The Emmy, Grammy and Oscar winner known as John Legend was born John Stephens in Springfield 40 years ago.
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Ronald “Pop” Stephens, a longtime clothes maker and artist, explained to Page Six, a part of the New York Post newspaper, that he started the company after growing weary of doing a “sweep-over” after he started to lose his hair.
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He explained the progression to the website:
“I was doing some spring cleaning, and I got ready to throw away one of my straw hats — very similar to the one Clark Gable wore in ‘Gone With the Wind,’ which is called a gambler. But before I did, my brother came over with a cap on, and I said, ‘That’s really nice, that’s a pretty cool cap.'...
So that started the wheels a-turnin’ and then as I was looking at this gambler hat that I was getting ready to destroy, I said, ‘I wonder what this full-brim hat would look like if I turned it into a cap — just trim off all the back end of it and leave a visor or a bill on the front.'”
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