Soul Train Awards 2012 Premieres Sunday, November 25th At 8pm ET/PT
On Centric & BET
NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On
Thursday, November 8, 2012, the
Soul Train Awards celebrated its 25th Awards show
by honoring the best in music and entertainment at Planet
Hollywood Live in Las
Vegas. Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer,
and backed by the musical direction of Raphael Saadiq, Soul Train Awards
2012 featured meaningful tributes to this year's loss of
Don Cornelius, hilarious Awards
presentations, not-to-be-missed musical performances, and much
more. The network premiere of Soul Train Awards 2012 will be
televised simultaneously on Centric and BET on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 8pm ET/PT.
Today's hottest artists and Soul Train Awards 2012
nominees took to the Planet Hollywood Live stage including:
three-time 2012 nominee Miguel, who performed his hit
"Adorn;" Ne-Yo, who wowed with his single "Let Me Love You;"
2012 Best R&B/Soul Female Artist nominee Keyshia Cole, who performed her single
"Trust and Believe;" Tyrese, who performed his Song of
the Year-nominated hit "Stay;" 2012 Best New Artist
nominee Elle Varner, who sang
a remix version of her single "Refill" with a human beatbox; and
two-time 2012 nominee John Legend, performed his Song of
the Year-nominated smash "Tonight (Best you Ever Had)."
Bringing southern hip-hop to the Soul Train Awards 2012
stage was two-time 2012 Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year
nominee, 2 Chainz, who performed a crowd-pleasing medley of
his hits "Birthday Song," "I'm Different," along with a special
duet of "Ghetto Dreams" with Charlie
Wilson.
Soul Train Awards 2012 couldn't have been the year's
biggest night for R&B/soul without unforgettable, crowd-raising
performances by legends like Stevie
Wonder, Eddie
Levert, and Charlie
Wilson, as well as contemporary artists of today
channeling classic soul icons of yesterday. Epic Records
recording artist Leah Labelle
brought down the house with her flawless performance of
Teena Marie's "Square Biz," Grammy
Award-winner Fantasia embodied the Queen of Soul with her
rendition of the Aretha Franklin
classic "Don't Play That Song For Me," while Anthony Hamilton belted Bill Withers' "Lovely Day," and The Voice season
1 winner Marcus Canty tore up
the stage with his take on Luther
Vandross' "Never Too Much."
New Edition—particularly Bobby
Brown—gave a tear-inducing acceptance speech during the
group's much-anticipated and well-deserved Lifetime Achievement
Award presentation. The sextet later returned to the
stage for a very special medley performance of their hits like
"Candy Girl," "Telephone Man," and "If It Isn't Love" that drove
the crowd wild.
Not to be outdone by the phenomenal music performances of the
night, the caliber of star power the Soul Train Awards 2012
pulled together for the first-ever three-day Soul Train Awards
experience in Las Vegas was
legendary. Long-time Academy Awards host, actor, and comedian
Billy Crystal,
Donny and Marie Osmond,
Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx,
Las Vegas comedic icon
George Wallace, basketball
legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, hit-making songwriter
and producer Jimmy Jam, Vampire Diaries star Kat
Graham, Tamar Braxton,
2012 Best New Artist nominee Luke
James, radio personality Tom
Joyner, and more came out to present Awards, introduce
musical acts as well as provide hysterical advice, guidance, and
encouragement to two-time Soul Train Awards host Cedric the
Entertainer about moving the show to Las Vegas.
Additional memorable moments include: the consistent threading
of memories and images of the late Don
Cornelius throughout the show—particularly the words
from his son, Tony Cornelius;
Charlie Wilson showing
Cedric the Entertainer how to romance a woman;
Eddie Levert singing
"Casanova"; Jamie Foxx
introducing a trailer for his upcoming film directed by
Quentin Tarantino, Django
Unchained; and the super group TGT—composed of Tank,
Ginuwine, and Tyrese.
Fresh off the heels of the Presidential election and
Barack Obama's re-election,
Cedric The Entertainer coined the phrase of the night—"2
Termz"—playing off the audience call-and-response of 2
Chainz's name.
Closing out the show was none other than the "8th
Wonder of the World," Stevie
Wonder, who delivered a roof-blowing medley of his hits
including "Superstition" and President-Elect Barack Obama's acceptance speech entrance
song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," which was backed by
projected photos of the "2 Termz" President.
Additional celebrity attendees and appearances by
Estelle, Melanie Fiona,
Jody Watley, Doug E. Fresh, Tony
Rock, Mike Bivins,
Gary Owen, Olympic gold medalist
Cullen Jones, Kenny Lattimore, Lil Mama, Julius "Dr. J"
Erving, and many more.
The Soul Train Awards is a presentation of Centric
Network. Executive Producers of the telecast are: Paxton Baker,
Tami Willis-Arasli, Derek Lewis,
CENTRIC; Bart Phillips, Sunseeker
Media; and Soul Train Holdings' Kenard
Gibbs, along with Cedric
Kyles; Eric Rhone;
Doug E. Fresh; and Damien Smith. The Soul Train
Awards is directed by Tony
McCuin and produced in cooperation with the City of Las Vegas and Clark County Nevada.
The Soul Train Awards 2012 will premiere simultaneously
on BET and Centric on Sunday, November 25th at 8pm ET/PT. For more information, go to
www.BET.com/SoulTrain and Tweet on Twitter using:
#SoulTrainAwards
About CENTRIC:
Centric is a 24-hour music and entertainment channel that
reflects the lifestyle and sophistication of today's
African-American and multicultural adult viewer. With a
finger on the pulse of an ever-changing beat, its compelling music
content fuses Soul, R&B, Neo-Soul, Hip Hop, Reggae, Gospel,
Jazz, Old School, New School and everything in between with today's
hottest artists. It is a unique of mix of music, culture and
lifestyle programming that embodies the lives, tastes and
aspirations of the CENTRIC viewer: All you. All day. All night.
About BET Networks:
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is
the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news
and public affairs television programming for the African-American
audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million
households and can be seen in the United
States, Canada, the
Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is
the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group
of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for
Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour
entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old
African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and
BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment
tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded
offerings for the home environment including DVDs and
video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event
management and production company with festivals and live events
spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and
video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which
operates BET in the United Kingdom
and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global
distribution.
About Soul Train Holdings:
Soul Train is a registered trademark of Soul Train Holdings,
LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Soul Train is the longest
running, first-run, nationally syndicated program in television
history. During its 37 year run, the show featured such
staples as the Soul Train line and performers as important and
diverse as: Al Green, Ike &
Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Michael
Jackson, Stevie Wonder,
Elton John, Whitney Houston, David
Bowie, Janet Jackson and
Beyonce, to name a few. Soul Train Holdings was created
following the acquisition of the iconic franchise and catalog of
more than 1,100 hours of archival footage from Don Cornelius
Productions in June 2008 by
InterMedia Partners and Madvision entertainment and is part of Vibe
Holdings LLC. Vibe Holdings is a leading multi-cultural media
company consisting of treasured and celebrated brands including
Vibe Magazine, Vibe.com, Uptown Magazine and Soul Train. VIBE
Holdings is owned by InterMedia Partners, Magic Johnson Enterprises
and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa
Companies.
Follow us on Twitter @BET_PR
SOURCE Centric