John Legend became an actual legend last night, completing his first round of EGOT — that's an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. At Sunday's creative Emmy Awards ceremony (this ceremony isn't televised), Legend took home a statuette for his producing credit on the televised musical Jesus Christ Superstar, in which he also played the lead. Jesus Christ Superstar won for Best Live Variety Special, which meant that Legend, a producer, got to walk home with a win. (Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, also producers, also made their EGOT rounds last night with the very same award.)
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Legend has been just one award away from the prestigious EGOT since 2017, when he won a Tony for co-producing the play Jitney. In 2015, he won his first Oscar, an award for the song "Glory," which was written for Selma. He has, of course, won numerous Grammys, winning his first all the way back in 2006. And thar she blows! That's a check in every box in the major awards categories.
EGOT GOATS pic.twitter.com/WDFKGRop6n
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 10, 2018
Legend has made history in two other important ways: He is the first Black man to EGOT among the competitive categories, and, at 39, he's the youngest person to ever do so. (James Earl Jones has all four awards, but his Oscar was the yearly honorary award.) Of all the EGOT winners, Legend has been the second-fastest to complete the circuit, bested only by Robert Lopez. Lopez, who co-wrote Disney's Frozen and Coco, was previously the youngest person to EGOT — but he is four years older than Legend. At this rate, Legend could make like Lopez and double EGOT, an achievement that only Lopez has made thus far.
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