New Edition @ 2012 Soul Train Awards

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SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2012 PREMIERES

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH AT 8PM ET/PT ON CENTRIC & BET

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.

Keyshia Cole @ 2012 Soul Train Awards

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.

Charlie Wilson @ 2012 Soul Train Awards

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.”

Cedric The Entertainer – Host

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.

Soul Train Awards 2012 presented by Centric

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.

SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2012 NOMINEES AND AWARD CATEGORIES

Best New Artist

Elle Varner

Emeli Sande

J. Cole

Luke James

Robert Glasper

Centric Award

Daley

Esperanza Spalding

Gary Clark Jr.

Leah Labelle

Santigold

Best Gospel/Inspirational Performance

BeBe Winans-America America

Fred Hammond – I Feel Good

Marvin Sapp – My Testimony

Mary Mary-Go Get It

Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks-Celebrate

Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year

2 Chainz feat. Drake – No Lie

Wale feat. Miguel – Lotus Flower Bomb

Nas-Daughters

Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz -Mercy

Young Jeezy feat. Ne-Yo-Leave You Alone

Best R&B/Soul Female Artist

Beyoncé

Estelle

Keyshia Cole

Mary J. Blige

Melanie Fiona

Best R&B/Soul Male Artist

Miguel

Robin Thicke

Trey Songz

Tyrese

Usher

Album of the Year

The One- Eric Benet

Channel Orange-Frank Ocean

Life Is Good-Nas

Write Me Back-R. Kelly

Looking For Myself-Usher

Song of the Year

Estelle-Thank You

John Legend feat. Ludacris-Tonight (Best You Ever Had)

Trey Songz- Heart Attack

Tyrese-Stay

Usher-Climax

Wale feat. Miguel-Lotus Flower Bomb

The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award

Thank You-Estelle (Writers: Arden Altino, Akene “The Champ” Dunkley, Jerry Duplessis, Doug F. Edwards, Thomas D. Richardson, Aliaune Thiam)

Tonight (Best You Ever Had)-John Legend feat. Ludacris(Writers: Allen Arthur, Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges, Keith Justice, Miguel Pimentel “Miguel”, Clayton Reilly, John Stephens)

Daughters-Nas(Writers: Nasir Jones, Ernest D. Wilson, Patrick Adams, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka)

Share My Love-R. Kelly (Writer: Robert Kelly)

Climax-Usher(Writers: Usher Raymond IV, Sean “Redd Stylez” Fenton, Thomas “Diplo” Pentz, Ariel Rechtshaid)

Best Dance Performance

Beyoncé-Love On Top

Chris Brown-Turn Up The Music

Nicki Minaj-Starships

Rihanna-Where Have You Been

Usher-Scream

CentricTV.com awards:

CENTRICTV.com Best Caribbean Performance

Cover Drive -Bajan Style

Damien “Junior Gong” Marley-SuperHeavy

Jimmy Cliff-Rebirth

Matisyahu -Spark Seeker

Sean Paul -Tomahawk Technique

CENTRICTV.com Best International Performance

Amy Winehouse-Our Day Will Come

Daley feat. Marsha Ambrosius-Alone Together

Emeli Sande-Next To Me

Estelle-Thank You

Gotye feat. Kimbra-Somebody (That I Used To Know)

Rebecca Ferguson-Nothing’s Real But Love

CENTRICTV.com Best Traditional Jazz Artist/Group

Chris Botti-Impressions

Kenny Garrett-Seeds From The Underground

Melody Gardot-The Absence

The Robert Glasper Experiment -Black Radio

Tony Bennett-Isn’t It Romantic

CENTRICTV.com Best Contemporary Jazz Artist/Group

Ben Tankard-Full Tank

Brian Culbertson-DREAMS

Cassandra Wilson-Another Country

Esperanza Spalding-Radio Music Society

Peter White-Here We Go

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 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.