John Legend appeared as the guest and musical act on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night. He took the stage for a performance of “Used to Love U” and was joined by Black Thought, with The Roots serving as the backing band and a choir dressed in black worship robes.
“Used to Love U” appeared on John’s debut album, Get Lifted, which he’s celebrating with a 20th anniversary edition and tour that kicks off in May. While discussing the news on the show, he shared one of his favorite memories of his early career: playing piano on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
According to John, he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania when a friend from a church choir invited him to the studio where Lauryn was working on the album.
“I get on the piano just to show her what I could do. It was like a mini-audition,” said John, adding that Hill later suggested he play the piano on “Everything is Everything.”
Though he wasn’t sure he’d make the final cut, he received a call from Columbia Records asking him how to spell his name for the album credits and how much he wanted to be paid. John said he reached out to a friend who had been interning in the music business, who suggested he ask for $500. The feature ended up being John’s “claim to fame at school.”
John and Lauryn would later work together on a remix to his Get Lifted cut “So High,” which has been released on the anniversary edition of the album.
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