SpringfieldNewsSun.com

John Legend once again has called on big-time dudes like Kanye West and will.i.am to help make a second record.

But he still might want to give internationally known contemporary pop superstar David Hasselhoff a ring — because when you don't have the Hoff, you don't have the Deutschland.

"In Germany, we're not doing well at all yet," Legend confessed from a hotel in Cologne. "France did OK. Spain and Italy did OK. But we aren't as big in Germany.

"We're basically unheard of in Germany."

With the new album, "Once Again," due out Tuesday, the Springfield-raised Grammy-winner was in Europe last week to put together his own coalition of the willing — and like the real one, the Germans are proving to be a tough crowd.

"I don't know what it is about this market," Legend said. "We'll figure it out. We're hoping this album breaks through, because 'Get Lifted' did not break through."

That first album, a soulful blast of old-school spirit, has sold more than three million copies globally since its release in late 2004.

The North High grad, already a platinum-certified success in the U.S. and the U.K., is hoping to spread the word to the rest of the world about the poppier "Once Again."

In fact, the former John Stephens has been spending an awful lot of time on the other side of the Atlantic.

Earlier this month, he played the fabled Royal Albert Hall in England.

Legend zipped back to Springfield on Oct. 14 to show a BET camera crew around town for an impending special, but he was back in London by Oct. 15 to hit up the European media.

"Some artists hate that part of the process," he said. "They want to make the album, but they don't want to promote it. I don't blame them. For some people, it's just not fun. But for me, it's actually fun.

"I want people to know about this album, and I'm going to tell them."

But those Germans really need to be persuaded — so they got the new disc last week.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.