Black Music Honors returns to TPAC August 16

Central City Productions will pay tribute to Bobby Brown, Dallas Austin, Faith Evans, and Bebe and Cece Winans, during the Black Music Honors, a live taping television special that will take place on Thursday, August 16, 2018, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville.

In celebration of 40 years in the entertainment industry (1978) and 32 years as a solo artist (1986), Bobby Brown will be the recipient of the R&B Soul Music Icon Award. The incomparable Gospel duo, Bebe and Cece Winans, will be co-honorees of the Gospel Music Icon Award; chart-topping music producer and label executive, Dallas Austin will be presented with the Music Innovator Icon Award, and multi-platinum, Grammy® Award-winning recording artist, songwriter and producer Faith Evans is set to receive the Urban Music Icon Award.

“The vision of the Black Music Honors is to recognize the trailblazers in African American music who have paved the way for the artists of today. Many of these artists have never received their much-deserved recognition,” said Don Jackson, founder and CEO of Central City Productions.

The two-hour event will acknowledge these legendary African American artists who have made significant musical contributions to African American culture and American music worldwide. Rickey Smiley, television and radio personality and Grammy® Award-winner singer, actress LeToya Luckett will return as co-hosts of the show set to air on broadcast syndication, Sept. 8-30, 2018. This year’s sponsors include AT&T, McDonald’s, Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, and Chevrolet with State Farm tapped as the title sponsor.

Proceeds from the tickets sales benefit the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), scheduled to open in Nashville in 2019. NMAAM’s mission is to educate the world, preserve the legacy, and celebrate the central role African Americans play in creating the American soundtrack. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with the show taping at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available now at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center website and box office.

Here’s an in-depth look at the honorees:

BEBE & CECE WINANS — The best-selling and most-awarded female gospel artist of all time, CeCe Winans has long since cemented her status as one of the most accomplished and celebrated women in modern music history. Benjamin, “BeBe” Winans, a six-time Grammy® Award winner, is the seventh child and youngest male of the the Detroit based first family of gospel music.

BOBBY BROWN — Bobby Brown began his music career as the founding member of the R&B group New Edition. The group’s hits included Candy Girl, Cool It Now, and Mr. Telephone Man. Bobby released his first solo album, King of Stage, in 1986. In 1988, Brown’s next album, Don’t Be Cruel rocketed him to super stardom, selling over 8,000,000 copies with five top charted songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles. In 1990, his Every Little Step won the Grammy® for Best R&B Vocal Performance.

FAITH EVANS — Faith Renée Evans is a multi-platinum Grammy® Award winning recording artist, songwriter, arranger and record producer, a New York Times best-selling author, an entrepreneur, a TV executive producer and most importantly — a mother. Through what has been an equally rewarding and trying career, ask her how she’s come this far and she’ll simply reply, “FAITH.”

DALLAS AUSTIN — Grammy® award-winning hit-maker Dallas Austin, whose creativity and innovative style have consistently shaped the sound of today’s Pop and R&B music worldwide since the early 90s, has produced more than 50 hit singles which have debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 list with 17 songs spending numerous weeks in the Top 10 list. He has had multiple Billboard number one hits.