Breaking News: A one-on-one interview by Cleveland Urban News.Com with nine- time Grammy award winner and Ohio native John Legend, who talks Obama, gay marriage, women's reproductive rights, his upcoming marriage to Chrissy Teigen, music, Republican pushed voter supression laws in Ohio, elsewhere, and a little on rap singer Kayne West, and the beautiful Kim Kardashian

Nine-Time Grammy Award Winning Singer John Legend, also an actor and accomplished song writer from Springfield, Oh. 

United States President Barack Obama

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Associate Publisher, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, and Cleveland Urban News.Com Marketing Director and Copy Editor Marc Churchill (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

Above, Legend plays and sings some of his music at a campaign event in Ohio in support of United States President Barack Obama

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Urban News.Com nabbed an interview with actor, songwriter and nine-time Grammy award winning pop and R and B singer John Legend, a native of Springfield, Oh. who was campaigning in his home state for the upcoming November 6 presidential election for President Barack Obama, America's first Black president. (Editor's note: Read the one-on-one interview below this brief synopsis)

Legend, 33,  talks music, politics, Republican pushed voter suppression state laws in Ohio and elsewhere, gay marriage, reproductive rights, the necessity of the Black vote, and  his upcoming marriage to model Chrissy Teigen.

And he talked just a little on Kanye West, and yes, the beautiful Kim Kardashian, Kayne's new girlfriend.

The Grammy award winning pianist and keyboardist got his start singing back-up vocals for Alecia Keys and Lauryn Hill, and sang with other famous musicians including West, and other rappers like Jay-Z and Andre 3000.  He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English.

Legend won three of his Grammy awards in 2011, including best R and B album for 'Wake Up,' a project he did with the group The Roots, and best R and B song for 'Shine,' a popular cut on the album. He has an estimated net worth of $15 million, and has made acting appearances on popular television shows such as Sesame Street and  Dancing With The Stars.
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Interview

Cleveland Urban News.Com Associate Publisher and Editor Kathy Wray Coleman: 

I’m Kathy Wray Coleman of Cleveland Urban News.Com. 

John Legend: 
It’s a pleasure. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

It’s a pleasure to talk to you too. And I have with

me our copy editor Marc R. Churchill,and he will be

asking you some questions also. 

John Legend: 

Okay

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Are you ready to go? 

John Legend: 

Ready when you are. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Let me first thank you for this interview. 

John Legend: 

My pleasure. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

You will be 34 -years- old this year, I understand. 

John Legend: 

Yes, in December. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

You’re still a young man. Did you graduate from

Springfield High School? 

John Legend: 

I went there-Springfield North High School. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

So you’re an Ohioan? 

John Legend: 

Absolutely, born and raised... 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

So Springfield is 30 miles east of Dayton? 

John Legend: 

Yes, it’s about 25 to 30 miles east of Dayton. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

You attended college at the University of 

Pennsylvania? 

John Legend: 

Yes, I graduated from there back in 1999. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

What degree did you earn? 

John Legend: 

I majored in English, with a concentration in 

African-American literature and culture. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Why are you supporting President Barack Obama? 

John Legend: 

I have supported him for two elections now. I 

believe in his vision for the country. I agree with

his polices on just about every major issue. I 

believe that he has done the right things when it

comes to trying to extend the opportunity for 

health care and education to more and more Americans,

no matter where they come from. 

I believe that given the choice between what the 

president envisions for the country and what the 

Romney-Ryan ticket envisions for the country, that 

there is really no competition. The president 

deserves my support, and I’ll continue to 

fight for him to get re-elected. (Editor's note:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the

Republican Party nominee for president and Wisconsin Congressman John Ryan is Romney's vice presidential

running mate. Obama is the nominee for the

Democratic Party and is seeking another four 

year term along with Vice President Joe Biden).

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

So you support the president’s policies? How do you

feel about his personal view on supporting gay

marriage? 

John Legend: 

I support it wholeheartedly. I was glad that 

President Obama publicly showed his support. I have

very good friends who want to get married. They 

have every right to get married as far as I’m

concerned. If you believe in equal rights, then you

can’t choose which people you like enough to give

equal rights to.

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Is there anything you like about Mitt Romney? 

John Legend: 

I like Massachusetts Mitt Romney. He seemed like a

decent guy. He extended health care to an entire 

state in a plan that was a model for Obamacare, and I

think that was a good idea. Unfortunately, the

Massachusetts Mitt Romney decided he wanted to kill

himself (chuckles). Thus, a new Mitt Romney emerged. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Would you say that Mr. Romney’s choice of Wisconsin

Congressman Paul Ryan as a [vice presidential]

running mate is a suggestion that he is insensitive

to diversity and is taking our country back to the

1960s when White men ruled?

John Legend: 

I don’t think he is insensitive to diversity, but

he is insensitive to the needs of the poor and the

working class. I think that his policies are 

following the theory of trickle down economics,

when trickle down economics has been proven not to
work. It's the idea that if you give rich people as

much of a tax cut as you can, then the money will 

magically trickle down to the rest of the country.

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Is it a better vision for the music and 

entertainment industry? 

John Legend: 

I don’t really think about it in those terms.

I’ll be fine regardless. I think it will impact 

so many people, if you think about health care for

instance. Right now, under Obamacare, as the law

rolls out, so many more poor people will have access to affordable health care then have been able to

in the past decade. But if Mitt Romney becomes 

president, he has promised to repeal that. 

The Romney-Ryan team and their policies on women’s

reproductive rights are vastly different than the

president. They want to get into your bedroom and

decide if you have access to birth control. Their

economic policy is vastly different from the Obama

policies. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Do you support a woman’s right to choose abortion? 

John Legend: 

Absolutely! 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Ohio is so very pivotal in the upcoming election.

Are you going to throw any free concerts for the

president? 

John Legend: 

I am going to do as much as I can. I’m fully aware

of the importance of Ohio and how much we need to get

the Black vote. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Why do you think Mitt Romney has raised $186

million in comparison to President Obama’s 

$126 million? Thirty-three millionaires have

given him over $250 thousand a piece, while 

data show further that the president has only

gotten some $250 thousand from three millionaires. 

Why do you think this election is so close? 

John Legend: 

They are donating based on what fulfills their 

interests. They know that if Mitt Romney is

elected, he is going to cut their taxes even

further. So it’s a good investment because the

average millionaire will get a $250 thousand tax cut.

 
Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

They’ll get their money back? 

John Legend: 

Correct. 

 
Cleveland Urban News.Com 
As you know the Republican dominated state 

legislatures across the country have passed or are 

attempting to pass state laws that suppress the Black vote. How do you feel about it? 

John Legend:
Well, I think it’s a tragedy. Lately, the 

Republicans have been admitting that they just 

want to suppress certain votes to win the elections

for their side. 

In Pennsylvania, you saw that one of the state 

politicians there stated that the state's  voter

identification laws would help Mitt Romney win. In

Ohio, the state official stated that he didn't want

to extend voting hours in the Democratic communities

because he didn't want to do anything to help Black

people vote.

It’s a clear violation of equal rights. 

Cleveland Urban News.com: 

Thank you Mr. Legend, I will now turn it over to
Marc Churchill [Then Cleveland Urban News.Com 
Marketing Director and Copy Editor takes over from 
Kathy Wray Coleman, the associate publisher and
editor]

Cleveland Urban News.Com Marketing Director and Copy 

Editor Marc Churchill: 

I want to congratulate you on your three Grammy

awards for your album 'Wake Up' because it seems 

that a lot of that album’s message still pertains

today. Are you still voicing the anthology that 

comes from that album? 

John Legend: 

I certainly do believe in the spirit of that album.

I’m fighting to help end poverty and all these things. I care about these issues. Though I write a bunch

of love songs and a lot of songs about relationships,

some of my music is about our place in society. 

[Churchill then turned the interview back over to 

Cleveland Urban News.Com Associate Publisher and

Editor Kathy Wray Coleman]

Cleveland Urban News.Com Associate Publisher and
Editor Kathy Wray Coleman:

Both you and Kanye [West] are dating non-Black 

women. Is that a reflection that we’ve become more

tolerant? As a Black man do you think that the

country has become more tolerant on interracial 

relationships? Are you married yet? 

John Legend: 

I’m engaged actually. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

You’re engaged? Congratulations! 

John Legend: 

I am getting married early next year. I think 

generally that people that are my age or younger are

starting to breakdown a lot of those barriers and 

don’t see that as a major issue on how we interact 

with each other. Now we just fall in love. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Do you attribute your success at all to Kanye West? 

John Legend: 

Absolutely1! He has been very helpful to my career.

He has been an advisor, a mentor, and a collaborator.

And we are working together on my new album. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Have you been out to dinner with Kanye and 

Kim Kardashian? 

John Legend: 

Alright, we’re done now. Thank you very much Ms.

Coleman. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com: 

Okay (laughs), and thank you. 

John Legend: 

Bye-bye.

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by telephone at 216-659-0473 and by email@ editor@clevelandurbannews.com . Reach Marc Churchill by telephone at Cleveland Urban News.Com@ 216-659-0473 and by email@copyeditor@clevelandurbannews.com