John Legend gets his own mural at the Philly club where he got his start
The Fire will host a John Legend tribute concert after the dedication.
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Before John Legend became John Legend he was John Stephens, an artist striving to make it in the music business in the years before and after he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.
The future EGOT winner, and People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive, played opens mics at Old City venues that no longer exist like the Tin Angel and Five Spot, and one in Northern Liberties that still does: The Fire at 4th and Girard.
On Thursday, Legend’s history at the club that opera singer and voice coach Karen Lauria Saillant has owned since 1999 — which she bills as Philadelphia’s only woman-owned venue — will be celebrated two ways.
A mural of the romantic balladeer who played The Fire multiple times starting in 2003 will be dedicated in a ceremony that starts at 2 p.m. The Mural Arts Philadelphia mural was painted by Philadelphia artist and clothing designer Alloyius Mcilwaine.
Along with Legend, the mural — which has been approved by Legend’s manager, Penn grad Ty Stiklorius, and was completed last month — includes a smaller depiction of Japanese singer Yasko Fujiì, who has starred in several operas produced by Saillant’s International Opera Theater of Philadelphia company, headquartered upstairs at the Fire.
After the mural dedication, there will be a Legend tribute show at the club that singer Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance — another band that played The Fire on its way up — shouted out at a show at the Wells Fargo Center last August.
In 2021, when I spoke to Legend about his early years in Philly, he recalled: “I was a young kid, in my formative years, going to those open mics. I was an audience member and then later a participant, and that was so crucial to my development as an artist.”
“My inspiration to pursue this. All of that wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t in Philly, probably,” he said.
The Legend tribute begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday, with 20 artists performing 20 songs. It kicks off, naturally, with “Start A Fire,” the song from the 2016 movie, La La Land Legend costarred in, performed by Serene Salinas.
Other artists include AlxZandria doing “Ordinary People” from Legend’s 2004 debut Get Lifted, violinist Annie Pulaski doing “Coming Home,” from 2006′s Once Again, and Seth Witcher, who will close the show with “All of Me” Legend’s biggest hit from 2013′s Love In the Future.
Philly Sings John Legend at The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave. at 7 p.m. May 25. $15, $20 day of show, firephilly.com.