John G Ryan

"The first official s t a r g a z e release was a pioneering re-interpretation of the music of the alternative experimentalists Deerhoof, ‘Deerhoof Chamber Variations’, which led to the fulsome and controversial takeover of the BBC Proms for the David Bowie night, which saw s t a r g a z e collaborate with artists as diverse as John Cale, Elf Kid, Marc Almond and Anna Calvi amongst others, to celebrate the astounding, at times contradictory, music of this soulful, inspirational polymath.

Grammy - and Academy Award-winning R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist John Legend, born John Stephens, was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio, where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the age of five. Stephens left his home state at 16 to attend college in Philadelphia, and it was there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens, Stephens was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything," a Top 40 hit for the Fugees member's 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. After completing college, Stephens moved to New York, where he built a loyal following playing in nightclubs and releasing CDs, such as Live at Jimmy's Uptown (2001) and Live at SOB's (2003), that he sold at shows. He also became an in-demand session musician, playing and occasionally writing for a wide array of artists including Alicia Keys, Twista, Janet Jackson, and Kanye West.