Last night a legend was born...

Get Lifted on iTunes

Last night, a legend was born, and his name is John.

When a label wants to promote it's new upcoming artists, the generally throw an "industry party" to do a debut showcase for high ranking execs, as well as radio programmers in different cities across the US. A good, solid performance here can make (or break) an artist. Well, one such venues that holds these parties is the Bowery Ballroom in NYC (for those of you familair with the movie Coyote Ugly, you'll remember the final scenes when the hipper, more confident Piper takes the stage with Can't Fight The Moonlight). Last night, I went to the Bowery, and I can say with great certainty that an artist "made it" last night.

I stumbled across John Legend about a month and a half ago when he had the iTunes free single of the week, Used To Love U, but I soon found out that he's much more deserving than the "new artist" I pegged him as. He's the man who cowrote and played on Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You", sang on Alicia's "You Don't Know My Name", Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything", and has worked with other chart toppers such as Jay_Z, Eve, Britney Spears, the Black Eyed Peas and Janet Jackson. The man is a pianist with pipes to boot. A mixture of R&B, Gospel and the Kanye West "Hip-Hop/Throw-Back" vibe, he's got the talent of Stevie Wonder, the sensuality of Marvin Gaye, and the strength in his vocals that is unparalled on today's music scene.

After downloading the single, I was fortunate to "stumble" across a prerelease copy of his upcoming album, 'Get Lifted.' It's amazing top to bottom with not one single bad track. Which means, I obviously commited the album to memory and sang along at the top of my lungs (John started the concert by saying "I know y'all have got the bootleg - this is New York, my hometown - I know about Canal Street & 125th! - HILARIOUS!)

So the concert. After hearing 2 opening acts (Melanie Smith & Keyshia Cole - who has a current hit ft Eve), John took the stage. He did a 15 track set that ranged from funk, to old skool doo wop, to R&B, to some Barry White-like crooning. What was so amazing to me was that he was even more talented live than he is on CD. He justs lets loose and sings and rocks out on the keys - one thing's for sure, he's 110% soul. On a few tracks, he played solo on the piano, center-stage, showcasing his true mastery of the keys and vocal instincts.

His album, Get Lifted, has a few guest appearances (Kanye West, Snoop Dogg), and this evening would not prove to be different - Kanye showed up for three songs including Number One from John's album and Space Ship from Kanye's chart topper, The College Drop Out. Also making an appearance was Kanye's newest prodigy, Consequence. And then, during the encore, Common came out to rap. All in all, these appearances elevated my $20 to a newer meaning of the word "value".

His latest single, Ordinary People, is a slow beautiful ballad that is already climbing the charts, destined for AC Mainstream Play. Basically put, this guy is going to be around for a while. He can write, he can play and he can perform.

Critics have already heralded his album GET LIFTED (in stores Dec 28th) as the Best Album of 2005. I wouldn't be so surprised when he accepts his Grammy for Best New Artist next year.... Make sure you check his video for Used To Love You on MTV, VH1, BET, etc etc... it's amazing...

If you pick up one CD this month, I can honestly say that you will love this. This is a CD for EVERYONE. I'm recommending it to everyone, like I've never recommended a cd before (and we know how many I tend to buy!!!)

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M