John Legend

My first album, 'Get Lifted,' was a hip-hop soul album that had some of its roots in the church, as far as the sonic choices, in the way that I sing and write songs. I have always had that as part of my background and part of my influence when I am making music.

We should care about what is going on in the world.

I like cool jackets - a nice fall or winter coat. You can get a lot of use out of it, and you'll wear it frequently, so it can really set the tone of your uniform for the season.

At work, you want to stand out but not in extra-funky ways. At the core, it's about dressing for girls - who are most of my fans - and you want to dress up for them. You just want to feel like you're on top of your game.

Marvin Gaye was one of the coolest. I look to him as a style icon and as an artist.

To have the chance to see your music be elevated and to have almost universally positive response to that music, makes me feel better every day. I feel more confident and inspired, and that's fun.

I'm trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences.

I always saw myself as a singer-songwriter, a solo-artist, that's why working with other artists was never satisfying for me.

John legend is a nickname that somebody started calling me a while ago and part of it is 'cos I sound like an old man when I sing.

The best training is to play by ear: trial by fire.

I played classical as a kid.

In the 1970s, for all the Stevie Wonders, I'm sure there were five artists that were making forgettable music.

My first big break came with Lauryn Hill on a track called Everything is Everything, I played piano on that track way back in 1998.

Well, I was always a bit of a political junkie. Even as a kid I would read biographies of presidents and of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.

Music is so crucial to every film, I think.

I want to move people.

I think writers are prone to hyperbole sometimes.

My style is pretty clean, classic, and elegant, with some elements to make it a little funkier. If you see me on a normal day, I'm usually in a T-shirt and jeans, maybe with some cool sneakers, but I'm pretty basic.

Artists in general never stay in the same place; we keep growing. It's still you: you still have that core that you always had, but you work with new people and hear new things.

In America we have big issues with education - in impoverished communities especially. I work with Teach For All, and so we're encouraging more people to get into teaching.