John Legend Becomes 1st Black Man To Reach EGOT Status

John Legend Becomes First Black Man To Reach EGOT Status

John Legend has a lot to celebrate. Over the weekend he nabbed his first Emmy, making him an official member of the highly revered EGOT club.

Prior to John Legend, there were only 12 people who had EGOT status. EGOT is when a star has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award in their lifetime.

Legend has won 10 Grammys, an Oscar for “Glory” off the Selma soundtrack, a Tony award as co-producer of Jitney, which won the award for best play revival and now an Emmy for Jesus Christ Superstar, which took home the award for  Outstanding Variety Special (Live).  Thanks to the live NBC special,  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice have also reached EGOT status. Legend took to Instagram to celebrate his accomplishment:

Before tonight, only 12 people had won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony in competitive categories. Sirs Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and I joined that group when we won an Emmy for our production of their legendary show Jesus Christ Superstar. So happy to be part of this team. So honored they trusted me to play Jesus Christ. So amazed to be in such rarefied air. 

John Legend is the first black man to join the EGOT club.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg was the first black person to reach EGOT status in 2002.