John Legend had an eventful weekend.
The singer/actor made history on Sunday, completing his EGOT after receiving an Emmy at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the televised musical Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
Legend is not just one of the youngest to have the honor of receiving an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony at age 39—he’s also the first African-American man to do so. The only younger winner is Robert Lopez, who is one of the creators of The Book of Mormon. He was just 8 months younger. Lopez also just barely beat out Legend’s timeframe to complete the EGOT—he did it in ten years, two years quicker than Legend’s 12.
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Before Sunday, there were only 12 people who had the distinction of winning all four prestigious awards. Beside Lopez, the list includes the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, and Richard Rodgers, who was the first to have received the quadruple crown. But the five awards Jesus Christ Superstar took home on Sunday added not just Legend to the list, but also composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, bringing the total to 15.
Legend has won a total of 10 Grammys since taking home his first award as best new artist in 2006. In 2015, he won an Oscar for best original song from the movie Selma, and last year, he won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play as a co-producer of Jitney. While Sunday’s award was for his role as co-producer of Jesus Christ Superstar, there’s also a chance Legend will win an acting Emmy later this month, as he also appeared in the show.
Sunday’s triple win is the first time in history that more than two people have reached EGOT status in a calendar year. Other big winners included Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which took home five awards, with the late Bourdain taking home the prize for Outstanding Writing for a Non-Fiction Program. RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye won four and three awards, respectively.
