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The Right Honourable John Bright
President of the Board of Trade
In office 9 December 1868 β€“ 14 January 1871
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	The Duke of Richmond
Succeeded by	Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 30 September 1873 β€“ 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Hugh Childers
Succeeded by	Thomas Edward Taylor
In office 28 April 1880 β€“ 25 July 1882
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Thomas Edward Taylor
Succeeded by	The Earl of Kimberley
Personal details
Born	16 November 1811 (1811-11-16) Rochdale, Lancashire
Died	27 March 1889 (1889-03-28) (aged 77)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	(1) Elizabeth Priestman (d. 1841) (2) Margaret Leatham

John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889), Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy. He sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889.

Early life[link]

Bright was born at Rochdale, in Lancashire, England β€” one of the early centres of the Industrial Revolution. His father, Jacob Bright, was a much-respected Quaker, who had started a cotton mill at Rochdale in 1809. Jacob's father, Abraham, was a Wiltshire yeoman, who, early in the 18th century, moved to Coventry, where his descendants remained. Jacob Bright was educated at the Ackworth School of the Society of Friends, and apprenticed to a fustian manufacturer at New Mills, Derbyshire. John Bright was his son by his second wife, Martha Wood, daughter of a Quaker shopkeeper of Bolton-le-Moors. Educated at Ackworth School, she was a woman of great strength of character and refined taste. There were eleven children of this marriage, of whom John was the eldest surviving son. His younger brother was Jacob Bright, an MP and mayor. His sisters included Priscilla Bright (whose husband was Duncan McLaren MP) and Margaret Bright Lucas. John was a delicate child, and was sent as a day pupil to a boarding school near his home, kept by William Littlewood. A year at the Ackworth School, two years at Bootham School, York, and a year and a half at Newton, near Clitheroe, completed his education. He learned, he himself said, but little Latin and Greek, but acquired a great love of English literature, which his mother fostered, and a love of outdoor pursuits. In his sixteenth year, he entered his father's mill, and in due time became a partner in the business.

In Rochdale, Jacob Bright was a leader of the opposition to a local church-rate. Rochdale was also prominent in the movement for parliamentary reform, by which the town successfully claimed to have a member allotted to it under the Reform Bill. John Bright took part in both campaigns. He was an ardent Nonconformist, proud to number among his ancestors John Gratton, a friend of George Fox, and one of the persecuted and imprisoned preachers of the Religious Society of Friends. His political interest was probably first kindled by the Preston election in 1830, in which Edward Stanley, after a long struggle, was defeated by Henry "Orator" Hunt.

But it was as a member of the Rochdale Juvenile Temperance Band that Bright first learned public speaking. These young men went out into the villages, borrowed a chair of a cottager, and spoke from it at open-air meetings. John Bright's first extempore speech was at a temperance meeting. Bright got his notes muddled, and broke down. The chairman gave out a temperance song, and during the singing told Bright to put his notes aside and say what came into his mind. Bright obeyed, began with much hesitancy, but found his tongue and made an excellent address, although sometimes he spoke with a syntax similar to Yoda from Star Wars. Tales of these early years circulated through England and the United States late into his career, to the extent that students at institutions such as the young Cornell University regarded him as an exemplar for activities such as the Irving Literary Society.

On some early occasions, however, he committed his speech to memory. In 1832 he called on the Rev. John Aldis, an eminent Baptist minister, to accompany him to a local Bible meeting. Mr Aldis described him as a slender, modest young gentleman, who surprised him by his intelligence and thoughtfulness, but who seemed nervous as they walked to the meeting together. At the meeting he made a stimulating speech, and on the way home asked for advice. Mr Aldis counselled him not to learn his speeches, but to write out and commit to memory certain passages and the peroration. This "first lesson in public speaking," as Bright called it, was given in his twenty-first year, but he had not then contemplated a public career. He was a fairly prosperous man of business, very happy in his home, always ready to take part in the social, educational and political life of his native town. A founder of the Rochdale Literary and Philosophical Society, he took a leading part in its debates, and on returning from a holiday journey in the east, gave the society a lecture on his travels.

Cobden and the Corn Laws[link]

He first met Richard Cobden in 1836 or 1837. Cobden was an alderman of the newly formed Manchester Corporation, and Bright went to ask him to speak at an education meeting in Rochdale. Cobden consented, and at the meeting was much struck by Bright's short speech, and urged him to speak against the Corn Laws. His first speech on the Corn Laws was made at Rochdale in 1838, and in the same year he joined the Manchester provisional committee which in 1839 founded the Anti-Corn Law League He was still only the local public man, taking part in all public movements, especially in opposition to John Feilden's proposed factory legislation, and to the Rochdale church-rate. In 1839 he built the house which he called "One Ash", and married Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Priestman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

In November of the same year there was a dinner in Bolton in honour of Abraham Paulton, who had just returned from an unsuccessful Anti-Corn Law tour in Scotland. Among the speakers were Cobden and Bright, and the dinner is memorable as the first occasion on which the two future leaders appeared together on a Free Trade platform. Bright is described by the historian of the League as "a young man then appearing for the first time in any meeting out of his own town, and giving evidence, by his energy and by his grasp of the subject, of his capacity soon to take a leading part in the great agitation."

Meeting of the Anti-Corn Law League in Exeter Hall in 1846.

In 1840 he led a movement against the Rochdale church-rate, speaking from a tombstone in the churchyard, where it looks down on the town in the valley below. A daughter, Helen, was born to him; but his young wife, after a long illness, died of tuberculosis in September, 1841. Three days after her death at Leamington, Cobden called to see him. "I was in the depths of grief," said Bright, when unveiling the statue of his friend at Bradford in 1877, "I might almost say of despair, for the life and sunshine of my house had been extinguished." Cobden spoke some words of condolence, but "after a time he looked up and said, 'There are thousands of homes in England at this moment where wives, mothers and children are dying of hunger. Now, when the first paroxysm of your grief is past, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest till the Corn Laws are repealed.' I accepted his invitation," added Bright, "and from that time we never ceased to labour hard on behalf of the resolution which we had made."

Into Parliament: the Member for Durham[link]

At the general election in 1841 Cobden was returned for Stockport, Cheshire and in 1843 Bright was the Free Trade candidate at a by-election at Durham. He was defeated, but his successful competitor was unseated on petition, and at the second contest Bright was returned. He was already known as Cobden's chief ally, and was received in the House of Commons with suspicion and hostility. In the Anti-Corn Law movement the two speakers complemented of each other. Cobden had the calmness and confidence of the political philosopher, Bright had the passion and the fervour of the popular orator. Cobden did the reasoning, Bright supplied the declamation, but mingled argument with appeal. No orator of modern times rose more rapidly. He was not known beyond his own borough when Cobden called him to his side in 1841, and he entered parliament towards the end of the session of 1843 with a formidable reputation. He had been all over England and Scotland addressing vast meetings and, as a rule, carrying them with him; he had taken a leading part in a conference held by the Anti-Corn Law League in London had led deputations to the Duke of Sussex, to Sir James Graham, then home secretary, and to Lord Ripen and Gladstone, the secretary and under secretary of the Board of Trade; and he was universally recognised as the chief orator of the Free Trade movement. Wherever "John Bright of Rochdale" was announced to speak, vast crowds assembled. He had been so announced, for the last time, at the first great meeting in Drury Lane Theatre on 15 March 1843; henceforth his name was enough. He took his seat in the House of Commons as one of the members for Durham on 28 July 1843, and on 7 August delivered his maiden speech in support of a motion by Mr Ewart for reduction of import duties. He was there, he said, "not only as one of the representatives of the city of Durham, but also as one of the representatives of that benevolent organisation, the Anti-Corn Law League." A member who heard the speech described Bright as "about the middle size, rather firmly and squarely built, with a fair, clear complexion, and an intelligent and pleasing expression of countenance. His voice is good, his enunciation distinct, and his delivery free from any unpleasant peculiarity or mannerism." He wore the usual Friend's coat, and was regarded with much interest and hostile curiosity on both sides of the House.

Carte de visite of John Bright by Elliott & Fry

Engraving for reproductions

Mr Ewart's motion was defeated, but the movement of which Cobden and Bright were the leaders continued to spread. In the autumn the League resolved to raise Β£100,000; an appeal was made to the agricultural interest by great meetings in the farming counties, and in November The Times startled the country by declaring, in a leading article, "The League is a great fact. It would be foolish, nay, rash, to deny its importance." In London great meetings were held in Covent Garden Theatre, at which William Johnson Fox was the chief orator, but Bright and Cobden were the leaders of the movement. Bright publicly deprecated the popular tendency to regard Cobden and himself as the chief movers in the agitation, and Cobden told a Rochdale audience that he always stipulated that he should speak first, and Bright should follow. His "more stately genius," as John Morley calls it, was already making him the undisputed master of the feelings of his audiences. In the House of Commons his progress was slower. Cobden's argumentative speeches were regarded more sympathetically than Bright's more rhetorical appeals, and in a debate on George Villiers's annual motion against the Corn Laws, Bright was heard with so much impatience that he was obliged to sit down.

In the next session (1845) he moved for an inquiry into the operation of the Game Laws. At a meeting of county members earlier in the day Robert Peel, then Prime Minister, had advised them not to be led into discussion by a violent speech from the member for Durham, but to let the committee be granted without debate. Bright was not violent, and Cobden said that he did his work admirably, and won golden opinions from all men. The speech established his position in the House of Commons. In this session Bright and Cobden came into opposition, Cobden voting for the Maynooth Grant and Bright against it. On only one other occasionβ€”a vote for South Kensingtonβ€”did they go into opposite lobbies, during twenty-five years of parliamentary life.

In the autumn of 1845 Bright retained Cobden in the public career to which Cobden had invited him four years before; Bright was in Scotland when a letter came from Cobden announcing his determination, forced on him by business difficulties, to retire from public work. Bright replied that if Cobden retired the mainspring of the League was gone. "I can in no degree take your place," he wrote. "As a second I can fight, but there are incapacities about me, of which I am fully conscious, which prevent my being more than second in such a work as we have laboured in." A few days later he set off for Manchester, posting in that wettest of autumns through "the rain that rained away the Corn Laws," and on his arrival got his friends together, and raised the money which tided Cobden over the emergency. The crisis of the struggle had come. Peel's budget in 1845 was a first step towards Free Trade. The bad harvest and the potato blight drove him to the repeal of the Corn Laws, and at a meeting in Manchester on 2 July 1846 Cobden moved and Bright seconded a motion dissolving the league. A library of twelve hundred volumes was presented to Bright as a memorial of the struggle.

"Flog a dead horse"[link]

The first recorded use of the expression with its modern meaning is by John Bright, referring to the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation in Parliament, an issue about which Parliament was singularly apathetic. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to flog a dead horse to make it pull a load.^{[citation needed]} The Oxford English Dictionary cites The Globe, 1872, as the earliest verifiable use of flogging a dead horse, where someone is said to have "rehearsed that [...] lively operation known as flogging a dead horse".[1]

"England is the Mother of Parliaments"[link]

Bright coined this famous phrase on 18 January 1865 in a speech at Birmingham supporting an expansion of the franchise. It has often been misquoted as a reference to the UK Parliament.

Marriage and Manchester[link]

Bright married firstly, on 27 November 1839, Elizabeth Priestman of Newcastle, daughter of Jonathan Priestman & Rachel Bragg. They had one daughter, Helen Priestman Bright (b. 1840) but Elizabeth died on 10 September 1841. Helen Priestman Bright later married William Stephens Clark (1839–1925) of Street in Somerset. Bright married secondly, in June, 1847, Margaret Elizabeth Leatham, sister of Edward Aldam Leatham of Wakefield, by whom he had seven children including John Albert Bright and William Leatham Bright.

In the succeeding July 1847, Bright was elected uncontested for Manchester, with Milner Gibson. In the new parliament, he opposed legislation restricting the hours of labour, and, as a Nonconformist, spoke against clerical control of national education. In 1848 he voted for Hume's household suffrage motion, and introduced a bill for the repeal of the Game Laws. When Lord John Russell brought forward his Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, Bright opposed it as "a little, paltry, miserable measure," and foretold its failure. In this parliament he spoke much on Irish questions. In a speech in favour of the government bill for a rate in aid (a tax on the prosperous parts of Ireland that would have paid for famine relief in the rest of that island) in 1849, he won loud cheers from both sides, and was complimented by Disraeli for having sustained the reputation of that assembly. From this time forward he had the ear of the House, and took effective part in the debates. He spoke against capital punishment, against church-rates, against flogging in the army, and against the Irish Established Church. He supported Cobden's motion for the reduction of public expenditure, and in and out of parliament pleaded for peace.

In the election of 1852 Bright was again returned for Manchester on the principles of free trade, electoral reform and religious freedom. But war was in the air, and the most impassioned speeches he ever delivered were addressed to this parliament in fruitless opposition to the Crimean War. Neither the House nor the country would listen. "I went to the House on Monday," wrote Macaulay in March, 1854, "and heard Bright say everything I thought." His most memorable speech, the greatest he ever made, was delivered on 23 February 1855^{[citation needed]}. . "The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land. You may almost hear the beating of his wings," he said, and concluded with an appeal to the prime minister that moved the House as it had never been moved within living memory.

Birmingham[link]

In 1857, Bright's unpopular opposition to the Crimean War led to his losing his seat as member for Manchester. Within a few months, he was elected unopposed as one of the two MPs for Birmingham in 1858. He would hold this position for over thirty years though he would later leave the Liberal Party on the issue of Irish Home Rule in 1886.

On 27 October 1858, he launched his campaign for parliamentary reform at Birmingham Town Hall.^[1] This would lead to the Reform Act of 1867.^[1]

He delivered the opening address for the Birmingham Central Library in 1882, and in 1888 the city erected a statue of him. The marble statue of him by Albert Joy was in store^[1] until it was recently restored to a prominent position in The Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum. John Bright Street, close to the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, is named in his honour along with the township of Bright in the Victoria, Australia.

Descendants of Bright still live in the Birmingham area.

After parliament[link]

Grade II listed statue in Albert Square, Manchester

Quite exceptionally, John Bright, from 1864 until his death, had a long and frequent association with Llandudno in North Wales. This following a holiday with his wife and son, staying at the St. George's Hotel. On a visit to St. Tudno's Church on the Great Orme and passing through the graveyard, his five year old son said: "Mamma, when I am dead, I want to be buried here" and so he was just a week later, the victim of scarlet fever. John Bright returned to Llandudno at least once each year for 25 years until his own death in 1889. And he is still remembered in Llandudno where the principal secondary school for many years (and there have been several on different sites) is known by his name. The present Ysgol John Bright was built new in 2004 ('ysgol' is Welsh for school).^[2]

In 1866 John Bright wrote an essay with the title "Speech on Reform". In this speech he demands the enfranchisement of the working class people because of their sheer number. He also says that one should rejoice in open demonstrations rather than being confronted with armed rebellion or secret conspiracy." In 1882, the acclaimed Liberal prime minister, William Gladstone, ordered the Royal Navy to bombard Alexandria to recover the debts owed by the Egyptians to British investors. Bright scornfully dismissed it as 'a jobbers' war,' war on behalf of a privileged class of capitalists, and resigned from the Gladstone cabinet."^[3]

Bright had much literary and social recognition in his later years. In 1880 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, and Dr Dale wrote of his rectorial address: "It was not the old Bright." He was given an honorary degree of the University of Oxford in 1886. The Marquess of Salisbury said of him, and it sums up his character as a public man:

"He was the greatest master of English oratory that this generation--I they say several generations--has seen. At a time when much speaking has depressed, has almost exterminated eloquence, he maintained that robust, powerful and vigorous style in which he gave fitting expression to the burning and noble thoughts he desired to utter."

On his death, Bright was buried in the graveyard of the meeting-house of the Religious Society of Friends in Rochdale.

Memorials[link]

In 1868, students of the new Cornell University debated whether to call its first literary society, "The John Bright Brotherhood" or the "Irving Literary Society". New York State's recently deceased native son received the honors, but not before Bright was inducted as its first honorary member.

The library at Bootham School is named in his honour.^[4]

References[link]

• Birmingham City Council biography

Further reading[link]

• John Bright: Statesman, Orator, Agitator, by Bill Cash (2011)
• The Life and Speeches of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., by George Barnett Smith, 2 vols. 8vo (1881)
• The Life of John Bright, M.P., by John M Gilchrist, in Cassell's Representative Biographies (1868)
• John Bright, by CA Vince (1898)
• Speeches on Parliamentary Reform by John Bright, M.P., revised by Himself (1866)
• Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, by John Bright, M.P., edited by JE Thorold Rogers, 2 vols. 8vo (1868)
• Public Addresses, edited by JE Thorold Rogers, 8vo (1879)
• Public Letters of the Right Hon. John Bright, MP., collected by HJ Leech (1885)
• Life and Speeches of John Bright, by Frank Moore (1865).

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). EncyclopΓ¦dia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Bright

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Author:John Bright

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Bright

• John Bright (Rochdale)
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Bright
• Works by John Bright at Project Gutenberg
• John Bright: Rochdale Local Studies
• Ysgol John Bright, Llandudno: School website
• Manchester Art Gallery Decoding Art, John Bright

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Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was an English comedian, physician, writer, actor and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.

Early life and education[link]

Chapman's house at 89 Southwood Lane.

Chapman was born at the Stoneygate Nursing Home, Stoneygate, Leicester. He was educated at Melton Mowbray Grammar School and studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Medical College [1] and later at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was also an avid fan of radio comedy from an early age, becoming especially drawn to that of The Goon Show. In the introduction to Chapman's (2005/2006) posthumous anthology, Jim Yoakum notes that "the radio shows didn't necessarily make him laugh. Only a select few got chuckles from young Chapman including Frankie Howerd, the team of Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss, It's That Man Again, Educating Archie, Take It From Here and Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. 'I especially liked Robert Moreton, although no one else seemed to like him very much. He would do things like tell jokes the wrong way around and switch punch lines. He was obviously a very good comedian and was ahead of his time. The appearance of incompetence was wonderful. He was one of my heroes.' But the show that truly astounded Graham, and was a major influence on his comedy was The Goon Show" (p.xvii). Chapman states "from about the age of seven or eight I used to be an avid listener of a radio programme called The Goon Show. In fact, at that stage I wanted to be a Goon" (p. 23).^[1]

Career[link]

[edit] Before Python

John Cleese and Chapman wrote professionally for the BBC during the 1960s, primarily for David Frost, but also for Marty Feldman. Chapman also contributed sketches to the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and television programmes such as The Illustrated Weekly Hudd (starring Roy Hudd), Cilla Black, This is Petula Clark, and This Is Tom Jones. Chapman, Cleese, and Tim Brooke-Taylor then joined Feldman in the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show. Here Chapman displayed a gift for deadpan comedy (particularly evident in the sketch "The Minister Who Falls to Pieces") and for imitating various British dialects. Chapman, and on occasion Cleese, also wrote for the long-running television comedy series Doctor in the House. Chapman also co-wrote several episodes with Bernard McKenna and David Sherlock.

Monty Python[link]

In 1969 Chapman and Cleese joined Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and American artist and animator Terry Gilliam for the BBC television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus. He most often played characters with personalities close to his own: outwardly calm and authoritative figures barely concealing a manic unpredictability.

In David Morgan's 1999 book Monty Python Speaks, Cleese asserted that Chapman – although officially his co-writer for many of their sketches – contributed comparatively little in the way of direct writing. Rather, the Pythons have said that his biggest contribution in the writing room was an intuition as to what was funny. John Cleese said in an interview that one of Chapman's great attributes was "his weird takes on things." In writing sessions Chapman "would lob in an idea or a line from out of left field into the engine room, but he could never be the engine", Cleese said. In the Dead Parrot sketch, written mostly by Cleese, the frustrated customer was initially trying to return a faulty toaster to a shop. Chapman asked "How can we make this madder?", and then came up with the idea that returning a dead Norwegian Blue parrot to a pet shop might make for a more interesting subject than returning a toaster.

Chapman played the lead roles in the troupe's only two narrative feature films: Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Cleese complimented his writing partner by saying that he was "very possibly the best actor of all of us".

Final years[link]

In the late 1970s, Chapman moved to Los Angeles, where he guest-starred on many U.S. television shows, including Hollywood Squares, Still Crazy Like a Fox, and the NBC sketch series The Big Show.

Upon returning to England he became involved with the Dangerous Sports Club (an extreme sports club which introduced bungee jumping to a wide audience). Chapman and Douglas Adams wrote a pilot for a TV series in 1975, Out of the Trees, but it never went beyond the initial episode. They also wrote an unmade show for Ringo Starr. Chapman mentored Adams, but they later had a falling out and did not speak for several years.

In 1978 Chapman co-wrote (with Bernard McKenna) and starred in The Odd Job alongside David Jason who had previously appeared on Do Not Adjust Your Set with the pre-Python Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. The film was only moderately successful.

His memoir, A Liar's Autobiography, was published in 1980 and, unusually for a work of this type, had five authors: Chapman, his partner David Sherlock, Alex Martin, David Yallop and Douglas Adams.

Although writing had begun in the late '70s, by 1982 Chapman was finally able to secure funding for his much cherished pirate project Yellowbeard. Once again Chapman collaborated with writer Bernard McKenna and for the first time with Peter Cook. The film which starred Chapman as the eponymous pirate also featured appearances from Peter Cook, Marty Feldman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Spike Milligan and Cheech & Chong. The film marks the last appearance of Feldman who suffered a fatal heart attack during shooting. The film was released in 1983 to mixed reviews. In a 2001 interview, Cleese described Yellowbeard as "one of the six worst films made in the history of the world."^[2] Eric Idle also later dismissed the film although remembered his participation fondly.^[3]

After reuniting with the Pythons in 1983 for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Chapman began a lengthy series of U.S. college tours where he would tell the audience anecdotes about Monty Python, the Dangerous Sports Club, Keith Moon and other subjects. In 1988, he appeared in the Iron Maiden video, Can I Play with Madness. His last project was to have been a TV series called Jake's Journey. Although the pilot episode was made, there were difficulties selling the project. Chapman was also to have played a guest role as a television presenter in the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides", but died before filming was to have started.

In the years since Chapman's death, despite the existence of the "Graham Chapman Archive", only a few of his projects have been released. One of these projects is a play entitled O Happy Day, brought to life in 2000 by Dad's Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Cleese and Palin assisted the theatre company in adapting the play.

Filmography[link]

Personal life[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)

Chapman was a tall (6'2"/1.88 m), craggy pipe-smoker who enjoyed mountaineering and playing rugby.

Chapman was an alcoholic from his time in medical school. His fellow Pythons noted he felt he needed a drink or two to "face the world" and at times would forget in the afternoon material that had been written the same day. His drinking also affected his performance on the TV recording set as well as on the set of Holy Grail, where he suffered from withdrawal symptoms including delirium tremens. He stopped drinking on Boxing Day 1977, having just irritated the other Pythons with an outspoken (and drunken) interview with the New Musical Express. Before going sober, Chapman jokingly referred to himself as the British actress Betty Marsden, possibly because of Marsden's oft-quoted desire to die with a glass of gin in her hand. John Cleese used Marsden's name in his eulogy at Chapman's memorial service.

Chapman kept his sexuality a secret until the 1970s, although he did allude to it in some Monty Python sketches. He publicly came out as homosexual on a chat show hosted by British jazz musician George Melly, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so. Several days later, he came out to a group of friends at a party held at his home in Belsize Park, where he officially introduced them to his boyfriend, David Sherlock, whom he had met in Ibiza in 1966. Chapman later told a story in his college tour that when he went public, a member of the television audience wrote to the Pythons to complain that she had heard a member of the team was gay, adding that the Bible said any man who lies with a man should be taken out and stoned. With fellow Pythons already aware of his sexual orientation, Eric Idle replied, "We've found out who it was and we've had him shot." In his book Graham Crackers, Chapman said that this took place just before John Cleese left the show, and he wondered what the woman thought about his disappearance after getting Idle's response.

Chapman was a vocal spokesman for LGBT rights, and in 1972 he lent his support to the fledgling newspaper Gay News, which publicly acknowledged his financial and editorial support by listing him as one of its "special friends". In 1971, Chapman and Sherlock adopted John Tomiczek as their son. Chapman met Tomiczek when the teenager was a runaway from Liverpool. After discussions with Tomiczek's father, it was agreed that Chapman would become Tomiczek's legal guardian, and Tomiczek later became Chapman's business manager. Tomiczek died of a heart attack in 1992.^[4]

Among Chapman's closest friends were Keith Moon of The Who, singer Harry Nilsson, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, and The Beatles' Ringo Starr.

Death and funeral[link]

Chapman died on 4 October 1989 after suffering from tonsil cancer, which he had been diagnosed with in November 1988,^[5] and secondary spinal cancer.^[6] He had several chemotherapy treatments and tumour removal surgeries within the final months of his life, and at one point he used a wheelchair. By September 1989 his cancer was declared terminal. He produced scenes for the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus that month, the last time he would appear on television, but he became ill again on 1 October. Those present at the time of Chapman's death in a Maidstone hospital included his brother, sister-in-law, partner David Sherlock, and his former Python fellows John Cleese and Michael Palin, who had to be led out of the room to deal with their grief.^[7] Terry Jones and Peter Cook had visited earlier that day. Chapman's death occurred on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, and Jones called it "the worst case of party-pooping in all history".

The five surviving Python members decided to stay away from Chapman's private funeral, to prevent its becoming a media circus and to give his family some privacy. They sent a wreath in the shape of the famous Python foot with the message "To Graham from the other Pythons. Stop us if we're getting too silly." They held a private memorial service in St Bartholomew's Hospital in London on the evening of 6 December 1989, with a chorus of the Chinese version of the hymn "Jerusalem" ("… Bling me my speal, oh crowds unford, bling me my chaliot of file…"). Cleese delivered his eulogy to Chapman, which began as follows:

Cleese continued after a break from laughter in the audience, claiming that Chapman had whispered in his ear the night before while he was writing the speech, saying:

Palin then spoke, saying that he liked to think that Chapman was there with them all that dayβ€”"or rather, he will be in about 25 minutes," a reference to Chapman's habitual lateness when they were all working together. Idle, choking back tears, stated that Chapman had thought that Palin talked too much and had died rather than listen to him any more. He also led other surviving Python members along with Chapman's family and close friends in a rendition of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the film Life of Brian. Not to be outdone by Cleese, Idle was heard saying during the song's close: "I'd just like to be the last person at this meeting to say 'fuck'. Thank you very much. God bless you, Graham."^[9] On 31 December 1999, Chapman's ashes were rumoured to have been "blasted into the skies in a rocket".^[10][11] In reality, however, Sherlock scattered Chapman's ashes on Snowdon, North Wales, on 18 June 2005.^[12]

Legacy[link]

After Chapman's death, speculation of a Python revival inevitably faded. Idle stated: "We would only do a reunion if Chapman came back from the dead. So we're negotiating with his agent." Subsequent gatherings of the Pythons have included an urn said to contain Chapman's ashes. At the 1998 Aspen Comedy Arts festival, the urn was "accidentally" knocked over by Terry Gilliam, spilling the "ashes" on-stage. The apparently cremated remains were then removed with a dust-buster.^[13] Asteroid 9617 Grahamchapman, named in Chapman's honour, is one of six asteroids named after members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.

In 1997, Sherlock allowed Jim Yoakum to start the Graham Chapman Archives. Later that year, the novel Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies was released. It is a semi-sequel to A Liar's Autobiography, with Chapman works compiled by Yoakum. Ojril: The Completely Incomplete Graham Chapman, a collection of previously unpublished material, was released in 1999. It contains scripts Chapman wrote with Douglas Adams and others, such as "Our show for Ringo Starr, a.k.a. Goodnight Vienna". In 2005 Calcium Made Interesting: Sketches, Letters, Essays & Gondolas was published. At one time, the script for "Out of the Trees", written by Chapman and Adams in 1975 (and later extensively rewritten by Chapman with Bernard McKenna), was online. Jim Yoakum had it removed, to the disappointment of co-writer Adams, who had made no objections to it being there.

Recordings of Graham Chapman's college tours in the 1980s have been released over the years. The CD A Liar Live was delayed several times, but was released as A Six Pack of Lies in 1997. Other college tours also came out on CD, such as Spot the Loony in 2001. A DVD of the tours (Looks Like a Brown Trouser Job) was released in 2005. The single episodes for "Out of the Trees", which was wiped but later recovered on an early home video system, and "Jake's Journey" still have not been released. In 2004, there was talk of a movie about Chapman's life, to be called Gin and Tonic, by Hippofilms in cooperation with Jim Yoakum. Auditions were held in March 2004 in California,^[14] but the project has been officially abandoned. Its website is no longer online and the Internet Movie Database page has been deleted; the Graham Chapman Archive's website has disappeared as well.

In June 2011 it was announced that most of the surviving members of the Monty Python ensemble will perform in a 3-D animated version of Chapman's memoir A Liar’s Autobiography: Volume VI. The voices of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones will be spliced into commentary recorded by Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death. The film is expected to be released in 2012 with a running time of approximately 85 minutes.^[15]

Notes and references[link]

Bibliography[link]

• McCabe, Bob (2005). The Life of Graham, The authorised biography of Graham Chapman. London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-7528-5773-8. 
• Chapman, Graham (October 2005). Jim Yoakum. ed. Calcium Made Interesting : Sketches, Letters, Essays & Gondolas. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-07016-1. 
• Hewison, Robert (1983). Footlights! – A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy. London: Methuen London. ISBN 0-413-51150-2. 
• Wilmut, Roger (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980'. Eyre Methuen. ISBN 0-413-46950-6. 
• Chapman, Graham (1980). A Liar's Autobiography (Volume VI). Methuen Publishing. ISBN 0-416-00901-8. 

External links[link]

• Graham Chapman at PythOnline Pythons Page
• Graham Chapman at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Graham Chapman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Graham Chapman at the Internet Movie Database
• Graham Chapman at Yahoo! Movies
• Graham Chapman at the BBC Comedy Guide
• Graham Chapman at the Comedy Zone
• Graham Chapman at Gay Greats

AngΓ©lique Kidjo
Background information
Birth name	AngΓ©lique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo[1][2][3]
Born	(1960-07-14) July 14, 1960 (age 51) Ouidah, Benin
Genres	Afropop, Afrobeat, reggae, world music, world fusion, worldbeat, jazz, gospel, Latin
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Island, Mango, PolyGram, Columbia, Razor & Tie
Website	www.kidjo.com

AngΓ©lique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo,^[1][2][3] commonly known as AngΓ©lique Kidjo, is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva".^[4] The BBC has included AngΓ©lique Kidjo in its list of the African continent's 50 most iconic figures.^[5] The Guardian has listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World^[6] and Angelique is the first woman to be listed among "The 40 Most Powerful Celebrities In Africa" by Forbes Magazine.^[7]

Her musical influences include the Afropop, Caribbean zouk, Congolese rumba, jazz, gospel, and Latin styles; as well as her childhood idols Bella Bellow, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Miriam Makeba and Carlos Santana. She has recorded George Gershwin's "Summertime", Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" and The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter", and has collaborated with Dave Matthews and the Dave Matthews Band, Kelly Price, Alicia Keys, Branford Marsalis, Robbie Nevil, Peter Gabriel, Bono, Carlos Santana, John Legend, Herbie Hancock and Cassandra Wilson. Kidjo's hits include the songs "Agolo", "We We", "Adouma", "Wombo Lombo", "Afirika", "Batonga", and her version of "Malaika".

Kidjo is fluent in Fon, French, YorΓΉbΓ‘ and English, and sings in all four languages; she also has her own personal language, which includes words that serve as song titles such as "Batonga". "Malaika" is a song sung in the Swahili language. Kidjo often utilizes Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and jazz vocalese. She now resides in New York City, New York, United States.^[8]

Early life[link]

Kidjo was born in Cotonou, Benin. Her father is from the Fon people of Ouidah and her mother from the Yoruba people. She grew up listening to Beninese traditional music, Miriam Makeba, James Brown, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, and Santana. By the time she was six, Kidjo was performing with her mother's theatre troupe,^[9] giving her an early appreciation for traditional music and dance. She started singing in her school band, Les Sphinx, and found success as a teenager with her adaptation of Miriam Makeba's "Les Trois Z", which played on national radio. She recorded the album Pretty with the Cameroonian producer Ekambi Brilliant and her brother Oscar. It featured the songs "Ninive", "Gbe Agossi" and a tribute to the singer Bella Bellow, one of her role models. The success of the album allowed her to tour all over West Africa. Continuing political conflicts in Benin prevented her from being an independent artist in her own country and led her to relocate to Paris in 1983.

Paris[link]

While working various day jobs to pay for her tuition, AngΓ©lique studied music at the CIM, a reputable jazz school in Paris where she met and married musician and producer Jean Hebrail, with whom she has composed most of her music. She started out as a backup singer in local bands. In 1985, she became the frontsinger of the known Euro-African jazz/rock band Jasper van't Hof's Pili Pili. Three Pili Pili studio albums followed: Jakko (1987), Be In Two Minds (1988, produced by Marlon Klein) and Hotel Babo (1990). By the end of the 1980s, she had become one of the most popular live performers in Paris and recorded a solo album called Parakou for the Open Jazz Label. She was then discovered in Paris by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who signed her in 1991. She recorded four albums for Island until Chris Blackwell's departure from the label. In 2000 she was signed in New York by Columbia Records for which label she recorded two albums.

Albums[link]

[edit] Logozo

Her first album for Island Records was recorded between Miami and Paris and produced by Miami Sound Machine drummer Joe Galdo and featuring Branford Marsalis and Manu DiBango on saxophones. It was released worldwide in 1991 and reached number one on the Billboard World Music chart. Music videos for the singles "We We" and "Batonga" were released and AngΓ©lique made her first world tour, appearing at many festivals and headlining the Olympia Hall in Paris on October 31, 1992.

[edit] AyΓ©

Released in 1994, the album AyΓ© was produced by David Z. at Prince's Paisley Park Studio in Minneapolis and by Will Mowat at Soul To Soul studio in London. It includes the single "Agolo", which gave AngΓ©lique her first Grammy nomination.

[edit] Fifa

AngΓ©lique and Jean Hebrail traveled all over Benin in 1995 to record the traditional rhythms that would form the base for the Fifa album. Carlos Santana appears on "Naima", a piece AngΓ©lique wrote for her daughter. The single "Wombo Lombo" and its video was a big success all over Africa in 1996.

Trilogy[link]

In 1998 she started a trilogy of albums (Oremi, Black Ivory Soul and Oyaya) exploring the African roots of the music of the Americas.

[edit] Oremi

Produced by Peter Mokran and Jean Hebrail, recorded in New York, Oremi is a collection of songs mixing African and African-American influences. Cassandra Wilson, Branford Marsalis, Kelly Price and Kenny Kirkland collaborated with AngΓ©lique on this project. The opening track is a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child".

[edit] Black Ivory Soul

In 2002 Angelique traveled to Salvador de Bahia to start recording the Axe percussion grooves for this album, based on Afro-Brazilian culture. She worked with songwriters Carlinhos Brown and Vinicius Cantuaria. On the Brazilian version of the album Gilberto Gil joined her on "Refavela" and Daniella Mercury on "Tumba". Dave Matthews appears on the song "Iwoya".

[edit] Oyaya!

Produced by Steve Berlin from Los Lobos and by the pianist Alberto Salas, released in 2004, Oyaya! mixes Latin and Caribbean music with African guitars. The French Guyanese Henri Salvador, who was 86 at the time of the recording, joined AngΓ©lique on the song "Le Monde Comme un BΓ©bΓ©".

[edit] Djin Djin

AngΓ©lique Kidjo released the album Djin Djin on May 1, 2007. Many guests appear on the album including Josh Groban, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Peter Gabriel, Amadou and Mariam, Ziggy Marley, and Branford Marsalis. The title refers to the sound of a bell in Africa that greets each new day. The album, produced by Tony Visconti, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music album and a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding World Music album.

[edit] Õÿâ

Õÿâ, released in Europe on January 19, 2010 and in America on April 6, 2010, pays tribute to the music of AngΓ©lique Kidjo's childhood in Benin. It mixes traditional music, Miriam Makeba's songs, classic soul of the 1960s and '70s and even a Bollywood song. Dianne Reeves appears on Aretha Franklin's "Baby I Love You", Bono and John Legend on Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up, for which Kidjo recorded a video^[10] with the Fela! dancers and Roy Hargrove on Santana's Samba Pa Ti. Produced by AngΓ©lique and Jean Hebrail, the album was arranged in conjunction with the Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke. Õÿâ was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album for the 53rd Grammy Awards.

[edit] Spirit Rising

Spirit Rising, the live album from Kidjo's PBS Special performance, was released in North America on February 22nd, 2012. It features a collection of songs from her entire career played live in Boston with special guests Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride and Josh Groban. She sings a version of "Redemption Song" with the Kuumba Singers.

Advocacy[link]

She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002. With UNICEF, she has travelled to many countries in Africa. Reports on her visits can be found on the UNICEF site: Benin, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Syria, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Haiti.

Kidjo founded The Batonga Foundation, which gives girls a secondary school and higher education so that they can take the lead in changing Africa. The foundation is doing this by granting scholarships, building secondary schools, increasing enrollment, improving teaching standards, providing school supplies, supporting mentor programs, exploring alternative education models and advocating for community awareness of the value of education for girls.

She has campaigned for Oxfam at the 2005 Hong Kong WTO meeting, for the their Fair Trade Campaign and travelled with them in North Kenya and at the border of Darfur and Chad with a group of women leaders in 2007 and participated to the video for the In My Name Campaign with Will I Am from The Black Eyed Peas.

She has hosted the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in Alexandria, Egypt, on November 26, 2007 and on November 15, 2008, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on November 14, 2009 and in Mauritius on November 20, 2010. She hosted the "Africa Celebrates Democracy Concert" organized by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in Tunis on November 11, 2011 and sung at the Award Ceremony on November 12, 2011.

Since March 2009, AngΓ©lique Kidjo has been campaigning for "Africa for women's rights". This campaign was launched by The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).

On September 28, 2009, UNICEF and Pampers launched a campaign to eradicate Tetanus "Give The Gift Of Life" and asked AngΓ©lique to produce the song "You Can Count On Me" to support the campaign. Each download of the song will donate a vaccine to a mother or a mother to be.

Along with Jessica Biel and Peter Wentz, AngΓ©lique Kidjo is one of the LiveEarth Ambassadors for the 2010 Run For Water events.

AngΓ©lique has recorded a video based on her song "Agolo" and on the images of Yann Arthus-Bertrand for the United Nations SEAL THE DEAL Campaign to prepare for the Copenhagen Climate Change summit.

The Commission of the African Union (AU) announced on July 16, 2010, the appointment of AngΓ©lique Kidjo as one of the 14 Peace Ambassadors to support the implementation of the 2010 Year of Peace and Security programme.

Angelique appears in the Sudan365: Keep the Promise video to support the peace process in Darfur.

She also supports the Zeitz Foundation, an organization focused on sustainable development and conservation.

In June 2010, she contributed the song "Leila" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.

In 2011, she collaborated with Forró in the Dark and Brazilian Girls on the track "Aquele Abraço" for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot + Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.

Special concerts[link]

In 1996 AngΓ©lique Kidjo performed in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert honoring Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and JosΓ© Ramos-Horta for their work in East Timor.

IN 1998, she was part of the Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour.

In 2002 she performed in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert honoring President Jimmy Carter.

In February 2003, she performed a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City alongside Chicago blues guitar legend Buddy Guy and New York rock guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour) in what would become part of Lightning In A Bottle: One Night In The History Of The Blues, a documentary about blues music that features live concert footage of other rock, rap, and blues greats.

In November, 2003 she sang with Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour at the Cape Town 46664 concert for Nelson Mandela's Foundation.

In May 2004, she performed at the Quincy Jones-produced concert in Rome called "We Are The Future" in front of 400,000 people. The show took place at the Circus Maximus with appearances by Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock and other international stars.

In 2005, Kidjo appeared at the Africa Unite Live concert in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a concert to celebrate Hon Bob Marley's 60th birthday, and was a featured speaker at the conference of African Unity held along with the concert.

In March 2005, she appeared at the Africa Live concert in Dakar along with many great African stars in front of 50,000 people.

In June 2005, she was part of the Live 8 concert, Eden Project hosted by Angelina Jolie in Cornwall, UK.

In 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" for the CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

In 2007, she toured North America extensively with Josh Groban's "Awake" show.

On July 7, 2007, Kidjo performed at the South African leg of Live Earth.

Annie Lennox has joined forces with AngΓ©lique Kidjo and 22 other female artists to raise the awareness of the transmission of HIV to unborn children in Africa.

Kidjo was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[11]

AngΓ©lique performed at the 75th Birthday Celebration of Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 2008.

She made her Carnegie Hall debut in New York on November 1, 2008.

Her Royal Albert Hall debut in London was on November 26, 2008 along with Hugh Masekela for the "African Stars" concert benefitting VSO.

She appears on the "Price of Silence" video produced by Amnesty International to celebrate the 60 years of the Declaration of Human Rights.

Along with Joan Baez, Michael Franti and Jackson Browne, she performed at Peace Ball for Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2009.

AngΓ©lique made her Sydney Opera House debut in Australia on April 12, 2009.

She appeared in the theatrical performance of Storie fantastiche dal delta del Niger by Raffaele Curi for the Alda Fendi Experimenti Foundation in Rome in April 2009.

Also in April 2009, she performed at Africa Day in The Hague, Netherlands, showing her commitment to poverty reduction and supporting the work of the Evert Vermeer Foundation and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. AngΓ©lique commented, β€œIn the fight against poverty you need organisations like SNV and the Evert Vermeer Foundation. SNV with expertise on the ground and EVF convincing politicians to do more on sustainable development.”^[12] In July 2009, AngΓ©lique became a member of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation International Advisory Board.^[13]

In Europe in July 2009, along with Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright and Simone, AngΓ©lique was part of a touring tribute to Nina Simone called "Sing The Truth".

In July, 2009 she sang a duet with Alicia Keys at Radio City Hall in New York for the 46664 concert for Nelson Mandela's Foundation.

On August 28, 29 and 30, 2009,she participated to the Back2Black Festival devoted to African culture in Rio De Janeiro along with Gilberto Gil, Youssou N'Dour and Omara Portuondo.

On September 25, 26 and 27, 2009, the Festival D'Ile De France in Paris asked AngΓ©lique to curate a tribute to her idol Miriam Makeba at the Cirque d'hiver. She invited Rokia TraorΓ©, Dobet GnahorΓ©, Sayon Bamba Camara, Vusi Mahlasela, Asa and Ayo. She curated another version of the same show at the Barbican in London on November 21, 2009, with Baaba Maal replacing Rokia TraorΓ©.

On October 23, 2009, she sung at the United Nations General Assembly for the UN Day Concert, A Tribute to Peacekeeping with Nile Rodgers, John McLaughlin and Lang Lang.

On December 4, 2009, in Cape Town, South Africa, she performed her song "Agolo" at the Final Draw of the Fifa World Cup 2010.

On December 7, 2009, on the opening day of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change summit, AngΓ©lique sung, along with Anggun, Shaggy, Youssou N'Dour and Cheb Khaled, at the Dance 4 Climate Change concert.

On February 15, 2010, AngΓ©lique performed in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics Games at the Place De La Francophonie.

On February 28, 2010, she performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic concert hall designed by Frank Gehry.

On June 10, 2010, she was part of the Official Kick-Off Celebration Concert of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa along with John Legend, Hugh Masekela, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Juanes and Black Eyed Peas.

On June 17, 2010, she performed at Les FrancoFolies de MontrΓ©al - the Montreal Francofolies festival of French-language music.

On August 30, 2010, Angelique sung at the 30th Anniversary celebration of Solidarnosc in the Polish city of Gdansk produced by Bob Wilson and Hal Willner featuring Philip Glass, Marianne Faithfull, Rufus Wainwright and Macy Gray.

On November 11, 2010, Angelique presented her "Sound Of The Drum" show at Carnegie Hall. The sold-out concert featured special guests Youssou N'Dour, Omara Portuondo, Dianne Reeves and guitarist Romero Lubambo and told the story of the African roots of the music of the diaspora.

From December 10 until December 19, 2010, Angelique participated to the Fesman 2010, the World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal. The Festival is the third edition of a festival devoted to the African culture all over the world.

She was one of the performers at the BET Honours Awards in February 2011

On June 8, 2011, Angelique performed her most famous songs with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Philharmonie Luxembourg Hall.

On October 1, 2011, she created a special concert based on Beninese traditional songs with guest guitarist Lionel Loueke for the "Heroic Africans" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

On October 27, 2011 Kidjo performed at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar, following the screening of Mama Africa, a documentary on Miriam Makeba's life.

On December 10, 2011 she sung "Malaika" in Oslo at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honoring Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman. Kidjo also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert the next day along with Janelle Monae, Evanescence, Sugarland, Jill Scott and many others. The event was hosted by Helen Mirren and Rosario Dawson.

On February 17, 2012, Kidjo performed for the opening of the Carnival of Recife, Brazil with Nana Vasconcelos and Maestro Forro

On February 28, 2012 Kidjo created, along with the Italian Mission, a special concert called "Raise your Voice to End Female Genital Mutilation" at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City.

On April 30th 2012, Angelique was part of the International Jazz Day organized by UNESCO at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City along with Herbie Hancock, Terrence Blanchard, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Tony Bennett, Shaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Hugh Masekela and many more.

In popular culture[link]

• Her song "Ife" is featured in the montage section in the Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

• She is featured on Daniela Mercury's album Sol da Liberdade on the track "Dara".

• In The Simpsons episode "Simpson Safari", Homer's guide sings lines from Kidjo's "WΓ©-WΓ©", from her album Logozo.

• Kidjo appeared in a bonus track of the official The Lion King 2 soundtrack, reprising the song "We Are One", featuring a more African-influenced arrangement of instruments and several lines in Fon.

• She has sung and produced with Jean Hebrail a track called "Easy As Life" for Tina Turner on the Elton John and Tim Rice album Aida.

• She has sung "Jamaica Farewell" with Dan Zanes on his House Party album.

• She has collaborated with Philippe Saisse on the song "La Vie" from his Till Dawn album.

• She wrote a song called "Wele Wele" for the EA video game Fifa 2007.

• She sang with Debbie Davies on the French version of The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata".

• She covered the U2 song "Mysterious Ways" on the Africa Celebrate U2 album released in 2008.

• Carlos Santana covered "Adouma" as the opening song of his Shaman album.

• She sings the African song "Safiatou" on the Herbie Hancock album Possibilities.

• In 2009, AngΓ©lique Kidjo released a version of "Redemption Song" on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.^[14]

• She gave an interview in the 2009 documentary film Still Bill about fellow musician Bill Withers.

Discography[link]

• Pretty (1988) (African release only)
• Parakou (1990)
• Logozo (1991)
• AyΓ© (1994)
• Fifa (1996)
• Oremi (1998)
• Keep On Moving: The Best Of Angelique Kidjo (2001)
• Black Ivory Soul (2002)
• Oyaya! (2004)
• Djin Djin (2007)
• Õÿâ (2010)

Soundtracks[link]

Kidjo also recorded songs for various movies, TV shows and documentaries, among them:

Caro Diario by Nanni Moretti

My Favourite Season by AndrΓ© TΓ©chinΓ© with Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil

Ace Ventura with Jim Carrey

Streetfighter with Jean Claude Van Damme

The Air Up There with Kevin Bacon

Bimboland with Gerard Depardieu

Krippendorf Tribe with Richard Dreyfus

The Wild Thornberrys Movie

The Truth About Charlie

Sahara with PenΓ©lope Cruz

Changing Times by AndrΓ© TΓ©chinΓ© with GΓ©rard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve

Six Feet Under

Without A Trace

Blood Diamond (film) with Djimon Hounsou and Leonardo Di Caprio

Pray the Devil Back To Hell which won the prize for Best Documentary at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.

Who Does She Think She Is

Le Code A ChangΓ© by Danielle Thompson / AngΓ©lique is featured singing in the movie.

The Lion King 2

TV shows[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

AngΓ©lique has appeared on Later with Jools Holland, Late Show with David Letterman in 2007, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2007, NOW with Bill Moyers in 2002 Politically Incorrect with Bill Mayer in 2003 CBS Early Show in 2007. She has been interviewed by Sir David Frost for Al Jazeera in 2008 and Christine Amanpour for CNN in 2009. She was the host of Tavis Smiley on PBS in March 2010 and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in July 2010.

Awards[link]

Octave RFI (France, 1992)

Prix Afrique en Creation (France, 1992)

Danish Music Awards: Best Female Singer (Denmark, 1995)

Kora Music Awards: Best African Female artist (Africa, 1997)

Mobo Awards for Best World Music Act (UK, 2002)

MΓ©daille De Vermeil De La Ville De Paris (France, 2004)

Africa-Festival Award (Germany, 2006)

SAFDA African pride Award (South Africa, 2006)

Antonio Carlos Jobim Award (Canada, 2007)

N.A.A.C.P. Image Award for Outstanding World Music Album (USA, 2008)

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album (USA, 2008)

Go Global World Music Award (Denmark, 2008)

Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2008)

Commander of the National Order of Benin (Benin, 2008)

Making a Difference for Women Award from the National Council for Research on Women (USA, 2009)

Afropop Hall of Fame (USA,2009)

Celebrating Women Award from the New York Women's Foundation (USA, 2009)

Premio Tenco Prize for her entire singing career (Italy, 2009)

On May 8, 2010, Angelique was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music by Berklee College (USA)

Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2010)^[15]

Grand Prix Des Musiques Du Monde De La Sacem for her entire songwriting career (France, 2010)

Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary World Music Album (USA, 2011)

Prix Special de la Francophonie (Washington DC, USA, 2011)^[16]

Champions of the Earth Award^[17] (United Nations, 2011)

BET Awards nomination for Best International Act: Africa (USA, 2011)

Grammy nominations include the Best Music Video of 1995 and Best World Music Album in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2007, for which she won.

AngΓ©lique Kidjo is the 4th laureate of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award (2007). Created in 2004 on the 25th anniversary of the Festival International de Jazz de MontrΓ©al, each year the award is given to an artist distinguished in the field of world music whose influence on the evolution of jazz and cultural crossover is widely recognized.

Dance/club hits[link]

AngΓ©lique's music has been remixed by famous producers including Norman Cook ("We We") and Tricky ("Agolo"). Several of her singles have reached the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart. In 1996, Junior Vasquez remixes of her song "Wombo Lombo" brought the song to #16. In 2002, King Britt remixes of her single "Tumba" helped the song reach #26. "Agolo" was remixed by Mark Kinchen, "Shango" was remixed by Junior Vasquez, and "Conga Habanera" was remixed by Jez Colin. "Salala" from, Djin Djin,, was remixed in 2007 by Junior Vasquez and Radioactive Sandwich.[3]. Move On Up was remixed by Radioclit, the team from The Very Best.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official AngΓ©lique Kidjo Site
• The Batonga Foundation
• AngΓ©lique Kidjo on My Space
• AngΓ©lique Kidjo on YouTube
• AngΓ©lique Kidjo on Imeem
• AngΓ©lique Kidjo on Eventful
• New York Times review of AngΓ©lique Kidjo, March 2010.
• Afropop Worldwide interview with AngΓ©lique Kidjo, February 2002.
• CNN African Voices profile of AngΓ©lique Kidjo, May 2009.
• Singer Angelique Kidjo Speaks Out on Climate Change - video report by Democracy Now!.
• AngΓ©lique Kidjo interview at allaboutjazz.com

John Legend
John Legend, 2010
Background information
Birth name	John Roger Stephens
Born	(1978-12-28) December 28, 1978 (age 33)
Origin	Springfield, Ohio, United States
Genres	R&B, hip hop soul, soul, neo soul, jazz fusion
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	GOOD, Sony Music
Associated acts	Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots
Website	johnlegend.com

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[1]

Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Stephens added his voice to those of other artists, assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to Kanye West's All of the Lights, on Slum Village's "Selfish" and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road." Stephens played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything."

Career and life[link]

1978–2003: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio.^[2] He is the son of Phyllis, a seamstress, and John Mills, a factory worker and former National Guardsman.^[3][4] Throughout his childhood, Stephens was homeschooled on and off by his mother.^[5] At the age of four, he began playing the piano and at the age of seven, he performed with his church choir. When he was ten, his parents divorced, causing his mother to suffer a breakdown.^[4] At the age of 12, Stephens attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later.^[6] He graduated salutatorian.

According to Stephens, he was offered scholarships to Harvard University, Georgetown University and Morehouse College.^[7] He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African American literature.^[8] While in college, he helmed Counterparts, a co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group as president (1997–1998) and musical director (1998–1999). Stephens' lead vocals on the group's recording of Joan Osborne's "One of Us" received critical acclaim^[9] landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. Stephens was also a member of the prestigious Sphinx Senior Society while an undergraduate at Penn. While in college, Stephens was introduced to Lauryn Hill by a friend. Hill hired him to play piano on "Everything Is Everything", a song from her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.^[7]

During this period, Stephens took time to hold a number of shows around Philadelphia, eventually expanding his audience base to New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He finished college in 1999, and thereafter began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released two albums independently; his self-titled demo (2000) and 'Live at Jimmy's Uptown' (2001), which he sold at his shows.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Stephens began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.^[6] During this time, he began working on his demo and began sending his work to various record labels.^[5][10] In 2001, Devo Springsteen introduced Stephens to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West; Stephens was hired to sing during the hooks of West's music. After signing to West's label, he chose his stage name from a nickname that was given to him by poet J. Ivy, due to Stephens' "old-school sound".^[7][11] Stephens' vocals can be heard on several tracks including Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name", Jay-Z's "Encore", Kanye West's "Never Let Me Down," also featuring Jay-Z and J. Ivy, Dilated Peoples' "This Way" and Slum Village's "Selfish".

[edit] 2004–2005: Get Lifted

Stephens released his debut album, Get Lifted, in December 2004. It debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 116,000 copies in its first week.^[12] It went on to sell 2.1 million copies in the United States and was certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[13][14] It has sold three million copies worldwide.^[7] The album produced two singles: "Ordinary People" (US and UK top 30) went straight to number four and "Used to Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2006–2007: Once Again

The first single from his second album, Once Again, was "Save Room". The album was released October 24, 2006, and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am. In an interview with MTV, he said that this album contained his favorite song that he had written to date, entitled "Again." He said he came up with the idea for the song and wrote some of it while sitting on a subway. He stated that the song was also the inspiration for the album's title^{[citation needed]}.

In August 2006 Stephens appeared in an episode of Sesame Street. He performed a song entitled "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song", a duet with Hoots the Owl.^[15] He also performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit and the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game.^[16][17]

[edit] 2008–2010: Evolver

John Legend interviewed on the Red Carpet during the Toronto International Film Festival, 2008.

Stephens released his third studio album Evolver, in October 2008.^[18] Rapper Andre 3000 of OutKast is featured on the first single of the album on a song titled "Green Light". "It's going to be a surprise for a lot of John Legend fans, because it is a lot more upbeat than John is β€” than people think John is," Andre insisted. "I was actually happy to hear it. This is a cool John Legend song".^[19] The next single from Evolver was confirmed as "Everybody Knows".^[20]

Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning "Blues & Soul", he explained his reasons for titling the album 'Evolver': "Well I think people sometimes come to expect certain things from certain artists. They expect you to kind of stay in the same place you were at when you started out. Whereas I feel I want my career to be defined by the fact that I'm NOT gonna stay in the same place, and that I'm always gonna try new things and experiment. So, as I think this album represents a manifestation of that, I came up with the title 'Evolver'."^[21]

In 2009, Stephens performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.^[22]

[edit] 2010: Wake Up!

John Legend and The Roots teamed up to record a collaborative album,^[23] Wake Up!, which was released on September 21, 2010.^[24] The first single released off the album was "Wake Up Everybody" featuring singer Melanie Fiona and rapper Common; a video for the song has been released.^[25][26] "Hard Times" is the second single.

In February 2011 John won three Grammy Awards (one by himself and two with The Roots) at the 53rd Annual Grammy Music Awards Ceremony. Legend won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "Shine", and he and The Roots won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album (Wake Up!) and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Hang On In There". In March 2011 Legend and the Roots won two NAACP Image Awards – one for Outstanding Album (Wake Up!) and one for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration.

2011–Present: Tour, Duets TV Show and working on new album[link]

Summer 2011, Legend completed a 50-date tour as a guest for British Soul band Sade. In the San Diego stop, Legend confirmed that he is working on his next studio album, and played a new song called "Dreams".^[27]. Legend was granted an Honorary Doctorate Degree from <<Howard University>> at the 144th Commencement Exercises on Saturday May 12, 2012.^[28]

Legend is currently a judge on the ABC music show Duets along with Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke. Legend's spot was originally for Lionel Richie but Richie had to leave the show due to a scheduling conflict. Duets debuted on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 8/7c.^[29].

Plagiarism lawsuit[link]

On July 5, 2011, songwriter Anthony Stokes filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against John Legend in United States District Court, in the District of New Jersey, alleging that Legend's song "Maxine's Interlude" from his 2006 album Once Again derives from Stokes' demo "Where Are You Now."^[30] Stokes claims he gave Legend a demo of the song in 2004 following a concert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[31] Legend has denied the allegations, telling E! Online, "I never heard of his song until he sued me. I would never steal anyone's song. We will fight it in court and we will prevail."^[32] Nearly 60,000 people took a TMZ.com poll that compared the two songs and 65% of voters believed that Legend's "Maxine's Interlude" is a rip-off of Stokes' "Where Are You Now."^[33]

Collaborations[link]

• In 2005 he was featured in the Fort Minor song "High Road".
• In 2006 he was featured in SΓ©rgio Mendes's collaboration album, Timeless, singing "Please Baby Don't".
• In 2006 collaborated with Jay-Z on the album Kingdom Come on the song "Do U Wanna Ride".
• Collaborated with Japanese R&B duo CHEMISTRY on their 2006 single "Tōkage".
• Collaborated with Mary J. Blige on "King & Queen".
• In 2007 lent his vocals for the Rich Boy track "Ghetto Rich".
• In 2008 collaborated with Colombian Rock artist Juanes at the Latin Grammys, singing in Spanish along with Juanes, on the bilingual version of the song "Si tu estas ahi" also known as "If You Are Out There".
• Featured in The Black Eyed Peas song, "Like That". The song "Ordinary People" was originally meant to be for a Black Eyed Peas project, but they agreed the song fitted better sung by J.Legend and recorded the song after he had been signed to Columbia Records.
• Tentatively worked with Michael Jackson on a future album. In a Dutch interview with singer and host Tommy Parker, he was asked about this collaboration. His response was that he had written one song for the upcoming album, but was unsure about whether Jackson would be using it.^[34]
• Sang "The Girl is Mine" and the national anthem along with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.
• Featured on the sixth track ("Heartbreaker") of MSTRKRFT's second album Fist of God.

• He collaborated with Fergie for her song "Finally" on her 2006 debut album "The Dutchess".
• Featured in T.I.'s song "Slide Show" on his album Paper Trail. A music video for "Slide Show" was released on August 10, 2009, featuring a video collage; it is unknown as of yet, however, if it is an official single.^[35]
• He is also featured in the song "Magnificent" by Rick Ross. The music video has cameo appearances from DJ Khaled saying and wearing "We the Best!!", Birdman, Ace Hood, Triple C's, and Special Ed. It was released on March 3, 2009, and it was directed by music video director Gil Green. It was filmed at Gulfstream Park Racetrack in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The two later collaborated on the songs "Sweet Life" and "Free Mason," the former of which failed to make the cut for the follow-up album, Teflon Don, and the latter of which featured rapper Jay-Z as well.
• Co-wrote (and played piano on) "Move on Me" by British singer-songwriter Fin Greenall (a.k.a. Fink) from the album "Sort of Revolution" (2009)
• Collaborated with Reggae legend Buju Banton on the track "Can't Be My Lover". The track is one of the biggest mixes of R&B and Reggae/Dancehall in years.
• In 2009 recorded a duet with Brazilian singer Ana Carolina called "pt:Entreolhares (The Way You’re Looking at Me)". He sings in English, and she sings in Portuguese.
• In the summer of 2009 he recorded a duet with ex-member of Sin Bandera, Noel Schajris, called "No Importa" (It Doesn't Matter). He sings in English and Spanish.
• In 2009 a duet version "Save Room" featuring German band, Monrose, was released under the title "Save Room (Let's Get Strictly Physical)".
• Has plans to collaborate with British born talent, Stefan Vitalis, to produce a soulful and dynamic record.
• Recorded a cover of the U2 song "Pride (in the name of love)"
• Collaborated with Nas for the title track on DJ Khaled's 2010 album Victory.
• In 2010 collaborated with Pink and Herbie Hancock for a recording of Peter Gabriel's song "Don't Give Up", which featured on Hancock's album The Imagine Project.
• Collaborated with Lupe Fiasco on the track "Never Forget You."
• Collaborated with Kanye West on the song "Blame Game" on West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
• In September 2010 collaborated with British dubstep trio, Magnetic Man, on a track entitled "Getting Nowhere".
• Collaborated with Lil Wayne on the track "So Special." On Wayne's album Tha Carter IV.
• Sang a duet with jazz singer Cassandra Wilson "Watch the Sunrise" co-written by Legend on her 2010 album Silver Pony.
• Collaborated with Mariah Carey in 2011 on a duet version of her holiday track "When Christmas Comes" from her 2010 album, Merry Christmas II You.
• Collaborated with Tiziano Ferro on the track "Karma" from Tiziano Ferro album, L'amore Γ¨ una cosa semplice.

Music videos and acting career[link]

His cover of Stevie Wonder's 1974 hit song "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" appeared in Will Smith/Eva Mendes' film Hitch and on the soundtrack album of the movie.

The 2007 video for his single, "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", features Alexandre Rodrigues and Alice Braga from the critically acclaimed film, City of God.

Songs attributed to John Legend have appeared in feature films, as follows:

• "Refuge" appears on the soundtrack to the 2006 film The Second Chance.
• "Dare to Dream" is in the 2007 movie Pride.
• "Someday" is part of the soundtrack to the 2007 film August Rush.
• "Shine" was written for the end credits of the 2010 film Waiting for Superman.

He has a supporting, singing-only role in the 2008 movie Soul Men, where he plays the deceased lead singer of a fictitious soul group that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac. Although he has no real dialogue in the film, he only sings a song called "I'm Your Puppet" along with Jackson and Mac.

Endeavors[link]

Television appearances and commercials[link]

• Performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA.^[36]

• Appeared on the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, singing a cover of "You Don't Know Me". He also appeared on an episode of the television series "Las Vegas" in February 2007, performing his single "Save Room" solo at the end of the episode.

• In 2007 performed with John Mayer and Corinne Bailey Rae at the Grammy Awards. He later appeared with Bailey Rae in several live performances.

• Appeared in a recent commercial for a Lexus SUV, in which Legend is shown listening to Nina Simone's "Backlash Blues" (recorded live in Paris, 1968, on The Great Show LP) and describing his experience with the music. He is also notable for performing closing music in many of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs' keynote presentations.

• In January 2008 sang in a video for Barack Obama, produced by Will.I.Am called "Yes We Can".^[37]

• Performed "America The Beautiful" at WrestleMania XXIV on Sunday March 30, 2008 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.^[38]

• In a 2008 Target commercial performed a piece of his song "Slow Dance" to pitch his new album "available exclusively at Target." The commercial was shown during online streaming episodes of NBC programs.

• In 2008 performed several numbers live in front of tens of thousands of fans during the "Welcome to America" July 4 celebration on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, PA.

• Performed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver in September 2008.

• Appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on October 31, 2008. He was a member of the panel and performed "If You're Out There" at the end of the show.

• Appeared on CNN Heroes 2008, which was taped November 22, 2008, and was televised November 27, 2008.

• Appeared to perform the song in duet with Colombian rock singer Juanes during the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 13, 2008. The version they performed was sung mostly in Spanish by both singers, with only a few lines in English.

• On Sunday, January 18, 2009, performed at the We Are One:The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, singing James Taylor's "Shower the People" with James Taylor and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.

• On Friday, February 13, 2009, he was a guest and performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. John performed his song, "Everybody Knows" from his album, Evolver.
• Performed at the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch party at LAX in Las Vegas on February 12, 2009.
• Performed at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game halftime show on February 15, 2009.
• Performed at the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009, singing "Down to Earth" nominated for Best Original Song.^[39][40]
• On an episode of The Colbert Report which aired March 7, 2008, performed "The Girl Is Mine" with Stephen Colbert. It was a remake of the Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney hit. Returned to The Colbert Report on April 14, 2008, performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Stephen Colbert, opening the show's week in Philadelphia. He later appeared in Colbert's Christmas special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, where he performed an ode to nutmeg. His fourth appearance aired September 9, 2010, when he performed a tribute to returning American troops in the second half of the two-part special Been There, Won That: The Returnification of the Ameri-Can-Do Troopscape. He sung "Coming Home" from his 2006 album Once Again.

• On Sunday, May 17, 2009, served as commencement speaker for the University of Pennsylvania's 2009 graduation ceremonies. Amy Goodman happened to be in the audience, and she televised the speech the following Tuesday, May 19, 2009 on Democracy Now!.^[41]

• On June 12, 2009, co-hosted ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning on the ESPN2/ESPN Radio simulcast with Mike Greenberg. He sat in for Mike Golic.

• On August 23, 2010, performed at the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant, Evening Gown segment, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• On October 27, 2010, performed the American National Anthem for the 2010 World Series opener.

• On October 30, 2010, performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear with The Roots.

• On February 24, 2011, Legend appeared on the season 2 finale of Royal Pains.

• Interviewed by host John Jacobsen as the third guest on the first season of PBS television's The Artist Toolbox.

• On May 20, 2012, Legend and Jordin Sparks performed a tribute to Whitney Houston at the Billboard Music Award 2012

Charitable endeavors and philanthropy[link]

Legend performs during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

On July 7, 2007, he participated in the Live Earth concert in London, performing "Ordinary People". On July 8, 2007, he participated in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, with India.Arie. On July 11, 2007, he participated in the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, with Amy Winehouse. On September 21, 2008, he also performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK in conjunction with the Peace One Day concert. He sang "Green Light" and "If You're Out There".

The Show Me Campaign google ,^[42] through which his fans are encouraged to donate funds toward improving the living situations and prospects of victims of extreme poverty in Mbola, Tanzania, is another example of Stephens' charitable involvement. In early 2008, he began touring with Professor Jeff Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute to promote sustainable development as an achievable goal.

Stephens returned to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio on Christmas Eve 2007 for a "Coming Home Christmas Benefit Concert" in the auditorium of North High School. The performance featured several local talent from Springfield, including Legend's younger brother Vaughn Anthony Stephens, who helped organize the concert. The performance also featured a tribute to Jason Collier, and proceeds went to a scholarship fund set up in his name for local high schoolers.^[43]

After reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs' book, The End of Poverty, Stephens was inspired to visit Ghana to learn more about making life better for the people who live under the poverty line. This is when he started his "Show Me Campaign" in 2007. With this campaign, Stephens called on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who reside in Bossaso Village^[where?] and non-profit organizations that the campaign partners with.

In 2007 Stephens was the spokesman for GQ Magazine's "Gentlemen's Fund", an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2007 he partnered with Tide laundry detergent to raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard Parish, (Slidell, LA) one of the most devastated areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. He spent a day folding laundry at the Tide "clean start" mobile laundromat and visited homes which Tide is helping to rebuild in that community.

In October 2007 he became involved^{[clarification needed]} with a project sponsored by The Gap, a retail clothing store chain in the United States. Through their "project red campaign" (also called "2 WEEKS"), The Gap's contribution to their global fund from the sale of each (2 WEEKS) t-shirt is equivalent to the average cost of 2 weeks of anti-retroviral medicine in Africa, which enables people living with HIV to lead healthy, normal lives.

In 2009 Stephens gave AIDS Service Center NYC permission to remix his song "If You're Out There" to create a music video promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and testing.^[44]

Stephens claims to have contributed a share of the proceeds of some tickets for his August 13, 2009, concert at Madison Square Garden to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Stephens is also the National spokesperson for and has performed benefit concerts for "Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT is a national non-profit organization that has made ground-breaking progress assisting the next generation of African American, Hispanic and Native American leaders in major corporations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial ventures.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

On January 22, 2010, he performed "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon show.^[45]

On September 8, 2010, John Legend joined the national board of Teach For America.^[46] Legend also sits on the boards of The Education Equality Project and the Harlem Village Academies, and serves as co-chair (with Rupert Murdoch) of the Harlem Village Academies’ National Leadership Board.

On September 9, 2010, he performed "Coming Home" on the Colbert Report as a tribute song for the end of combat operations in Iraq, and for the active troops and the veterans of the United States Armed Forces.^[47]

In 2011, he contributed the track "Love I've Never Known" to the Red Hot Organization's most recent album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot+Rio." Proceeds from the album sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.

On March 6, 2012, John Legend was appointed by the World Economic Forum to the Forum of Young Global Leaders.^[48]

Endorsements[link]

Stephens is currently a spokesperson for the Baileys line of alcoholic beverages. He also spoke on behalf of The Polka Dotz at Milwaukee's 2008 German Fest.

He performed and spoke at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Barack Obama Presidential campaign in April 2008.^[49] He later performed "If You're Out There" from the album Evolver and a duet of Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Also, he performed a half-hour set list in support of Barack Obama in his hometown of Springfield, as well as at The Ohio State University and Wright State University campuses on September 29, 2008.

"Fan Appreciation" events[link]

On July 26, 2007, Stephens hosted a John Legend Network Members Only Party and Concert called "The Kings & Queens Bash" at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. There were 500 participants in attendance and he introduced the acts from his new label, Homeschool Records to his John Legend Network fans: Estelle, his brother, Vaughn Anthony Stephens, Lucy Woodward and The James Gang. Harmonicist Frederic Yonnet performed as a special guest.

On July 25, 2008, at the Highline Ballroom in New York City,^[50] John Legend planned another annual private event for his fans who are members of the John Legend Network called "John Legend Unplugged". Legend performed a 21-song set list, including several songs from his Evolver album. This allowed John Legend Network members to be the first to hear the new songs. After the party, Legend greeted each individual on their way out and took pictures with fans.

On February 8, 2011, Legend performed and spoke at Arizona State University's Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona for a Black History Month event presented by the Undergraduate Student Government of ASU.^[51]

Discography[link]

• Get Lifted (2004)
• Once Again (2006)
• Evolver (2008)
• TBA (2012)

Collaborations

• Wake Up! (with The Roots) (2010)
• Cruel Summer (with G.O.O.D. Music) (2012)