ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A 12-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer whose best-known song sold 14 million copies is coming to Allentown to perform a Christmas concert, it was announced Friday.
John Legend, best known for his 14-times platinum No. 1 hit “All of Me” from 2013, will perform “A John Legend Christmas" at 8 p.m. Dec. 19 at PPL Center, it was announced.
The PPL Center website said Legend will perform with a four-piece-band, singing holiday classics from his 2018 gold album, "A Legendary Christmas."
Selections will include “This Christmas,” “Baby, It's Cold Outside,” “Silver Bells,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).”
The evening will also feature Legend’s signature storytelling, with reflections on his career and life, and the stories behind the music.
Tickets, the prices of which were not announced, go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 at the PPL Center website and at its box office at 701 Hamilton St., Bethlehem.PPL Center website
Tickets, the prices of which were not announced, go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the PPL Center websiteor at its box office at 701 Hamilton St., Bethlehem.
It will be the second time this year that Legend played in the Lehigh Valley. He performed at Wind Creek Event Center in June.
Legend's 2004 debut disc, “Get Lifted,” sold double-platinum and topped the R&B charts, producing the double-platinum hit “Ordinary People.”
His 2006 album “Once Again” and 2008 disc “Evolver,” both also sold platinum, and produced the gold hit “Save Room” and the double-platinum hit “Green Light,” respectively. He also had a double-platinum hit with 2012’s “Tonight (Best You Ever Had).”
In 2006, he won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best R&B Album for “Get Lifted.”
Continued success
In 2011, Legend won three prizes at the 53rd Annual Grammy Music Awards. He was awarded Best R&B Song for "Shine," while he and The Roots won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Hang On in There."
His 2013 disc “Love in the Future” sold double platinum and included “All of Me,” which gave him his first song to top the pop hits chart and spent three weeks at No. 1 and 23 consecutive weeks in the Top 10.
“Love in the Future” also produced the platinum hit "You & I (Nobody in the World)."
Since then, Legend has had the double-platinum hit “Love Me Now” from his 2016 album “Darkness and Light,” and four more gold songs, the last of which was 2020’s “Wild” with Gary Clark Jr. His most recent album was "My Favorite Dream," released in August. Its first single was "L-O-V-E" with Sufjan Stevens.
In all, he has been nominated for 37 Grammy Awards, including three last year for "God Did" (with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and Fridayy) and won 12 — his latest win was for Best R&B Album for his 2021 disc “Bigger Love.”
From 2019-22 and again in 2023, he was a judge on the TV singing competition show "The Voice."
In 2014, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "The Crow," from the film "Selma," and in 2019 he won a Daytime Emmy Award for his role as producer on "Crow: The Legend."
Legend also performed in the Lehigh Valley in 2012, when he played to an audience of young listeners at Moravian College for its Moravian In Focus program, which promoted in-depth examination of complex issues.
