BET Music Matters Presents: Estelle on “The All of Me Tour” With Elle Varner, Stacy Barthe & Luke James

Among the tour’s certain highlights is a February 28th stop at New York’s famed Irving Plaza celebrating that day’s release of Estelle’s massively anticipated new album, “ALL OF ME.” The album — which follows the Grammy Award-winning singer’s 2008 US debut, “SHINE” — is the British soul sensation’s finest work to date, as evidenced by the hit singles “Break My Heart (Feat. Rick Ross)” and “Thank You.” A companion video for the latter track — written by Akon and produced by Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis (U2, The Black Eyed Peas, T.I.), Arden “Keyz” Altino, and Akene “The Champ” Dunkley — recently debuted this week with a joint world premiere broadcast on both BET and Centric. The video is streaming now at Estelle’s official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/EstelleOnline.

What’s more, Estelle has also announced plans to perform at the 2012 ESSENCE Music Festival®, slated for July 6th in New Orleans. The eagerly awaited event will see Estelle sharing the stage with such icons as Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, and Steve Harvey — for details and ticket information, please see www.essencemusicfestival.com.

Estelle has already begun making appearances on a number of high profile TV programs to herald “ALL OF ME,” including a recent visit this week to BET’s hit series, The Game. Other recent appearances include VH1’s VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, TV One’s Lexus Presents Verses & Flow, and BET’s Black Girls Rock! awards show, which saw Estelle’s performance of “Thank You” hailed by Billboard as one of the event’s top 5 moments, noting, “there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

“SHINE” — which marked the premiere release from Grammy Award-winner John Legend’s Homeschool Records label, in partnership with Atlantic Records — was without question one of 2008’s most compelling releases. Executive Produced by Legend and Atlantic Records Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman, the album proved Estelle’s global breakthrough, fuelled in part by the phenomenal hit single, “American Boy (Feat. Kanye West).”

Here in the US, “American Boy” has been certified 2x-platinum by the RIAA for digital sales exceeding 2 million. In 2009, the track earned Estelle her first-ever Grammy Award, just one of many prestigious honors that also includes a BETJ Virtual Award for “Song of the Year,” a World Music Award for “World’s Best New R&B Act,” an Urban Music Award for “Best Collaboration,” an “O2 Silver Clef Award” for “Download of the Year,” and a pair of MOBO Awards for “Best UK Female” and “Best Song.”

BET MUSIC MATTERS “THE ALL OF ME TOUR” HEADLINED BY ESTELLE
Special guests include Elle Varner, Stacy Barthe and Luke James
*all supporting artists performing on various dates*

MARCH
3 Nashville, TN Indulge
5 Philadelphia, PA World Café Life

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In Case You Missed It: UB Exclusive Interview w/ Estelle!
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