John Legend becomes youngest person and first black man to achieve EGOT status
The 'Jesus Christ Superstar' producer recently made history in more ways than one.
John Legend at the 2018 Creative Arts Emmys | Image: Instagram
Entertainer John Legend has become both the youngest person and first black man to hold EGOT status after winning an Emmy for his role in the stage production Jesus Christ Superstar.
The 39-year-old received the award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) during Sunday night’s Creative Arts Emmys.
Legend (real name John Roger Stephens) is actually an executive producer for the show alongside composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice who were with him on Sunday evening.
Legend, Webber, and Rice became the 13th, 14th, and 15th people in history to achieve EGOT status in history.
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Taking to Instagram, Legend celebrated the win by stating “before tonight, only 12 people had won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony in competitive categories. Sirs Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, and I joined that group when we won an Emmy for our production of their legendary show Jesus Christ Superstar. So happy to be part of this team. So honoured they trusted me to play Jesus Christ. So amazed to be in such rarefied air.”
Prior to the Emmy win, he won an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 2015 for writing the song Glory from the film Selma, 10 Grammys throughout his career, and a Tony award in 2017 for co-producing a revival of an old play titled Jitney.
As if the win wasn’t monumental enough, it is also the first time more than two people have achieved EGOT status within a year.
Entertainers Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Scott Rudin, and Mel Brooks are just some of the names who have previously achieved EGOT status.
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