Filed under: Music, Movies, Television, Photos, Interviews, Theater, Star Quotes, Awards
Tyson, with best pal, fashion designer B. Michael in tow, walked the red carpet in all of her diva grandeur. The three-time Emmy Award winning star of films such as 'Roots,' 'Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman' and 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman' said she was most excited about seeing her students from her East Orange, New Jersey Performing Arts School perform alongside gospel superstar Yolanda Adams.A few handfuls of celebrity notables and bold-faced names came out to pay homage to Tyson (who was honored with the Theatrical Arts award), actor/musician and comedian Jamie Foxx, fashion icon Iman, Johnson Publishing Co, heiress Linda Johnson Rice, world renowned musician/composer Herbie Hancock and revered historian/educator Lonnie G. Bunch as a well-heeled crowd packed the gilded auditorium.
Hosted by actress Gabrielle Union, who - in a nod to Diana Ross during her 'American Music Awards' hosting duties in the 1980s - changed into numerous dazzling get-ups throughout the evening, the show featured performances and presentations by Tyler Perry, Anika Noni Rose, B. Smith, Hill Harper, Cedric the Entertainer, Jimmy Jam, Ne-Yo, Lalah Hathaway Yolanda Adams, Keyshia Cole, Guy, Tank, Angelique Kidjo, Naturally 7, Rachel Roy, Chick Corea Quartet, Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker, among others.
Former Floetry frontwoman Marsha Ambrosius, in what appeared to be half of her former plus-sized self, was one of the evening's biggest highlights: BET chieftain Debra Lee introduced the Bristih Soul vocalist, who did a one-woman tribute to the late, great "soul sister" Teena Marie. No one - asides from Lauryn Hill (in her Fugees heyday) should dare touch the blue-eyed soul powerhouse's storied repertoire but Ambrosius' take on her signature 'Portuguese Love' did Marie's legacy justice.For the legendary supermodel Iman, she said the honor was one of the "the highest" she's received over her 30 year career. "It's nothing higher than something bestowed upon you from your own community," the Somalian beauty - who turned heads on the red carpet with her daughter Zulekha Haywood -- told us. "And to top it all off, it's for the charity work I am beyond touched."
'BET Honors,' helmed by BET programming executives Stephen Hill and Lynne Harris Taylor, will premiere February 21 at 9:00 p.m. Proceeds from the show's private ticket sales will be given to the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.
Take a look at some of the scenes from the show below.