Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

In 2004, John Legend made the leap from all-star studio session man to headlining singer/songwriter/pianist/performer with his debut album Get Lifted. Driven in part by the hit singles Ordinary People and Used To Love U, Get Lifted was a critical and commercial triumph, earning Legend an astounding eight Grammy nominations. He won Best New Artist, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (Ordinary People) and Best R&B Album and sold more than three million copies of the album worldwide.

Born in Springfield, Ohio on December 28, 1978, Legend, whose real name is John Stephens, had a passion for music from

Philly’s own Boyz II Men formed in 1988 while the Boyz were students at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Today, the Boyz are all grown up and sounding as good as ever.

With Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris (no relation to Nathan) trading off lead vocals, the Boyz still sport the smooth trademark harmonies, clean-cut “retro nouveau” image and polished, synchronized dance routines that launched them to stardom with five number one pop hits, 12 top 10 R&B singles, more than 60 million records sold and four Grammy Awards, all between 1992 and

Fireworks:

• Each minute of a fireworks show takes approximately one hour to choreograph.
• Zambelli pyrotechnicians will spend approximately 350-400 hours on-site producing Sunoco Welcome America!’s fireworks shows on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and at Penn’s Landing.

The Wedding: Benjamin Franklin & Betsy Ross (Ralph & Linda):

• Ralph Archbold shares the same birthday, January 17, as the man he portrays, Benjamin Franklin.
• Ralph and Linda first met at the wedding of Linda’s friend on September 1, the same date that Ben married Deborah Read.
• Benjamin Franklin was a frequent guest at the City Tavern, site of Linda and Ralph’s