John was in the UK last week and took the opportunity to chat live online with his fans.

The 1st half of the interview is below - enjoy!

JohnLegend> Hi John Legend here... let's chat!

Sweetcheeks83> I saw you perform at the Brixton Academy. U were wicked. Whats the best thing about touring?
JohnLegend> I just enjoy interacting with the fans. I love the excitement of hearing songs sung back to me and I love traveling to different cities. I love touring.
We got to Japan and Hong Kong and loads of other places without English as a first language and they all know the words.

Manofpassion> What famous past song do you wish you'd wrote?
JohnLegend> Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. It's a genius pop song!

Manofpassion> If you could duet with anyone who would it be? Dead or alive.
JohnLegend> Nina Simone. She's my adulthood icon. I didn't really listen to her as kid but I love her.

Army84> What came 1st the piano or the singing?
JohnLegend> I'm not really sure. I started playing piano when I was three or four. I don't remember being alive and not singing or playing piano.

Lily> Can you tell a little about the Barack Obama soundtrack?
JohnLegend> The executive producers of the soundtrack to the Obama campaign reached out to us. I'd already recorded Pride an old U2 song.
It was a tribute to Martin Luther King and we thought it would work for this campaign too. Barack Obama is cool.

Princess> What made u call your new album evolver?
JohnLegend> The title was a statement of purpose. I wanted to shake things up with this album and I wanted it to be clear in this title.

Chrisyx22x> What’s one is ur best song and that means the most to u john i love all ur songs what is it like when ur on tour?.
JohnLegend> The easy answer would be Ordinary People but I have different favorites at different times. It depends what day it is. I love This Time.

Ezxmoney> Hey Mr Legend if u was not in music what else do you think u would be doing now?
JohnLegend> I can't imagine not doing music. I'd be a sad sad guy! It's what I'm supposed to be doing.

lil78> U will be doing a movie with Samuel Jackson, what is it like? U excited?
JohnLegend> I'm excited! It seems like it's going to be pretty funny. I was on the set for two days and you only see e in flashbacks.
It was great to work with Bernie Mac before he passed on. He was a great great guy."

STEAMYSCOUSER> What is ur biggest achievement in life so far?x
JohnLegend> There's been a lot of good stuff. Maybe winning best new artist at the Grammys. That was an exciting time.


blondie> Can you tell us about ur single for Africa "show me"?
JohnLegend> The song was already part of the album. It became the name and the inspiration for a charity I started the Show Me campaign
The aim is to fight poverty and to change the lives of people who live in extreme poverty. The video tells a real life story.
It's about two boys who tried to get away in the belly of a plane from Ghana to Belgium. They died. We wanted to show the effects of poverty.

LEGALLYBLONDE> Have u ever been recognized when u were doing something embarrassing? x n wished the ground would swallow u up xx
JohnLegend> No! I haven't. *laughs* I can't think of anything no.

T.I. and John Legend decided to swap it out — Legend appears on Tip's "Slide Show" from Paper Trail, and the King of the South recently completed a remix of the crooner's current big single.

"T.I. did a remix for me for 'Green Light,' with Swizz Beatz on the production," Legend told MTV News. "That was fresh. That'll be coming up soon. I switched up my lyrics a little bit to ride the beat in a different way. The beat is slower, a little more R&B-ish. Swizz slowed up the beat a little bit. T.I. did a different verse [from Andre 3000's], obviously. It's kind of a different record, but it still has an element of the original."

More importantly, Legend says his now-famous line "Do I have a girlfriend? Technically, no" isn't going anywhere.

"I still kept that one," he said of the playfully playalistic lyric. " 'Technically, no' — that's gonna get me in some trouble. But I kept it."

As for appearing on Paper Trail, Legend said it was smooth sailing. "It was easy," the Grammy winner said. "[T.I.] just laid out the format of the song, what he asked me to do for it. I knocked it out in an hour or something. The chorus was already written, then I wrote a little bridge at the end. That was it."

For the original "Green Light," Legend was able to get Andre 3000 for a verse and an even rarer music-video appearance.

"Well, Andre, he really loved the song 'Green Light,' " Legend said. "He wanted to be a part of it and was proud of his contribution, so he was down to do the video. I was honored. I know he doesn't do a lot of collaborations these days. I know he doesn't do a lot of guest appearances. He chose to do it with my song. I'm grateful, and he helped make the video what it was. He's a creative talent, great performer. We got on the phone and did a conference call before the video. He had a lot of ideas for the video. We had a good time. The people we hired — as far as the extras and dancers — they had a good time."

"Green Light" is the lead cut from Legend's third album, Evolver. The singer said that despite the song being recognized as an undeniable hit now, his circle was worried about it being the album's first single.

"Some people in my camp were kinda afraid," he explained. " 'Man, you've been known as the midtempo-ballad guy. People have seen you on the piano all this time. I don't know if you can come with this uptempo joint with Andre on it. It's gonna throw people off.' I felt like the record spoke for itself. It could get played on all the stations, people would love it in the clubs, and I wanted to make a statement that this album would sound a bit different."

Porchester Hall, West London was the venue for the latest Hilfiger Session, which see major artists perform in unique settings, jamming with lesser known acts along the way.

Following in the footsteps of Wyclef and Kelly Rowland, John Legend took the lead last night (Monday), ably supported by The Metros, Steve Appleton and Zarif.

John spoke to MTV News’ Rickie shortly before taking the distinctive studio-like stage, about why he wanted to get involved: “Tommy has always been very supportive of me and I think it’s a really cool idea to get these musicians together and put on a live show. It’s fun and exciting.”

Following impressive tracks from those acts on the undercard, JL banged out an hour-long set which included classics like ‘Used To Love You’ and ‘Ordinary People’ (prompting the sing-a-long moment of the night) as well as ‘Green Light’ – the first single form his new album ‘Evolver’.

Following up rumours on the internet, John confirmed to us his involvement in the official Barack Obama campaign soundtrack: “It’s already made, I was just part of it. I contributed one song and the album is already done so people should check it out and if they’re in the states they should vote for Obama.”