John Legend touches on ‘hateful’ rejection from ‘Star Search’

American singer and songwriter John Legend gets candid about his former Star Search rejection and the effects of “never getting a call back.”

The Grammy award winning singer got candid about his pain with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show and claimed, "I wanted to be on Star Search so badly. I used to grow up watching Ed McMahon, and so many great artists actually came through Star Search. I would watch the show and I was like, 'I wanna be on there, I deserve to be on there!’”

"My local mall, it was called the Fairfield Commons Mall, outside Dayton, Ohio, they had a local Star Search competition and if you won the local competition they would send your tape to national Star Search.”

"I won the local Star Search competition, they sent my videotape to the national Star Search, and I never got a call backl. That was that." But, "I did get a $500 shopping spree at the new mall and I bought a lot of clothes, so I was happy.”