In August 1970, teenagers lined up around the Chicago Board of Trade building to dance on a live afternoon show. A former Chicago police officer named Don Cornelius had piloted it with $400 of his own money. Fifty-six years later, the awards franchise that grew out of that broadcast tapes Thursday (Nov 5) at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. It is the first time the Soul Train Awards have been staged in the city where Cornelius started the line.

The ceremony returns after sitting out 2024 and 2025, and BET has rebuilt it around its birthplace. Anthony Anderson hosts, Spotify and Toyota present, and the finished show airs Friday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. in Chicago, on BET with a simulcast on CBS, the first time the awards have aired on that network. BET Her, VH1, MTV2 and Logo will carry it as well.

The two honorees announced so far draw the lineage from both ends. Chaka Khan, who grew up in Hyde Park on the South Side and came up through Chicago bands, receives the Classic Soul Honor. Durand Bernarr, a Cleveland singer who learned the job singing background for Erykah Badu, receives the Soul Personified Honor, and he will host the red carpet show and perform on the telecast.

Where Cornelius Built It

Cornelius was a newsreader and backup disc jockey at WVON, the Chicago radio station built for Black listeners, when WCIU-TV hired him in 1967 to work its news and sports desks. On the side he promoted and emceed record hops at Chicago-area high schools, a traveling caravan of local acts he billed as "The Soul Train." With Chicago-based Sears, Roebuck and Company as sponsor, WCIU put the idea on the air on Aug. 17, 1970, live and in black and white. Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites and the Emotions played the first episode.

National syndication began on Oct. 2, 1971, and Cornelius moved production to Hollywood, though he kept a local edition running at home with Clinton Ghent as host until 1976. The awards spinoff arrived in 1987 and spent the next four decades in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York and Las Vegas, where Chicago singer Jeremih performed at the Orleans Arena in 2019. Keke Palmer hosted the most recent edition in 2023.

Louis Carr, the president of BET, is a Chicago native, and his statements about the move have leaned on that biography since the first announcement in September. "Chicago is where the 'Soul Train' story began, and bringing the awards back to my hometown is a full-circle moment," Carr said in a news release quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times. "'Soul Train' helped shape how the world experienced Black music and culture."

The ceremony is presented in partnership with the city, and Mayor Brandon Johnson framed the taping as civic business as much as tribute. "Bringing the 'Soul Train Awards' back to its hometown is an opportunity to celebrate that legacy while creating new opportunities for local artists and entertainment professionals, supporting our small businesses and strengthening Chicago's creative economy," the mayor said.

Chaka Khan Comes Home for the Classic Soul Honor

Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in 1953 and raised in Hyde Park, where both of her parents worked at the University of Chicago. She formed her first group, the Crystalettes, at 11 and sang with local outfits including Lyfe and the Babysitters. Then she joined Rufus, a Chicago band whose billing kept growing around her until it read Rufus & Chaka. When "Tell Me Something Good" became the group's breakthrough, they performed it on Cornelius's show, and the record won a Grammy in 1975.

Her history with these awards runs nearly as long as the awards themselves. The show gave her its Lena Horne Award for career achievement in 1998 and later its Legend Award, and its best female R&B/soul category once carried her name as the Chaka Khan Award. This year has already brought a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and, in September, CHAKZILLA, her first album since 2019's Hello Happiness, with Snoop Dogg, Sia and Lenny Kravitz among its guests. At 73 she holds 11 Grammys, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted her in 2023.

"Chaka Khan is the embodiment of soul music," Carr said in announcing the honor. "From her groundbreaking work with Rufus to a solo career that has produced some of the most iconic records in music history, she has continually expanded the possibilities of R&B and soul while inspiring generations of artists to find and own their voices. Honoring Chaka is a celebration of the music and cultural legacy that Soul Train has always embodied."

Connie Orlando, BET's executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy, is the network's executive producer on the show. "The Classic Soul Honor celebrates artists whose contributions are foundational to our culture and Chaka's unmistakable voice and enduring impact make her truly deserving of this honor," she said. "We are proud to celebrate her legacy on the Soul Train Awards stage."

Legacy tributes are usually booked wherever the show happens to land. This one sends a Hyde Park singer who stood on Cornelius's stage at 21 back downtown, a short drive from the blocks where she grew up. The soul trophy she takes home comes from the franchise he started there.

Durand Bernarr Brings the Line Back From Cleveland

Bernarr was born in Cleveland in 1988 and raised in the Glenville neighborhood by a mother who taught music and coached voices. He toured with Earth, Wind & Fire at 16, started posting covers to YouTube in 2008, and in 2010 released 8ight: The Stepson of Erykah Badu, a set of covers and medleys of her songs. Erykah Badu heard it and hired him for her touring band the following year, and he has sung behind her for years since.

The solo career caught up with him in 2026. In February he won Best Progressive R&B Album at the Grammys for BLOOM. In May he released BERNARR., a 17-track album whose guest list sets two Chicago voices, BJ The Chicago Kid and Vic Mensa, beside Khalid, Sevyn Streeter and Big Sean. That last pairing got a block party video for "Waiting" in September, and earlier this month Bernarr finished opening the North American leg of Kehlani's world tour.

"Durand Bernarr is an extraordinary talent whose artistry reflects the depth and boundless possibilities of R&B," Orlando said. "His remarkable vocal range, commanding stage presence and commitment to artistic authenticity have distinguished him throughout his career. From his journey as an independent musician to his GRAMMY-winning success, Durand has remained true to his creative vision."

His red carpet assignment carries real weight on the night. "Back on Track," the pre-show streaming on YouTube and Facebook, is where BET plans to reveal a fan-ranked countdown of the 20 greatest R&B songs of the 2020s, chosen from a ballot of 64. The voice walking viewers into a Chicago show about Chicago's gift to the country belongs to a man from Glenville who learned the work in Badu's band.

The Rest of the Soul Train News

The return reverses a call BET made last year. Former BET CEO Scott Mills told Billboard in August 2025 that the network had paused the franchise along with its hip-hop awards: "So for BET linear, we have suspended the Soul Train and Hip-Hop award shows." When the revival was announced on Sept. 3, Carr opened with geography. "As a Chicago native, I'm proud to bring the Soul Train Awards back to the city where it all originated," he said.

Orlando promised a different show in the same release. "The Soul Train Awards has always been the home for R&B and soul, and this year we're reimagining the celebration with a bold new format," she said. Spotify signed on as the exclusive streaming partner, and Joe Hadley, its global head of music content and partnerships, put it plainly: "We're thrilled the Soul Train Awards are coming back. It's a significant moment for R&B and soul, and for Spotify, it's important to show up where culture is."

The clearest piece of that new format is fan voting, which decides winners in two categories for the first time in the show's history. The R&B/Soul Song of the Year ballot, open on BET's site through Oct. 16, lists Brent Faiyaz's "butterflies," Bruno Mars's "I Just Might," Chris Brown and Bryson Tiller's "It Depends," Daniel Caesar's "Who Knows" and Justin Bieber's "Yukon." The other five are Kehlani's "Folded," Mariah the Scientist and Kali Uchis's "Is It a Crime," Olivia Dean's "Man I Need," Tems's "What You Need" and Tyla's "Chanel."

The second fan category, Spotify's RNB X International Artist, takes its name from the platform's flagship R&B playlist and is voted only inside the Spotify app. Its seven nominees are Cleo Sol, FLO, kwn, Odeal, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tems and Tiana Major9, which leaves Tems as the only artist on both fan ballots. "We're thrilled to put the vote in the fans' hands for the first time," Orlando said when BET released the nominees on Oct. 5.

Jesse Collins, whose Jesse Collins Entertainment produces the show, is executive producer alongside Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay. Anderson, who also hosted in 2013, said when his booking was announced that "Soul Train is more than a television show or an awards franchise; it's a piece of our cultural history. Don Cornelius created a platform that gave Black artists a place to shine, and generations later, that spirit is still alive."

The brand reaches past the ceremony this fall, too. Lalah Hathaway, whose ninth album Made In Chicago arrived Oct. 1 on what would have been her father Donny Hathaway's 81st birthday, is booked for the Soul Train Cruise in November. She is another Chicago-born singer working under the name Cornelius made.

BET has said performers will be named in the coming weeks, so the lineup beyond Bernarr is still open. The schedule is fixed. The Harris fills on Nov. 5 and the tape waits three weeks. On the night after Thanksgiving, Chaka Khan accepts a soul honor on national television in the city that first put her, and the show, on the air.