SAN DIEGO — Now on an extensive tour to celebrate the 21st anniversary of his major-label debut album, the multimillion-selling “Get Lifted,” John Legend has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. Is it all downhill from here for this Ohio native, who is the first — and, so far, only — Black male artist to join the very elite EGOT club?

“Well, I wouldn’t say downhill,” the 46-year-old singer, songwriter and band leader replied with a chuckle. “But I think it makes it even more clear that the awards don’t need to be the focus, not that they ever were. Now, it’s really just about making music. I’m very proud of making art and I’m not worrying about awards at all. It’s like, I don’t need to accomplish anything else when it comes to awards.”

To date, the man born John Stephens has 13 Grammy wins and 40 nominations to his credit. His two most recent nominations came Nov. 7, when Legend made the ballot in the Best Gospel Performance/Song and Best Rap Song categories.

Released in late 2004, “Get Lifted” earned him eight nominations. He won for three of them — Best New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for (“Ordinary People”) — at the 2006 edition of the Grammys. It was a life-changing experience that he vividly recalls to this day.

“It was huge!” said Legend, who is prominently featured on eight of the tracks on “The College Dropout,” Kanye West’s 2004 debut album.

“I won three awards and got to play ‘Ordinary People’ with a big string orchestra. It was beyond my wildest dreams. And being nominated for the most Grammys that year, eight — which tied me with Kanye and Mariah Carey — was pretty incredible.”

Legend’s 2015 Best Original Song victory came for “Glory,” the inspirational, civil rights-inspired anthem he and rapper Common wrote and performed for the film “Selma.” It was followed in 2017 by a Tony Award win, which Legend received as a co-producer of the August Wilson play, “Jitney.” A year later, he received an Emmy Award as an executive producer of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” for which he also got a Best Actor nomination for his title role performance.

No matter the medium, Legend thrives on working with others.

His many diverse collaborators over the years have ranged from Aretha Franklin, Linkin Park, Barbra Streisand, Jay-Z and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, the Roots, Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood. Last year saw him team with proudly left-of-center troubadour Sufjan Stevens on “My Favorite Dream,” Legend’s first children’s music album.

‘Be yourself’

“I think the most important thing is to be yourself,” he said. “And the reason why people want to collaborate with you is because you’re you, and you bring something unique to the table. So, I tried to do that in every collaboration. But I also wanted to be a good listener, and I still try to be a really good listener — and a really gracious and open collaborator.”

Legend has used his success as a multimillion-selling musician to promote social causes that are near and dear to his heart.

In 2007, he launched the Show Me Campaign to expand access to high-quality public schools and to address systemic issues in the U.S. criminal justice system that disproportionately impact the poor, minorities and the disadvantaged. In 2014, he founded FREEAMERICA, an initiative designed to strengthen communities and end mass incarceration. In 2021, he launched HUMANLEVEL to lift up communities that are disproportionately impacted by institutionalized racism.

Asked in a 2023 San Diego Union-Tribune interview if he would consider running for public office, Legend replied: “I’m very happy being involved in politics and this country’s affairs in the way that I am. And I believe I can make a significant impact the way we are doing it, with my FREEAMERICA organization, raising money and helping to elevate great ideas by community organizers. I can do all that without running for office. And I really enjoy my day job as well!”

Today, two years and one highly contentious presidential election later, achieving the goals of FREEAMERICA would appear more daunting than ever.

“Yeah, it’s a tough time when you think about justice, and about how to make the system more fair for everyone, when you’ve got a lawless administration which pardons all their friends and then brings down the law on all their enemies,” Legend said.

“But I will say most of the justice system as we know it is a bunch of (state and county) justice systems, and they’re more locally driven. So, we have found that — even during times when we don’t have an administration that we agree with in the White House — we can make a lot of progress and get a lot of work done on the state and local level. We’re doing that now and we will continue to do that.”

Legend spoke at length recently from the Beverly Hills home he shares with his wife, Chrissy Teigen, and their four children. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: I’m going to begin by making the wild assumption that over the years, you’ve done far more interviews than you may ever care to recall.

A: I sure have.

Q: So, before and after we get into your “Get Lifted” anniversary tour, I’d like to throw some questions at you that I hope you have not been asked before.

A: OK, let’s try it.

Q: If you could sit down with only one of the three following people, who would you pick and why? Ralph Ellison, Satchel Paige or Nina Simone?

A: Nina Simone, I feel very connected to her musically. And I named my daughter, Luna Simone, as a nod to her. Her music has been a guiding light in my career and I am so intrigued by her persona, I’ve seen the documentary on her, and I’m sure it would be quite an interesting conversation to have with her.

Q: On a lighter note, do you play pickleball? Why or why not?

A: I’ve never played pickleball. My kids have. I’ve been invited to but I never got around to it.

Q: Had music not worked out for you, what would you have used your degree in English for?

A: I think I probably have eventually gone to law school. I’m very interested in justice and fighting injustice.

Q: Hindsight being 20/20, is it good or bad that your self-produced 2003 debut album, “Live at SOBs New York City,” was not a commercial success?

A: Well, I never expected it to be. It was just a recording of where I was in my life, musically, at the time, and something to share with my fans who were coming to my live shows. The goal back then was to get a record deal. Artists can succeed without a record deal now. But back then, it was much harder to do that. So, I was actively trying to get a record deal. I didn’t think that live album would be big seller, but one that would continue to grow my fan base and connect with the audiences that were coming to see me.

Q: Was there a cause and effect? Did your major label record deal come as a result of that live album?

A: I think it always comes from a combination of things. People want to know you can sing live and that you have a fan base, but I think a lot of things were happening at the same time. I was part of Kanye’s production company and his album had just come out and done really well. There was a halo effect from his success. And my demo recording of my original songs was strong. In my opinion, most of what “Get Lifted” became was on those demos. It was the combination of the right music, the right time, the right connections with Kanye and then me building a fan base in the northeast, in New York and Philly.

Q: Were you a Talking Heads fan? “Live at SOB’s” includes your version of “Burning Down the House.”

A: It was my collaborator, Dave Tozer’s, idea to cover that and we took some liberties with it. We kind of made our own lyrics for it, but we had a lot of fun playing that.

Q: One big early “pinch me” moment was when — not long after “Get Lifted” was released — you performed at the 2005 Grammy Awards with the great Mavis Staples, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Kanye. How big a moment was that for you?

A: Oh, that was very cool. That was my first big Grammy performance and, at that time, I had just released my first album, and I wasn’t nominated for any Grammys then because I wasn’t eligible yet. The next year was a major Grammy moment for me, but 1995 was like a nice warm up. I always say that being with Kanye during that time was like an apprenticeship, showing me what the industry was like, showing me what the ascent to stardom was like, all those things. I was able to see it up close before it happened to me. I think it made it easier for me to be ready for it.

Q: The great bassist Nathan East is from San Diego. He’s played on the Grammy Awards telecast with everybody from Daft Punk and Kenny Loggins to Eric Clapton and Lionel Richie. Nathan told me that when he’s performing at the Grammys, he can’t help but look out from the stage to check out who’s in that audience. Do you do that as well?

A: Oh, yeah, you definitely look out there and it’s kind of nerve-racking. I would definitely get nervous, especially early on in my career, because you look out and see a lot of your heroes and your peers. It’s the most elite music audience you could ever play in front of.

Q: How about now? Do you still get nervous on the Grammy stage?

A: Not as much. I feel really comfortable now. I feel like I’m playing in front of my friends.

Q: Every musician wants their debut album to be successful. Did you have any idea when you completed “Get Lifted” that it would do even half as well as it as it did?

A: I believed it could, but you never know. There’s this feeling of hope, but also like: “Who knows?” But it felt like we were doing something special. I believed, for years, even before I got a record deal, that we had something special. But I still was rejected by multiple record labels, many times. So, a lot of that early time was (spent) trying to prove these people wrong, like: “Hey, I really have something special. You may not see it yet, but it really is.” And then when we finally got a record deal, it was my chance to prove it. And you still don’t know what’s going to happen. You can never be sure, when you put something out, how it’s going to be received. But I think with the breakthrough of (the song) “Ordinary People,” that’s what made the album really connect in the way that it did.

Q: When you’re performing all the songs on this tour from “Get Lifted,” back-to-back live, some of them you have performed throughout your career. Other songs, you are revisiting after a long time. Is there anything about them that surprises you now? And to what degree, or not, are you modifying them when you perform them live?

A: We stay pretty close to the originals, because I feel like people are coming to the show wanting to reconnect with these memories that they have from 20 years ago. So, I don’t want to mess that up too much, but we do occasionally throw in some remixes and interpolations, just little variations. But we still try to connect it to the original pretty much.

Q: With regards to the guest stars that have joined you on this tour, are they selected simply based on their geographic proximity? Or might you have somebody from a totally different part of the country pop up in a city that they do not live near to?

A: It’s the former. Usually, it’s people I know who live in a certain area and who I have a history with in some way or another. A lot of times, that means we’ve done songs together in the past, and that I have a usable connection with them and that they happen to be in town when we’re coming. That’s usually the algorithm for us to decide. And honestly, I think the show is special without the guests, but it’s always nice to have some surprises here and there.

Q: What qualities do you look for in your band members?

A: They have to be soulful. They have to be good playing on the fly and have to learn quickly. Everyone in my band is really kind and respectful to each other. And, you know, you have to be a good person to be around on tour for months at a time. So, I think it’s important that they’re good humans with good character. And. of course, they’ve got to play great and execute on the songs beautifully. And it turns out a lot of them grew up playing in the church, which a lot of great Black musicians do. So, we have that in common. They all have great chops, and they’re a good hang.

Q: Did you spend much time, early in your career, traveling from show to show in a van?

A: We’ve never really done the van thing. I used to drive myself to my gigs around New York and Philly. I had a little Honda Accord and I would throw my (Fender) Rhodes (electric piano) in the trunk. But we never did van touring; we really went straight to bus touring. Maybe we were in a van for a week or so, very early on.

Q: When you came to the backstage media room at the 2005 Grammys, you said: “Is the bar so low now in R&B that all it takes to stand out is to have a live band?” Twenty years later, how much higher or lower do you think the bar is in this age of digital music and TikTok?

A: It does still feel rare to see artists who really do the whole thing live. Even when they sing live, there’s a lot of prerecorded stuff (being used). We occasionally do that, but we try to make the show really live and full of musicianship, great playing and great live singing. That’s what my fans can expect from every show of mine.

Q: Would it be accurate to say you’re not just a fan of old-school music, but a champion of it?

A: Yeah, I would say that. And I think there’s all kinds of ways to do shows. I’ve been to shows where the artists just played with (pre-recorded backing) tracks, but they were so compelling on stage that they were able to carry it. So, you just focus on your strengths. And I think my strength is putting on a soulful, musical show. Other people are great dancers. Other people are better at certain things. But I know where my strengths are and I try to focus on those.

Q: On your 2006 album, “Once Again,” there are very nice, moody guitar textures on the song “Show Me” that made me wonder if you’re a fan of Jimi Hendrix.

A: Yeah, on that song the guitar playing was definitely connected to Jimi. But also, I was thinking a lot about Jeff Buckley during that time and listening to him a lot. And I was definitely going for his vocal texture in some ways. Those are some of the influences for that song. I wrote it with Raphael Sadiq and he’s playing bass on it. A guitarist that he uses a lot was playing guitar on it, and his name is escaping me right now. “Show Me” was written as a prayer for someone who is questioning their faith. It was written as a prayer, asking God why the world is the way it is.

Q: That song, unfortunately, is more timely than ever now.

A: It probably always will be.

Q: Let’s pivot for a moment to your children’s music album, “My Favorite Dream,” which came out last year. It was produced by Sufjan Stevens, who is a most interesting choice as a collaborator. What drew you to him for that particular album?

A: I’ve been a fan of his for, like, 20 years, and I thought it would sound amazing with him producing and arranging it. We had never met before, but I was listening to him one day when I was writing the songs for the children’s album. And I was like: “I wonder if Sufjan would produce this album for me?” I didn’t know him, but my manager knew his manager and reached out to him and arranged for us to talk. I asked Sufjan if he’d be interested in doing it. I sent him a few songs to see if he was into the music, and he was. It was so beautiful having him work on it. I would just record the piano and vocal parts and send it over to him, and then just let him dream up whatever he wanted to put around it. And as you can hear, he dreamt up some beautiful soundscapes for every song.

Q: Did you use your own kids as a sounding board for these songs?

A: Yeah, I did — and my wife. It was cool playing it for them, and they still listen to it all the time. The album was really a love letter to them,

Q: Was there any song where they said: “Sorry, Dad, this one doesn’t quite cut it?”

A: No, fortunately, they liked all of it.

Q: You’ve been a judge and music mentor on “The Voice” TV show for nine seasons now, with your 10th coming up next year. How would the 19- or 20-year-old John Legend have fared as a contestant on the show?

A: I think I wouldn’t have done that great. A lot of the singers we get on “The Voice” are much better singers than I am. And they’re very savvy, just knowing how to compete on the show, I don’t know that I would have been ready at that point to do well on the show. Maybe I would have if I had myself as a coach. Now, I feel like I’m really good at coaching really good singers, helping them pick the right songs and craft the right performance. So, maybe I need the me of today coaching the me of 25 years ago.

Q: I’ve talked to some gifted musicians who have said that, when they were that age, they might not have been as open to coaching because they were pretty single-minded when they were young. How single-minded were you when you were starting out?

A: I was pretty confident in myself. And I did probably have a bit of an artistic stubbornness where I was like: “I know what I want to do, I know I’m good, and I know I have the right ideas for my career.” But I have found in coaching these young artists that they really do listen when they respect you and when your career has proven you can be trusted. So, hopefully, I would have had a coach that would have earned my respect in one way or another and made me listen. Because I think that, even when someone’s really good and talented at that age, they can benefit from coaching.

Q: You did a lot of recording studio session work before, and after, you became established as a solo artist, including with the violinist Miri Ben-Ari and a lot of pop and hip-hop artists. No matter how different the musical setting, what do you try to bring to any and every session that you did?

A: I try to stay humble and open in every collaboration. I don’t think my ideas are the best all the time. I should be open to other people’s ideas and humble enough to be a good listener and a good collaborator, and to be generous and gracious in every setting. Even when maybe it’s not even a (well-known) name and it’s somebody that’s an up-and-coming songwriter or producer, they may bring something unique to to the table that I wouldn’t have been able to do by myself.

Q: Is there a session you did that on paper seemed incredibly unlikely, but you were extremely happy with how it turned out?

A: Well, a lot of my favorite collabs are in hip-hop. I have a certain image — I’m pretty polished and Ivy League-educated, and all these things. But I’ve had some of my best collabs with hip-hop artists. And some of them could be pretty gritty and are from a different background than my own. But we find ways to make great music together.

Q: This is a landmark for you with your 20th anniversary “Get Lifted” tour. What do you hope you will be doing 20 years from now?

A: Oh, wow, I’ll be 66. I might have my first grandkid by then. (My daughter) Luna will be 29 in 20 years. I want to still be making music as long as I can, as long as I can sing. I still love the writing process and the creative process, and I want to keep doing it for a long time. I want to keep touring, doing all the things I do now.

Q: Looking to the next year or two, do you have something specific coming down the pipe?

A: Yeah, we do. We have some great things coming down the pipe! We’re not really announcing the details yet, but we have a new album next year, and I’m pretty close to finished with it.

Q: Is it an organic evolution, or is there a left turn at all? Or, maybe, some of both?

A: It’s a collaborative album. I’ll say that.

Q: Well, let me ask you this: Is it a collaborative album with one particular person, or with a bunch of people?

A: With one person.

Q: All right, here’s my last FBI interrogation question: Male or female?

A: (laughs) I’m done! That’s it!

Q: You are fairly prolific. Do you even encounter writer’s block? How do you deal with it, if you do?

A: I really don’t have writer’s block that often. I think part of it is because I like to write with other people, and so it helps to have someone to bounce ideas off of. And whenever I fall short, they pick up the slack. So, I think being a good collaborator helps you get through writer’s block

Q: Going full circle back to the opening question in this interview and Nina Simone, was hearing her song, “Mississippi Goddamn,” an eye-opening moment for you when you were young?

A: Yeah, I absolutely love that song and so many of her songs. Some of them are love songs, some are political. But she just put a unique character and spin on every song that she did. Even when she was covering someone else’s song, she made it her own through her voice and through her unique arrangements. She was just a special, special artist.

Q: If someone reading this has little or no familiarity with Nina, is there a particular album or online performance you would point them to?

A: Oh, there are so many performances. I love “Sinnerman,” “I Loves You, Porgy,” “My Baby Just Cares For Me.” Those are just some of my favorites. There are so many.

Q: Have you by any chance seen film of her concert that was shot at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland?

A: Yeah.

Q: I was a teenager at the time and was lucky enough to be there, and it was a jaw-droppingly great performance. But on a nonmusical level, what I remember is that at some point a young lady in the audience got up and seemed to be heading in the direction of the bathroom. Nina Simone stopped the song she was doing, demanded to know where the hell the young woman thought she was going, and shamed her into sitting back down. I’m assuming you have not done something like that with an audience member, but this goes back to the single-mindedness and self-confidence we were talking about.

A: I’ve always said it takes a lot of audacity to be an artist. Because you have to believe that you have something special to offer the world, something unique, something singular, and she had audacity to spare.

Q: You’ve given me a lot to work with, but am I missing something you would like to add to the conversation?

A: Well, you said you were going to try to ask me things I hadn’t been asked before. That was pretty good.

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