John Legend was encouraged to make a Christmas album by Mariah Carey.
The 39-year-old singer has produced his first festive compilation, ‘A Legendary Christmas’ and admitted it was the ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ hitmaker who gave him the idea for the record.
He explained: "We did a song called ‘When Christmas Comes’. Even at the time, Mariah was like, ‘You need to do a Christmas album’.
"And I agreed and I just didn’t feel like I had the time at that time to do it.
"But I made time this year and I’m glad I did."
John – who has children Luna, two, and Miles, seven months, with wife Chrissy Teigen – had also promised to "fully embrace" the theme on the live shows that accompanied the record.
Speaking in a recent interview, he pledged: "We’re going to make [the show] Christmassy.
"We’re going to have decorations and fully embrace the retro vibe.
"I think we set the tone with the album photoshoot and we’ll continue with that tone for the tour."
And the ‘All of Me’ singer doesn’t think his embracing of the festive season every night will leave him tired of Christmas.
He said: "Who knows how I’ll feel after that tour, but I think after the tour and then a significant break from Christmas, I’ll probably actually want to do some more."
John’s festive record has already won over his whole family.
He said: "They all like it. Chrissy likes hearing it, Luna too.
"We all like to dance to it and we all love Christmas music.
"I think we’re all unabashedly embracing tradition and the festive spirit and I think it’s why I featured the family in the album photoshoot – it’s really all about family and love and music."
John Legend’s album advice from Mariah Carey
