BET has announced its performers for the 2015 BET Honors show. Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, K. Michelle, Trey Songz, Charlie Wilson, Patti LaBelle, and Jill Scott will sing praise for the honorees this year. The honorees for achievements in art, music, theater, education, technology, and business include Usher (Musical Arts Award) and Kanye West (Visionary Award). The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art director, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, will receive the Education Award. Actress, singer, and stage director, Phylicia Rashād, will be presented with the Theatrical Arts Award. Lastly, Microsoft Chairman and Virtual Instruments CEO, John W. Thompson, will be awarded the Business and Technology Award. The 2015 BET Honors gala will be taped on January 24th at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. The show will air on February 23rd at 9PM (Eastern standard time) on the BET network. Wayne Brady will return as this year’s host for the second consecutive year.
Usher received mainstream success when his sophomore album My Way was released. The album featured the Billboard charting singles “Nice & Slow,” “My Way,” and “You Make Me Wanna…” The effort successfully sold six million records. The R&B artist’s third album, 8701, produced two number one hits including “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad.” Usher’s most successful album Confessions (2004) sold over twenty million copies, making the singer one of the biggest-selling musical artists of the decade. To date, Usher has won eight Grammy Awards. In 2009, he was named the number one Billboard Hot 100 artist of the 2000s.
Rapper Kanye West has sold more than twenty-one million albums, and sixty-six million digital downloads. In 2005, West was named to Time magazine’s One Hundred Most Influential People in the World. Kanye West has won an impressive total of twenty-one Grammys. Phylicia Rashād is best-known for her role as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show. She was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1985 and 1986. Rashād also won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun.