Cedric The Entertainer Hosts Soul Train Awards

STEVIE WONDER, JOHN LEGEND, CHARLIE WILSON,

NEW EDITION, JAMIE FOXX, NE-YO, 2 CHAINZ, MIGUEL,

KEYSHIA COLE, FANTASIA, ANTHONY HAMILTON,

EDDIE LEVERT, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, AND MORE BRING

 THE SOUL TO PLANET HOLLYWOOD LIVE

CENTRIC’S APOLLO LIVE! HOST TONY ROCK AND REALITY STAR TAMAR BRAXTON HOST THE SOUL TRAIN AWARDS RED CARPET PRE-SHOW PREMIERING NOVEMBER 25TH AT 7PM ET/PT ON CENTRIC & BET

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 19, 2012 – 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 So ul 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.BETcom/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 an d 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.