Will you be sitting home watching TV on New Year’s Eve? If so, you might want to check out NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly. The holiday special’s just added a handful of new performers, including super-popular three-time Grammy nominee Blake Shelton.
Also signed up to help say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012 are Drake, Jessie J, Cee Lo Green, Smash‘s Megan Hilty, The Roots, and 15-time Grammy winner Tony Bennett. Jimmy Fallon will be doing a “special comedy performance” by the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, and Brian Williams will do a review of 2011’s music.
“There is no better place to be in the world on New Year’s Eve than in Times Square,” stated Daly in the press release announcing the New Year’s Eve special’s list of performers. “I look forward to this night all year—to ring in the New Year with millions of people across the country— it’s a blast!”
The show will originate in Times Square in New York City and be broadcast from 10-11pm ET and 11:30pm-12:30am. Daly will also live tweet the event from @carsonjdaly using the hashtag #NBCNYE.
More on Drake [Courtesy of NBC]:
Released in November 2011, Drake’s second studio album “Take Care” debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 chart at #1 and was the biggest first-week SoundScan tally of Drake’s career, with over 630,000 units sold. The eagerly anticipated album was the third-highest-selling debut of 2011 — clocking in behind Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” (1.1 million sold) and label president and mentor Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” (964,000) – in which Drake also sang. “Take Care” arrived to a chorus of acclaim from critics and consumers alike with Rolling Stone raving that Drake “seamlessly blends those genres (pop, R&B, rap) in fluid, rich tracks,” and the New York Times anointed Drake as “hip-hop’s current center of gravity.”
More on Jessie J [Courtesy of NBC]:
Since winning the acclaimed BBC Sound Polls of 2010 and Brits’ Critics Choice for 2011, Jessie J has racked up 19 global #1 hits, selling over two million albums and five million singles worldwide. Her Lava/Universal Republic debut album, “Who You Are,” showcases the skills of a gifted lyricist while highlighting an unforgettable journey. In the last few years, Jessie J has penned songs for such stars as Chris Brown, and she has also written the smash hit record, “Party in the USA,” sung and performed by Miley Cyrus.
More on Blake Shelton [Courtesy of NBC]:
Shelton is the voice of country music. He is CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year for the second consecutive year, has three Grammy Award nominations, including a nod for Country Album for “Red River Blue,” which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Current Albums chart and Top Country Albums chart with the Associated Press calling the album “the best album of his career,” and Shelton holds the record for the fastest-selling digital platinum single for a male country solo artist for his multi-week, #1 smash “Honey Bee.”
More on Megan Hilty [Courtesy of NBC]:
Hilty stars in NBC’s musical drama “Smash,” which premieres February 6 at 10-11 p.m. (ET). Hilty made her Broadway debut as Glinda in “Wicked” and went on to perform the role in both the national tour and in Los Angeles. After receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of Doralee Rhodes in Broadway’s “9 to 5: The Musical,” Hilty was honored with nominations for Lead Actress in a Musical at the Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, the Drama League Awards and L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards.
More on The Roots [Courtesy of NBC]:
Formed in 1987 in Philadelphia, the legendary Roots have become one of the best-known and most-respected hip-hop acts in the business and have won four Grammys. In 2009, The Roots, named one of the greatest live bands around by both Spin and Rolling Stone, became the official house band on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” where they currently perform every Monday through Friday. The Roots’ latest musical creation is a conceptually based album titled “undun” (Island Def Jam), which was recently released on December 6.
More on Tony Bennett [Courtesy of NBC]:
Bennett, who released one of 2011’s most celebrated CDs, “Duets II,” turned 85 this August and made music history when “Duets II” debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album charts, making him the oldest artist to ever achieve the top spot. Nominated for three Grammy Awards, “Duets II” was released to critical acclaim and features Bennett performing his greatest hits with a roster of today’s most successful artists, including Lady Gaga, Michael Buble, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer and the late Amy Winehouse, whose stunning duet of “Body and Soul” with Tony was her last recording.
Bennett, a New York native, began his career as a singing waiter in Queens but, as The New York Times once observed of the 15-time Grammy winner, he “has not just bridged the generation gap, he had demolished it.”
