John Legend negotiated with porn producer to get stage name

A legendary story.

During the first episode of Amazon Studios’ new series “Words+Music,” John Legend recalled how he made a deal with porn producer Johnny Legend to go by his iconic stage name.

The 46-year-old singer was born John Stephens, but he decided to become John Legend while he and Kanye West were working with spoken-word artist and songwriter J. Ivy on West’s 2004 debut album, “The College Dropout.”

“Now J. heard me singing, playing and doing all I was doing on those ‘College Dropout’ tracks, and he was impressed,” Legend recalled on the show, which premiered Sunday on MGM+.

“He said, ‘Man, we’re gonna have to call you the legend.’”

Legend, who was an unknown artist at the time, continued, “So I had to decide whether or not I was going to assume this stage name. Now part of me is saying, ‘How you going to call yourself Legend? You don’t even have a record deal yet.’”

The “All of Me” singer eventually decided to move forward with the name change “to make people pay attention” — but his plans hit a snag when his lawyer informed he had to trademark the name before he could officially use it.

“And lo and behold,” Legend said, “there’s a porn producer—I kid you not—a porn producer who dabbled in rockabilly music, and he went by the name Johnny Legend.”

“The fact that he made music, rockabilly music, and his name was Johnny Legend, meant that there was a possible trademark infringement case,” Legend added.

The EGOT winner explained that his legal team had to reach out to now-77-year-old Johnny Legend, whose real name is Martin Margulies, so he could become John Legend.

“We had to find Johnny Legend, negotiate with him, cut a mutually exclusive deal stating that he was Johnny Legend, and I was John Legend,” the father of four remembered. “He wouldn’t sue me. I wouldn’t sue him. He wouldn’t try to get into the soul music business pretending to be John Legend.”

“And I’m happy to make clear that I kept my side of the agreement,” Legend stated. “I didn’t produce any porn, didn’t make any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend.”

Under his stage name, Legend signed with West’s record label, GOOD Music, in May 2004 and released his debut album, “Get Lifted,” on his 26th birthday that December.

“And you know what? It really did feel like a new birth,” Legend said.

“Word+Music” will continue with episodes focused on Sheryl Crow (Dec. 7), Elvis Costello (Dec. 14) and Alanis Morissette (Dec. 21)