(NEW YORK, NY) – June 21, 2019 – Returning from its four-year hiatus, America’s most inspirational singing competition, “Sunday Best,” makes its triumphant return to BET on Sunday, June 30th at 8/7c with two brand-new back-to-back episodes. The well-established gospel show welcomes back Grammy Award®-winning music legend Kirk Franklin as host, gospel songstress and host of “Get Up Mornings,” Erica Campbell as a judge; and added two Grammy-Award® nominated artists Kelly Price and Jonathan McReynolds as new additions to the panel. With a brand-new stage and exciting themed challenges, this season has narrowed down the competition to 20 finalists.
The new season kicks off for the first time ever with in-person auditions in front of the judges, with no audience. The contestants have to show their true talent, with no smoke and mirrors, by performing acapella with no band support, as they narrow the field from 20 to the top 10. For the first time the contestants were able to use an online submissions process, after which the team lead a global search for this year’s contestants, leading up to the much-anticipated live auditions in Dallas, TX, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, GA, and Detroit, MI, Lagos, Nigeria and for the first time-ever London, England and Johannesburg, South Africa, which were open to select international contestants. The top 20 contestants are:
· Antonio Santoro, 31, Durham, North Carolina
· Ashleey Barnes, 24, Memphis, Tennessee
· Brielle Frage, 21, Avenel, New Jersey
· Cornelius Edwards, 33, West Palm Beach, Florida
· Chelsey Barnes, 22, Memphis, TN
· Emorja Roberson, 27, South Bend, Indiana
· Jamal Roberts, 22, Meridian, Mississippi
· James Thompson, 23, Derby UK
· Jason Warrior, 23, Chicago, IL
· Joshua Copeland, 37, Salisbury, Maryland
· Kayva Offord, 27, Orange, Texas
· Keyla Richardson, 22, Pensacola, Florida
· Lakeesha Rice, 36, Greensboro, North Carolina
· Linda Williams, 52, University Heights, OH
· Melvin Crispell III, 21, Charlotte, North Carolina
· Opal Staples, 38, Chicago, IL
· Roy Moye, 26, Wichita, Kansas
· Tiffany Andrews, 35, Newark, New Jersey
· Tiffiny Moore, 35, Augusta, Georgia
· Yoonjung Park, 32, South Korea
Media Credit- BET.Com
