Years before the awards, while he was still collecting small payments like the $500 check from Columbia Records for work on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, John Legend was always Mr. Even-Keeled. Last week, ahead of a solo concert in Clearwater, the man born John Stephens told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he’s just naturally that way.
“What I tell people is I don’t have some secret to attaining this level of calm. It’s my natural disposition,” Legend, 47, said, adding that the things that upset him the most are injustices.
“I know that sounds like a political answer, but it’s the truth. As I’m watching the news, as I’m seeing contempt for human life and disregard for human life in some of our leadership—that’s the kind of stuff that makes me really angry,” he said. “And I think it motivates me to do what I can to try to make things better and be active politically, because it truly angers me when I see injustice and disregard for human life.”…