John Legend Hitting the Road as Headliner in June

John Legend Hitting the Road as Headliner in June

Support Acts Include Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records Labelmate Lyfe

Legend's Critically-Acclaimed Debut Album, Get Lifted, Certified Platinum

NEW YORK, May 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter/pianist John Legend is going on the road in June for his first North American tour since his solo debut album, Get Lifted, began making him a household name earlier this year.

Legend's tour -- which launches June 10 at the Vibe Fest in Atlanta, Georgia -- is the artist's first concert series since his widely-heralded performances on the SRO Alicia Keys tour (February - April 2005).

Support on the John Legend tour will be provided by Common and De La Soul, as well as Rahzel and DJ JS-1, on select dates. The remainder of the tour will find support provided by John's Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records label- mate, Lyfe (see itinerary following). (Released in August 2004, Lyfe's debut album, Lyfe 268-192, a hard-hitting and provocative chronicle of the reality and redemption of the street, has been bulleting up the charts in recent weeks. The album has just jumped from #68 to #48 on the Billboard 200 album chart is currently selling more than 18,000 records a week.)

Released to stores on December 28, 2004, Legend's Get Lifted debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 before bulleting to #4 the following week. The album has gone on to sell well over a million copies and was certified gold and platinum on February 10, 2005.

Produced by platinum rapper Kanye West, Get Lifted has captured the hearts of R&B fans and the music press alike. John Legend has performed with Kanye West on tour and is featured as a vocalist, pianist and co-writer on several tracks on West's 2004 debut album, The College Dropout.

"His brand of soul is mannered, even elegant," wrote Anthony DeCurtis in a four-star review in Rolling Stone (January 11, 2005) while Kelefa Sanneh, writing in the New York Times (January 3, 2005) observed that "John Legend is a lovely crooner ... The hip-hop tracks help keep him tethered to his strikingly handsome songs."

Jon Pareles, also writing for The New York Times (December 20, 2004), said that "John Legend's voice is the grabber. It's supple and bold, echoing the gliding, curving lines and impulsive dynamics of Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder, the rasp of Otis Redding and the falsetto of Al Green."

"Legend is not a hip-hop artist," claimed Steve Hochman, in an article for the Los Angeles Times. "Rather, he is a classic R&B performer and songwriter in the tradition of Stevie Wonder."

"In Legend's case," wrote Rashaun Hall in Billboard (January 5, 2005), "believe the hype."

John Legend grew up in Springfield, Ohio, in a household steeped in gospel music. After moving to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, he fell in love with the sounds of contemporary urban music filling the local clubs. He played piano on "Everything Is Everything" on the Grammy-winning The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998 and, after moving to New York in 2000, he became an integral part of the burgeoning underground

soul movement, performing shows in New York, Philadelphia and throughout the East Coast.

After Kanye West attended one of John's shows, the hit-making producer/rapper signed John to his production company and enlisted John's help for the College Dropout album in 2002. In 2003-2004, John Legend made a number of guest appearances on -- as well as writing for -- projects for artists including Twista, Dilated Peoples, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Eve, Common, the Black-Eyed Peas, and Alicia Keys, among others. Prior to beginning work on his eagerly-awaited debut album, Get Lifted in 2004, John Legend ended his nine-year tenure as choir director, pianist and head of the music department at Bethel AME Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

John Legend "Get Lifted" Tour Dates

Headline dates...more to be added!

6/10 Atlanta, GA VIBE fest / Georgia Dome (festival)
6/11 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand
6/12 Orlando House of Blues (w/ Lyfe)
6/14 Myrtle Beach House of Blues (w/ Lyfe)
6/15 Vienna, VA Wolftrap
6/17 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom (w/ Lyfe)
6/18 New York, NY Central Park Summer-stage (w/Lyfe)
6/20 Hartford, CT Webster Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
6/21 Richmond, VA Landmark Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
6/23 Norfolk, VA Norva (w/ Lyfe)
6/24 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
6/25 Charlotte Ovens Auditorium (w/ Lyfe)
6/26 Jacksonville, FL Moran Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
6/30 Birmingham, AL Alabama Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
7/1 New Orleans, LA Superdome, Essence Festival
7/2 Austin Stubbs Outdoor (w/ Lyfe)
7/8 Denver Gothic Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
7/9 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
7/11 Minneapolis Quest (w/ Lyfe)
7/14 Lansing, MI Common Ground Festival
7/15 Toronto Molson Amphitheatre (w/ Lyfe)
7/16 Rochester, NY Music Fest Festival
7/18 Baltimore Ram's Head Live (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
7/19 Bermuda National Sports Center (w/ Lyfe)
7/21 Boston The Roxy (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with DJ
JS-1)
7/22 Atlantic City House of Blues (w/ Lyfe)
7/23 Philly Electric Factory (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
7/25 Cleveland House of Blues (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
7/26 Springfield, OH Veteran's Park Auditorium (w/ Lyfe)
7/28 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Theatre (w/Common, De La Soul,
Rahzel with DJ JS-1)
7/29 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall (w/ Lyfe)
7/30 Milwaukee The Rave (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with DJ
JS-1)
8/1 Chicago, IL House of Blues (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
8/3 St. Louis, MO The Pageant (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with
DJ JS-1)
8/4 Nashville, TN Riverfront Park (w/ Lyfe)
8/5 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre (w/ Lyfe)
8/6 Atlanta The Tabernacle (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
8/8 Miami Mansion (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with DJ
JS-1)
8/10 New Orleans, LA House of Blues (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
8/12 San Antonio Sunset Station (w/ Lyfe)
8/13 Houston, TX Hush (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with
DJ JS-1)
8/15 Dallas, TX Gypsy Tea Room (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
8/18 San Diego, CA Humphries (w/ Lyfe)
8/19 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel
with DJ JS-1)
8/20 Los Angeles House of Blues (w/ Lyfe)
8/21 Los Angeles House of Blues (w/ Lyfe)

Source: G.O.O.D. Music/Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records

CONTACT: Yvette Noel-Schure, of Sony Urban Music/Columbia Records,
Media, New York, +1-212-833-4483, Yvette.Noel-Schure@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.johnlegend.com/
http://www.columbiarecords.com/

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