John Legend has revealed how he negotiated the trademark of his stage name with an adult film producer who went by a similar moniker. The 44-year-old US musician, whose real name is John Stephens, said a friend of his started referring to him as “Legend” at the start of his career and it gained attention after rapper Kanye West used it on one of his recordings.
However, while appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show, he opened up about how the process to secure the name was not quite straightforward. He explained: “I was born John Stephens. A friend of mine started calling me John Legend. Kanye kind of blew it up when he put it on one of his recordings.
“When I was deciding whether to go out as John Legend or John Stephens (I thought, Legend) it’ll make a statement before I even show up. Then I found out someone is called Johnny Legend – he was also a porn producer.”
