The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of '' Soul Train'', the program from which it takes its name, and features musical performances by various

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

recording artists interspersed throughout the ceremonies. The special traditionally used to air in either February, March or April, but now airs the last weekend of November (in most years,

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

weekend). The Soul Train Music Awards voting body includes active professionals in the fields of radio programming and music retail and management and recording artists with records that have charted in designated music trade publications in the year prior to proceedings. Past hosts for the show include such R&B luminaries as Luther Vandross,

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

, Will Smith, Vanessa Williams,

Taraji P. Henson Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). Sh ...

, and Gladys Knight. The Soul Train Music Award trophy has featured an African ceremonial mask since its 1987 introduction. A new trophy was designed by Tristan Eaton of Thunderdog Studios in 2009 and is manufactured by New York firm Society Awards. From 1995 to 2005 a separate award show named Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards was held, honoring female artists.

History

The 2008 ceremonies were not held due to several factors, including the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, the ill health of Don Cornelius at the time, and ''Soul Train'' distributor Tribune Entertainment terminating operations in the wake of the sale of

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

to Sam Zell. With the rights to ''Soul Train'' acquired by MadVision Entertainment, the Soul Train Music Awards were presented on November 24, 2009 on

BET Her BET Her (formerly Centric) is an American basic cable television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. The network is a spin-off of BET with a focus on general entertainment targeting African-American women. The channel originally launched ...

. MadVision now holds the

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

rights to ''Soul Train''. The 2009 ceremony was held at the Georgia World Congress Center in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, marking the first time in the show's 22-year history it was held outside of the

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Co ...

. The 2010 awards was held on November 10 just outside Atlanta at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, and aired November 28. The 2011 show was once again held in Atlanta and aired November 27. The 2012 ceremony was held live on November 25 at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas in

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area i ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. As of 2019, Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist at the Soul Train Music Awards with 16 awards.

Ceremonies

Soul Cypher

In 2015, host Erykah Badu added a new tradition to the award show, the Soul Cypher. Similar to a Hip-Hop cypher, it features a quartet of R&B/Soul/Gospel singers coming together to perform a freestyle. Accompanied by an instrumental beat and a live band, the artists deliver a freestyle arrangement by incorporating lyrics, hooks and/or titles from their popular hits. A UK version of the Soul Cypher was introduced during the 2020 broadcast.

UK Soul Cypher

Trophy

The original trophy is a bronze abstract sitting figure known as the Vanguard in 1987. However, the trophy is an African mask which is known as the Heritage Award. Its distinctive design created by an unknown sculptor, but its remains a visual trademark for Soul Train's representation of Black music. From 1989 to 2007, the Heritage mask remained the trophy for Soul Train Music Awards until 2009 when BET and its sister channel Centric revived the awards. Thunderdog designed a brand new trophy based on the program's mascot, an actual train.

Award categories

Main awards

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

* Video of the Year * Song of the Year * The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award * Best New Artist * Rhythm & Bars Award * Best R&B/Soul Male Artist * Best R&B/Soul Female Artist * Best Dance Performance * Best Gospel/Inspirational Song * Best Collaboration * Centric Award

Special awards

Soul Train Music Award for Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement This page lists the winners and nominees for the Soul Train Music Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement, awarded from 1998 to 2007. The award was originally entitled Heritage Award for Career Achievement, but was later renamed to honor former ...

* Soul Train Music Award for Heritage Award - Career Achievement * Soul Train Music Award for Sammy Davis Jr. - Entertainer of the Year * Artist of the Decade Award for Extraordinary Artistic Achievements * Soul Train Music Award for Stevie Wonder Award for Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting

Defunct award categories

* Best Gospel Album * Best Gospel Album – Group or Band * Best Gospel Album – Solo * Best Jazz Album * Best Jazz Album – Group, Band or Duo * Best Jazz Album – Solo * Best Rap Single * Best Rap Album * Best R&B/Soul Album – Male * Best R&B/Soul Album – Female * Best R&B/Soul Album – Group, Band or Duo * Best R&B/Soul Single – Male * Best R&B/Soul Single – Female * Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo * The Sprite Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut

Most Awarded Artists

References

External links

Soul Train Awards Official Site

Soul Train Official Site
{{musicawards American music awards Performing arts trophies Awards established in 1987 Television series by Tribune Entertainment