The artist formerly and currently known as Prince held a press conference Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Apollo Theater to announce an upcoming tour, Welcome 2 America, which starts December 2010. He will be joined by Mint Condition, Cassandra Wilson, Esperanza Spalding and Janelle Monae. The former two, Spalding and Monae, performed a tribute to the artist during the 2010 BET Awards.
He was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Following an introduction by Stephen Hill, BET’s executive vice president of entertainment and music programming, Prince shared that he would auction a gold-plated Fender guitar at the end of the tour to benefit the Harlem Empowerment Zone, an organization dedicated to the revitalization of upper Manhattan. –yvette caslin
