Mary J. Blige, Chloe Bailey and Dionne Warwick are all slated to receive their flowers at the Urban One Honors: Best in Black. The awards show is set to tape on Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta. The two-hour telecast will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 25, on TV One and simulcast on CLEO TV.
Mary J Blige will receive the Entertainment Icon, Warwick will be recognized as the Lifetime Achievement honoree and Bailey will be the Generation Next honoree.
Blige, an actress and singer, recently received an Icon award at the Billboard Music Awards 2022. To her the Icon award represents making lemonades out of lifes lemons while being a positive influence over peopke.”What an icon means to me is overcoming obstacles to accomplish the unthinkable and be widely admired for having influence over a multitude of people and that is what I always represented,” she said at the time.
Legendary Warwick, a 6x Grammy winner, has made an indelible mark in soul music for over 40 years. Today her songs are being revived across genres, the most recent example being Doja Cat’s “Paint The Town Red” which samples Warwick’s 1964 hit “Walk on By.”
Since debuting her solo career in 2021, Bailey has proven to have the vocal ability and performing prowess to carve out her own lane. In addition to her solo music career, she is continuing a movie and television career that started when she was a mere five years old playing the role of Little Lilly in the feature film The Fighting Temptations.
Aside from Blige, Warwick and Bailey, honorees at the Urban One Honors include Frankie Beverly as Living Legend and Donald Lawrence for his Inspirational Impact.
Presenters and performers at the Urban One Honors include Teyana Taylor, Bebe Winans, Damon Little, Angie Stone and October London. Viewers will be treated to a reunion from the cast of “R&B Divas,” as Keke Wyatt, Chanté Moore and Nicki Gilbert will join together. LeToya Luckett will be on hand to interview artists and attendees as host of “Backstage Pass.”