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John Legend hoped to work as management consultant for year before career took off

John Legend planned to work as a management consultant for just a year while he worked on his music - but he ended up staying for three.

After he graduated from college, the All of Me singer got a job as a management consultant to pay the bills while writing and recording music in his spare time.

In an interview with The New Yorker, John admitted he did pretty well doing "the market research and presentation-writing and number-crunching" the job involved, but he was there much longer than expected.

"I was pretty good. I could have been better, but I was genuinely determined to try to get a record deal. I spent a lot of energy and lost a lot of sleep focusing on my side hustle as a musician," he explained. "I needed the job, but I was, like, 'I want to be out of here in a year.' It took three years, and even then I had to work a bit before I was able to live off the money I was making from music."

The 43-year-old acknowledged that he was "extremely lucky" to be able to leave that job behind after he got a record deal and his 2004 debut album Get Lifted put him on the map.

"Think of how many musicians who want to be where I am just never make it. Think of how hard it is to get a record deal. Think of how hard it is, once you get a record deal, for your album to even come out. Think of how hard it is for an album to come out and catch on like Get Lifted did. All those things happening are extremely lucky," the star reflected. "It’s a bit less difficult to climb the ranks as a management consultant. But I was determined for that not to be my future."

Photo: Cover Media
Source: Cover Media
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