Before he was a famous R&B artist, John Legend was a spelling bee champion.
The Springfield News-Sun recently went into their archives and found an article they had written up when Legend won the Springfield District Spelling Bee in 1989 when he was just 10 years old and living in Ohio. The paper noted that the "All of Me" singer was the only contestant dressed in a suit and tie when won it all after spelling "prejudice" correctly.
The article also pointed out that Legend was home schooled by his mother, Phyllis Stephens, who also taught his siblings, Ronald II, Vaughn, and Missy Stephens.
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Last December, Legend bragged about his big win on Twitter, writing: "Third grade spelling bee champ and English major here."
3rd grade spelling bee champ and English major here. :)
— John Legend (@johnlegend) December 1, 2016
Now the 38-year-old star is a dad to 1-year-old daughter Luna, and is working to end prejudice -- the word he spelled correctly all those years ago -- by starting the Unlocked Futures initiative. "I think about the world I want my daughter to grow up in. I think about the world I want to see, and I want a world where people have opportunity and where people have justice, where people have equality," he told ET. "I'm in a position where I [can] advocate for them, fight for them, and use my celebrity and my voice and my audience for good."