John Legend Negotiated Porn Producer for Name Rights

John Legend, whose real name is John Roger Stephens, had to change his name for his music career.

He wanted to use the name 'Legend' but there was another person who was already using a similar name, 'Johnny Legend', who was a porn producer and made rockabilly music.

John's lawyer said he needed to trademark the name first.

So, John and his team found Johnny Legend and made a deal with him.

They agreed that neither would sue the other and could continue their work without pretending to be each other.

John also shared that a friend named J Ivy inspired him to adopt the name 'Legend'.

This story was told in a new music docuseries called Words+Music on Amazon Studios.