R&B crooner John Legend has been named the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.
The Grammy-winning singer known for his silky-smooth vocals was revealed as this year's winner Tuesday night on NBC's "The Voice." He serves as a coach on the singing competition series with Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton.
Legend tells the magazine in an issue out Friday the honor comes with some pressure after following Idris Elba, who was last year's winner. He jokes it "is not fair and is not nice to me!"
FILE - This Feb. 24, 2019 file photo shows John Legend at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. People magazine has named Legend as the sexiest man alive in their special double issue on newsstands nationwide on Nov. 15. (Photo by Evan AgostiniInvisionAP, File)
The 40-year-old Legend is a 10-time Grammy winner. He took home an Oscar in 2015 for co-writing the song "Glory" from the film "Selma."
Shelton, who was named Sexiest Man Alive in 2017, announced Legend's honor on "The Voice." The country singer then handed Legend some short shorts with bedazzled letters "EGOTSMA" to signify the singer's many honors: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and now, Sexiest Man Alive.
Legend has two children with model-television host Chrissy Teigen.
FILE - This Feb. 24, 2019 file photo shows John Legend at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. People magazine has named Legend as the sexiest man alive in their special double issue on newsstands nationwide on Nov. 15. (Photo by Evan AgostiniInvisionAP, File)
Other recent winners include Dwayne Johnson and David Beckham.
"I want to thank Blake Shelton," Legend said. "I observed every move he made, every utterance that came from his mouth and I think some of it rubbed off on me.
Legend said his wife is proud of him.
"I've finally impressed her," he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
