John Legend is a guy who is living up to his name. He has worked with stars such as Kanye West, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. His song Shine is featured on the soundtrack to the acclaimed documentary Waiting for ‘Superman,’ and he just released a new album called Wake Up! with the hip-hop band the Roots as his backing band. Legend stopped by the Wall Street Journal yesterday to talk about music, politics and his new album. The Grammy-winning musician also performed two songs live in our studio. Watch here.

The new John Legend & The Roots album, Wake Up! is released on October 18th. This historic partnership between John & the Roots is now available to pre-order from iTunes, HMV, Play.com and Amazon.

Musical powerhouses John Legend & The Roots have announced their first ever UK Show together at HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London on November 27th. Tickets are available from Livenation. Pre-order the new album from HMV before October 11th for a chance to be eligible for pre-sale tickets. The upcoming album ‘Wake Up’ is being released on October 18th and will feature soulful music from the 60’s and 70’s all with an underlying theme of awareness, engagement and consciousness— effectively telling listeners to Wake Up! After being inspired by the recent historical Presidential election campaign of 2008, the R&B singer Legend and hip-hop band The Roots felt a need to enter the action. What started as plans for a single quickly developed into a passionate album representing change, hope and activism— not only referencing one particular moment in time, but on a larger scale, holding true no matter what the political climate may be. Bringing John Legend & The Roots together is an inspired pairing, so logical that it’s a little surprising they haven’t teamed up in a proper collaboration before. John Legend is a six-time Grammy winner whose three albums have all hit Number One on the Billboard R’n’B charts, and have sold over 600,000 copies in the UK alone. He has previously collaborated with such artists as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, and the Black Eyed Peas. The Roots—currently visible nightly as the stupendously versatile house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon—have released nine acclaimed studio albums (including the recent How I Got Over) and redefined the relationship between live instruments and hip-hop.

Sample John Legend's bracing Wake Up! and download the song Compared to What on mp3 for free.

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Pitchfork - The Roots and John Legend just came out with a vintage soul covers album named Wake Up! after the famous Arcade Fire song. But they don't cover Arcade Fire's Wake Up on the album. But they did play Wake Up when they hit NYC's Terminal 5 last week. Spike Lee was there to tape it as part of Vevo's "Unstaged" series, and you can watch it below: The Roots and John Legend: Wake Up (Arcade Fire cover)

Questlove and John Legend curate YouTube's homepage with inspirational & socially conscious videos that inspired the Wake Up! album.

Check out the full feature here.