The BET Awards took place live from The Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 27 th. The show was hosts were “Blackish” stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. The talk of the show was the Prince tribute. BET had been advertising that this is the tribute to see ever since the Billboard Awards in May when Madonna performed a tribute to Prince.
The show did not disappoint with tributes through out the broadcast.The first David Chappelle who spoke about what Prince meant to him and the world beforeintroducing The Roots, Erykah Badu and Bilal. The Roots backed up Badu and Bilal.. Badu put her heart and soul performing “Ballad of Dorothy Parker” from the 1987 “Sign O’ the Times” soundtrack.
Bilal followed with an amazing peformance of “The Beautiful Ones” from the “Purple Rain” album. From his spot on falsetto to hi dropping to the floor, had the crowd moving and quickly became a talked about moment all over social media.
Stevie Wonder hit the stage with Tori Kelly and Jennifer Hudson. First was Wonder on piano and Kelly singing “Take Me With U” from “Purple Rain” that was originally performed by Pince and Apollania. Aftewards Hudson appeared decked out in an all white outfit inspired by an outfit Prince wore to an award show. Hudson was backed by Kelly and Wonder for a church influenced version of “Purple Rain” ending with a standing ovation from the audiences.
Maxwell performed “Nothing Compaes 2 U” the ballad that Prince originally wrote for “The Family” who released it on their debut album in 1985. Maxwell gave it his all even updating the lyrics “It’s been seven hours and 66 days/Since you took your music away”. He ended on his knees with the crowd cheering.
Janelle Monae had Prince as a mentor and he even was a part of her “The Electric Lady” album in 2013. She started her segment off with “Delirious” then went into “KISS” with a backdop just like the original music video followed by “Pop Life” and “I Would Die 4 U”. Monae danced and even wore a pair of butt-baring chaps like Prince did at the MTV Video Music Awards. She ended her energetic performance with the words “I love you Prince” before leaving the stage.
Shelia E closed out the show with the final tribute. Joining her on stage where several members or the Prince organization including Liv Warfield, Pince ‘s ex- wife and dancer Mayte Garcia, Elisa Fiorillo,Morris Hayes, Shelby J, Nandy & Maya McLean, Jerome Benton from The Time and The NPG Hornz. Shelia E started her performance on the drums for “Housequake” from “Sign O’ the Times” followed on percussion with “Erotic City”, “Let’s Work” “U Got the Look”, then two of her own songs written by Prince including “The Glamorous Life” and ” A Love Bizarre”. She ended her show stopping set with “America” and “Baby I’m a Star” with a Prince signature guitar that she held up in the air in an emotional touching tribute.
Beyonce was the big winner with four out of five nominations including video of the year for “Formation”. special honors went to Jesse Williams who was given the Humanitarian Award and Samuel L. Jackson who received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Click here to see a video of Shelia E from the show:http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2016/performances/sheila-e-medley-pri…
This article was originally posted on Examiner.Com http://www.examiner.com/article/shelia-e-stevie-wonder-jennifer-hudson-pay-tribute-to-prince-at-bet-awards on June 26.
