dick clark productions and Billboard announced today that Grammy Award-winning recording artist and actor Ludacris will host the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. The show will broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on SUNDAY, MAY 18 on ABC at 8pm ET.
Ludacris will take to the Billboard stage while in the midst of filming his role in the highly anticipated Fast & Furious 7. The musician-turned-actor has received many of the music industry’s top accolades for his work including Grammy Awards for “Best Rap/Song Collaboration” for the song “Yeah!” in 2005, “Best Rap Song” for “Money Maker,” and “Best Rap Album” for the album Release Therapy in 2007. He has also received twelve nominations from the BET Awards, winning two: “Viewer’s Choice” for “Yeah!” in 2004 and “Best Collaboration” for “Runaway Love” in 2007. He also earned five No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and 29 top 10 singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On the Billboard Hot 100, he’s earned 18 top 10 singles — the third most of any hip-hop artist in history after Jay Z (21) and Lil Wayne (19). Ludacris’ upcoming album, Ludaversal, is due out this fall.
In addition to his heavily awarded music career, Ludacris is an esteemed actor, having appeared in the acclaimed indie drama “Hustle & Flow,” the smash hit “Fast and the Furious” sequels “2 Fast 2 Furious,” “Fast Five,” and “Fast & Furious 6,” and the 2006 Academy Award Best Picture Winner, “Crash,” which earned him the prestigious Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards. He has also had a recurring role as ‘Darius Parker’ in the long-running hit television series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
Newly-revealed stars slated to present alongside Ludacris throughout the evening include Chrissy Teigen, Danica McKeller, Jack Antonoff, Josh Groban, Lucy Hale, Omar Epps, Phillip Phillips, Sarah Hyland, Shania Twain and “The Bachelorette’s” Andy Dorfman.
They join a lineup of previously announced performers that includes 5 Seconds of Summer, Ariana Grande, Florida Georgia Line, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons, Jason Derulo, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Katy Perry, Lorde, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, OneRepublic, Pitbull, Ricky Martin, and Shakira, in addition to a Michael Jackson world premiere experience.
The 2014 Billboard Music Award festivities start with the “Samsung Galaxy Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2014 Billboard Music Awards,” which will live stream on Yahoo at 6pm ET / 3pm PT. The two hour pre-show, hosted by Lance Bass, Jordin Sparks, Ted Stryker and more, can also be viewed at BillboardMusicAwards.com, Billboard.com, and additional online destinations by embedding the Yahoo Screen media player (available upon request). Fans can check out the full experience at https://music.yahoo.com/programs/billboard-music-awards/.
Fans can ask questions to their favorite nominees, presenters and performers at the Billboard Music Awards using Instagram’s Q&A Station. To submit, fans should create an Instagram video and tag it with #AskBBMAs. Artists will see the fan questions backstage and respond live with their own 15 second video during the BBMAs on May 18. Answers will appear on the @officialbbmas Instagram account.
Fan voting for the 2014 Milestone Award presented by Chevrolet will continue through the first two hours of the awards show, ending at 10pm ET. To vote for finalists Ellie Goulding, OneRepublic or Carrie Underwood, go to billboard.com/milestone. The special editorial award will be given to an innovative artist who has achieved a notable chart milestone over the past year.
The 2014 Billboard Music Awards is produced by dick clarkproductions. Allen Shapiro and Mike Mahan are Executive Producers. Larry Klein, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco are producers. For additional information on the “2014 Billboard Music Awards” visit us at www.billboardmusicawards.com or the Billboard hub at www.billboard.com/bbma.
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2014 Billboard Music Awards sponsors and partners include Chevrolet, CITI ThankYou, Cumulus, Guggenheim Partners, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Live Nation, Music Choice, Samsung Galaxy and Yahoo.
