“I used to collect magazines when his career first took off,” Legend’s father, Ron Stephens, said Tuesday. “There’s too many of them now.”
Legend — still known by some here at home as John Stephens — will release his fifth album, “Love in the Future,” on Sept. 3. The album’s first single, “Made to Love,” is featured in a commercial for the 2014 Chevy Impala.
The nine-time Grammy winner also announced more information this week about his accompanying tour of North America that kicks off in October.
So far, the closest stop for local fans will be a Nov. 12 date at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Tickets for that show, Legend announced, will go on sale Aug. 2.
Legend, 34, previously had announced a Nov. 15 stop in Cleveland, but it’s currently not listed among the updated tour dates on his Facebook site.
The North High graduate last was seen locally just before Christmas this past year, when he made a cameo at a holiday show presented by his brother, Vaughn Anthony, at Springfield High School.
“John has done very well in representing and presenting himself and the way he was brought up,” Ron Stephens said.
The elder Stephens, who recently spent eight days in France, Italy and England with his celebrity son as he played festival dates, has launched a line of designer hats, Popz Topz, out of his Springfield home. The company recently went live with its website at popztopz.com.
“He wore my hat a couple of times for promotional purposes,” Ron Stephens said.
But, the biggest Legend news this year is yet to come when the homegrown singer weds model Chrissy Teigen. The two have been engaged since 2011.
Rumors about the wedding being held in September are true, Ron Stephens said.
“It’s not going to be in the country,” he said. “We respect that, and we’ll be there.”
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