the presidential inauguration in January 2021 in Washington DC.

An outdoor performance in very wintry weather is never easy for a piano player, as John recalls:

“It's cold, extremely cold... It was still in the height of pandemic precautions, so there was no audience there. We were just there with the Marine band and me on the piano and my fingers - they were freezing!”

3. Music was all around him from the day he was born – and before

Music played a central role in John’s family life: “I grew up singing hymns and playing in church, but even before that I grew up around my mother directing the choir and my grandmother playing the organ at church. I like to say I was at choir rehearsal in the womb!”

“We were raised in a house full of music. We had a piano there, a drum kit there... I started taking piano lessons when I was three or four years-old and started singing in the church choir when I was seven. I've always loved being in front of people singing.”

4. He was home schooled until the age of 11

“[My parents] were very religious and they wanted religious education for us, and one that was sheltered from the secular world,” explains John.

“For a time, they sent us to a private Christian school that was based at a local church. But it got a little too pricey for them, and so they decided rather than send us to public [state] school, they would just bring us home and teach us from the curriculum of the Christian school.”

“My mom would teach us herself and she was a stay-at-home mother and quite a good teacher, even though she didn’t have any formal training. In some ways it was a pretty conservative curriculum - it taught creationism - and so I think I got the least amount of good teaching in science, so I had to make up for that later in life on my own, going to the library and independent study.”

5. One of his music choices – from a soul legend – reminds him of his grandmother

Introducing his third disc for the island, John says: “[This] is one of the greatest artists of all time, one of the greatest vocalists of all time and someone I've had a chance to be around and work with.”

“And this is one of my favourite songs of hers. It just takes you to a magical place, it's ethereal, gorgeous. Her voice just floats on the track and it's truly one of my favourite listens in the world.”

The track is Day Dreaming and the artist is Aretha Franklin. John also shared his memories of working with her:

“She likes the studio very warm. She was later in her years, but she still was amazing. She didn't require much coaching for me!”

“She honestly reminded me of my maternal grandmother a lot. My grandmother played in a very similar style to her. My grandmother was also the daughter of a major preacher and when I was with her, I always felt like I was with a family member.”

6. He was lonely as a student – but music was his icebreaker

John went to university at the age of 16 because his home-schooling put him two years ahead of his contemporaries. He turned down a place at Harvard to go to the University of Pennsylvania to study English. Adapting to student life was hard at first:

“I didn't fit in. It took a while because I came from a small Midwestern town which was rare. Most of the kids were either from big cities or from suburbs of big cities, and then I was materially less wealthy than most of my classmates, growing up in a working-class family with a factory worker as a dad - and then I was 16!” he laughs.

“So I get there and it's culture shock for me, but I think music was always my way of connecting with people because I knew I could sing, and I knew I could play.” He eventually became President and Music Director of a leading university acapella group.

7. A friend came up with John’s stage name – inspired by his singing voice

“I didn't choose the [Legend] surname, it kind of chose me,” says John. “But one of our friends - his name was J. Ivy and he's a great spoken word artist from Chicago - he started calling me ‘The Legend’ [because] my voice reminded him of those classic artists that we grew up listening to and Kanye [West] would often use me, instead of using samples from that classic era. I think J. Ivy took that and started calling me ‘The Legend’ because of that, and then after a while of them playing with that nickname they said, ‘Man, you should just call yourself John Legend!’”

“But it's also quite presumptuous as well - to call yourself a legend before you even have gotten a record deal. So I decided, ‘You know what? Who knows what's going to happen with my career but I'm going into it with the faith in myself and the belief in myself that it is going to work out. And I'm going to try to live up to this name.’”

8. As a teenager, he wrote down his vision of the future – and it’s come true

When he was 15, John won a Black History Makers of Tomorrow essay contest, sponsored by McDonald’s. He wrote: “I plan to use my social skills and my musical talents to be a positive role model for my fellow African Americans. I envisage a successful musical career that will allow me to obtain high visibility in the community. This in turn will put me in a position of great influence which I will utilise in order to be an advocate for the advancement of blacks in America.”

John says: “It's amazing reading that back. I hadn't read it for such a long time, and I almost forgot about it. My dad brought it back up to me and we were just marvelling at how much my life has taken that path. And [when I wrote it] I was a kid in Ohio that hadn't even flown anywhere yet... Now I'm just doing things that I would never have thought were possible. So wow, what a journey it's been!”