Janet, Fergie & The Killers To Perform At ‘06 Billboard Awards

LAS VEGAS, NV (November 2, 2006) — Janet Jackson leads off a night of hot performances featuring Fergie and The Killers atthe 2006 Billboard Music Awards, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena Monday, Dec. 4 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Celine Dion, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry are set to make guest appearances. The host and additional performers and artists appearing on the special will be announced closer to the air date.

Live from the legendary Las Vegas Strip and featuring performances and appearances by the year?s chart-topping artists, the 2006 Billboard Music Awards recognizes the year’s leading artists and songs as determined by actual performance on Billboard’s weekly charts. The show celebrates the record-buying, Internet-downloading and radio-listening public’s favorite songs, albums and performers, creating a true souvenir of the year in music.

With the recent release of ?Janet 20 Y.O.,? Janet Jackson has once again demonstrated her extraordinary range of talent with her 30th Top-10 single, “Call on Me,” charting on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Jackson exploded onto the international pop music scene with ?Control? in 1986. She then released ?Rhythm Nation 1814,? which produced several No. 1 hits, earned her numerous Grammy Awards and culminated in her ?Rhythm Nation? tour, which set box office records around the world. Jackson?s first record of the 1990s, ?janet,? widened her musical aesthetic to include the exploration of deep and lyrical sensuality. ?Again,? a No. 1 single from the album, was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Later in the ?90s, ?The Velvet Rope? was her most introspective album to date. The new century produced two platinum-selling successes, ?All For You? and ?Damita Jo,? bold ventures into Jackson?s unique style of autobiographical storytelling. She also made forays into films and television, including appearances with Tupac Shakur in ?Poetic Justice? and Eddie Murphy in ?Nutty Professor 2,? after appearing in a variety of sitcoms and TV dramas as a child and teen actress.

Fergie first joined The Black Eyed Peas in 2002, and was on hand when the release of their first disc together, ?Elephunk,? went triple-platinum, thrusting the group into the spotlight. The mega-single ?Let?s Get It Started? earned The Peas their first Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a duo or group. Two years later, the follow-up ?Monkey Business? yielded five Top-40 hits, including ?Don?t Phunk With My Heart? and ?My Humps, and has sold over 4 million copies. On her stellar solo debut ?The Dutchess,? Fergie?s first single, ?London Bridge,? made history as it bulleted its way up the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching the No. 1 spot in three short weeks, the second-highest jump ever recorded by Billboard. In addition to her music career, Fergie already had a taste of stardom as a child voicing the characters of ?Sally? and ?Lucy? in the animated ?Charlie Brown? specials, as a cast member of Kids Incorporated during her teen years, and as a member of the pop trio Wild Orchid.

Award-winning, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum Las Vegas hometown band The Killers ? Brandon Flowers on vocals and keyboards, guitarist David Keuning, bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci ? took the world by storm in 2004 with the phenomenal Hot Fuss, which became the longest-running rock album inside the Top-50 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for all of 2005. The worldwide 5-million-selling album spun off four solid hit singles: the Grammy-nominated modern rock anthem “Somebody Told Me,” the VMA-winning (and Grammy-nominated) “Mr. Brightside,” the modern rock hit “Smile Like You Mean It” and the Grammy-nominated “All These Things That I’ve Done.” The Killers have come back strong with their eagerly anticipated second album, ?Sam’s Town,? which made colossal debuts at No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK, featuring the band’s first No. 1 song on alternative/modern rock radio, “When You Were Young,” and the brand-new follow-up track, “Bones.” The Killers recently wrapped up their first major headlining North American tour in support of Sam’s Town with a homecoming date at the outrageous 2nd annual pre-Halloween weekend VEGOOSE Festival.

Now in its 112th year, Billboard is the world’s premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events and brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends. Billboard is the flagship property for the Billboard Information Group, which also consists of Billboard.biz, Billboard.com, Billboard Chart Alert, Billboard Information Network (BIN), Billboard Directories, Billboard Books, Billboard Licensing & Events and Radio & Records. Billboard?s many strategic partners include Microsoft, Hands-On Mobile, Reuters, Sirius Satellite Radio, Telemundo, Univision Radio, ABC Radio Networks, Azteca America, BigChampagne and Billboard sister companies Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. These partnerships leverage Billboard?s proprietary data, charts and information resources to develop broadcast entertainment, digital and mobile platforms and contextual commerce applications that expand Billboard?s franchise and consumer reach.