Stevie Wonder, Beyonce to be inducted into Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame
The inaugural BMEWOF inductees class also includes Quincy Jones, Shirley Caesar, Michael Jackson and Missy Elliott.
The Black American Music Association and Georgia Entertainment Caucus have announced the influential Black artists, entertainers and icons who will be inducted into the inaugural class of the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame.
The organization’s Foundational Inductees are legendary artists James Brown, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder aside producing genius Quincy Jones. They will be joined by Michael Jackson, their Legacy Artists pick, Mainstream Mogul inductee Sean Love Combs, Shirley Caesar for Gospel Female and Kirk Franklin for Gospel Male, Missy Elliott for Hip-Hop Female, Outkast for Hip-Hop Male, and for Mainstream Female and Mainstream Male, its picks are Beyoncé and Usher Raymond IV, who audiences know by his first name.
The BMEWOF inductees were culled from 38 nominees,
The induction ceremony will take place in Atlanta on June 17 during Black Music Month.
“It gives me so much honor and respect to help escort the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame into existence and global awareness,” Atlanta entertainment giant and Black American Music Association co-founder Michael Mauldin said. “Our mission is to preserve, protect and promote the legacy and future of culture, community, entertainment and the Black American Music Art-form.”
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Mauldin is the father of So So Def executive and longtime producer Jermaine Dupri.
The Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame emblems of excellence will live in front of the Mercedes Benz Dome in downtown Atlanta and were designed by D.L. Warfield and created in collaboration with sculptor and historian Ed Dwight.
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The Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame is a joint initiative by the Black American Music Association and the Georgia Entertainment Caucus that will honor iconic individuals and organizations that have impacted Black culture and community.
The Black American Music Association was co-founded by Mauldin and Demmette Guidry in 2017 as a membership-based professional trade organization comprised of music professionals, creators, scholars, stakeholders and communities working to preserve, protect and promote the legacy and future of authentic Black American music as an indigenous art form.
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