John Legend talks Christmas tour, shares mortifying first encounter with the late Quincy Jones

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John Legend is spreading some holiday joy as part of his A Legendary Christmas Tour. Named after his 2018 Christmas album, the trek arrives at a time when John finally has some free time on his hands.

“I’ve been wanting to do (another) Christmas show since 2018, but I’ve been doing The Voice every December since then,” he tells The Seattle Times. “So, this was the first fall season of The Voice that I wasn’t on and so I thought, ‘Why not bring back the Christmas tour?’”

“I love doing this music because something’s so nostalgic and warm and comforting about it,” he says. “So many people enjoy coming together to celebrate the holidays during this time and I’m excited to perform these songs again.”

The tour will also feature performances of songs from My Favorite Dream and the deluxe version of A Legendary Christmas, as well as other hits from his discography. He just performed on Sunday in Seattle, a city special to the late Quincy Jones.

“Oh, I absolutely loved him and adored him, and I looked up to him before I ever met him,” he said. “The first time we ever spoke, he was gently reprimanding me because one of my team members was kind of playing hardball with Oprah Winfrey for an event that she wanted me to sing at. They were asking for all sorts of things and it got back to Oprah. Quincy is a good friend of hers.”

Though he describes their first encounter as “mortifying,” John says it was the start of a really good friendship.

“He ended up being an important part of my life … I’m just so grateful for the life that he lived, all the things that he contributed to popular culture and to the world.”

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