Full Access Magazine had the opportunity to interview one of the most talented R&B/Soul artists of all time, John Legend. He is not only a singer, songwriter, actor and producer. He is also a recipient of the EGOT. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it is someone who has won an Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar and Tony. He is the second youngest and first black male to accomplish this distinction. There is only 15 people who have ever accomplished this.

I talked with John about his new Christmas album and tour, “A Legendary Christmas Tour,” which kicks off at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, on November 15th. John says, “Florida is a good place to kick off the tour and fans can expect a lot of Christmas. Hopefully, people are in the mood for some Christmas songs. I’ve never done a Christmas album before, or Christmas tour. We’ll do some of my non-Christmas songs that people love. But, it will be pretty heavily focused on the Christmas music and the album. Hopefully everybody’s already gotten it, and is coming to the show, and had a chance to listen to it a few times, and learn some of the songs, so they can sing along. I’m excited for it. It’s gonna be festive, it’s gonna be fun and energetic, and I think, a lot of love.”

I asked John what made him decide to do a Christmas album and he said, “I’ve wanted to do it for a long time, I just never got around to focusing on it. I really did focus on it this year, it wasn’t just a side project, it was my main musical project of the year. I started in the late spring, and have been working on it all the way up to now. Either writing songs, recording songs, listening to mixes, shooting videos, doing photo shoots, and getting the television special taped. I’ve been pretty much in a Christmas mood since April or May, and it’s really been a lot of fun actually. I always wanted to do one because I just love Christmas music and it’s always been an important part of my family’s celebration of Christmas, and I finally got around to it. Even though I wanted to do it before, I think it’s even better that I’m doing it now that I have two kids and a family. It just feels like the perfect time to have this music for us all to share within the family, and all around the world.”

On this album, which is the same name as the tour, I asked John how did he choose the songs that are not originals for the album. He stated, “Part of it’s just, songs I like. But some of it is focused on songs that I think we could do a good version of. We recorded more stuff than we actually used. But, the more you try things, you figure out what feels good and feels special, and feels like we could make a special recording of.”

John won the EGOT this year and says, “I’m very honored and thrilled. It’s not something I ever aimed for in life until I got really close to it. I think, “Oh, wow. I’m three out of four, and it would be cool if I got the fourth.” And, when the opportunity to do Jesus Christ Superstar came along, I didn’t think of it specifically as an EGOT opportunity, but I thought of it as an exciting role. Something that would be a challenge for me, but would be a lot of fun, and would be a really meaningful step in my career to do something like that. I had no idea if people would love what we did, or if we would have any kind of consideration. But, once the nominations came through, the EGOT felt very tangible. It felt like it was very possible and it happened.”

There is not much that John has not yet accomplished and said, “My mantra for myself is to try to keep getting better at everything I’m doing now and just push myself to get better. To work harder, smarter, write more creatively, just push myself to be the best artist, husband and father I can be in every way.” John is also the executive producer and wrote original music for an upcoming animated short film, “Crow:The Legend.” John says, “The film was written based on Native American myths, stories that have been told in various tribes and nations around the indigenous people of the United States and various parts of North America. The company that I worked with, Baobab Studios, they discovered this legend and thought it would be a really beautiful story to tell as one of their first big projects. They asked me to come on and get involved. They asked several other actors and producers to get involved as well. They asked me to play the lead role, and then we talked about writing a song for it. I wrote a song called ‘Better When You Can Fly.’ It was so much fun. It was based on the character and the character’s arc. I play a crow in the story. He starts out multicolored with this beautiful voice. He’s kind of arrogant and thinks the world of himself, and thinks of himself as a star. But in the story of the film, he’s kind of humbled by losing some of his powers. That’s kind of the story of the film, and the story of the song. It’s a song about community, about self sacrifice on behalf of others, and I think it’s a really beautiful story to tell.”

Lastly, I asked John what he considers as his greatest musical accomplishment to date and he said, “I think, when it comes to accolades and things of that nature, I think one of my favorite awards I’ve won is Best New Artist at the Grammys. Because, one, you can only win that once, and it’s only one person who wins it per year. It put me among some really amazing company, in people who’ve won that award in the past. And then, another really beautiful, powerful moment was the Oscars, when Common and I won for Glory and we were able to sing at the Oscars. It was a special moment. We got to shine a light on the film, Selma, but also, on that movement and the movements since then that have been inspired by it.”

Don’t miss John Legends, “A Legendary Christmas Tour” at the Fox Theatre on Thursday, December 6th, and check out all his other dates on his website.