John Legend shared his fondest memories of musical great Quincy Jones during an interview with Jennifer Hudson this week.
The R&B musician appeared on the Tuesday episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, where he reflected on Jones just weeks after the producer, composer and all-around legend died at 91 years old.
Around the 1:40-minute mark of the video below, Hudson brought up Jones, prompting Legend to acknowledge the 28-time Grammy winner as "one of the most influential I said human beings of all time."
"So many aspects of our culture wouldn't be here without his genius and so I just felt blessed to know him," the "Tonight" singer added.
But as Hudson became curious about the first time Legend and Jones met, the vocalist joked that Jones "reprimanded" him during their first conversation.
"I was a brand new artist, this was right after Get Lifted had come out, and Oprah was throwing this big event called The Legends Ball," Legend said. "And she was celebrating all these amazing women that she looked up to amazing Black women that she looked up to and she wanted to celebrate."
The Legends Ball, held in 2006, was Winfrey's three-day event dedicated to Black women in art, entertainment, and civil liberties. Winfrey wanted to book Legend as talent, but the musician recalled someone from his agency "playing hardball" with the media personality, prompting her to speak with Jones about it.
Legend joked that he got in "trouble" with Jones during their first phone interaction,
"So Quincy calls me up, I had never met him never talked to him before, [I] only just looked up to him and been inspired by him for my entire childhood and youth growing up," Legend said. "And my first time talking to him was him telling me, 'John you need to check your people.'"
Legend took the hint, accepted the booking, and graciously brought Winfrey flowers.
Legend also discussed the moment on an October episode of Club Shay Shay, where he claimed that the agency issues wasn't his "fault."
"The first time I talked to Quincy Jones is him reprimanding me 'cause my agent was trying to play hard ball with Oprah," Legend said around the 3-minute mark below. "He's being an agent but when people are representing you they're representing you."
"So, you know, I learned that lesson and also like I knew like it was an honor to play this event. And if he was representing me, really, he would have known that I would have been honored to play this event, and he didn't need to play hardball in in this situation."
