Taylor Swift, Lionel Richie to Present at ACM Awards on CBS, 4/1

Song of the Year nominee Dierks Bentley and reigning Male Vocalist of the Year Brad Paisley are scheduled to perform, and music legend Lionel Richie and reigning Entertainer of the Year nominee Taylor Swift are set to present as part of the 47th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, to be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Sunday, April 1 (8:00-11:00 PM live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Bentley and Paisley join previously announced performers Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride with Pat Monahan, Tim McGRaw, Blake Shelton, Chris Young, The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts. Richie and Swift join previously announced presenters Beth Behrs, Hunter Hayes and Nancy O’Dell on the broadcast.

Dierks Bentley received a double nomination as artist and composer for Song of the Year for his critically-acclaimed single, “Home,” which he will perform on this year’s show. A past New Artist of the Year winner, Bentley’s career also boasts nominations for Album of the Year for Up on the Ridge and Male Vocalist of the Year. Bentley recently wrapped the Australian leg of his 2012 Country & Cold Cans Tour and currently is touring the U.S. for a 20-city spring run.

Brad Paisley is the reigning Male Vocalist of the Year and is nominated for four awards, including his fifth consecutive nomination for Entertainer of the Year and eighth nomination for Male Vocalist of the Year, which he has won five times consecutively between the years of 2006 through 2010. He received two nominations in the Vocal Event of the Year category for “Old Alabama” with Alabama, and “Remind Me” with Carrie Underwood. Also, Paisley just completed the first leg of his “Virtual Reality World Tour 2012” and played to over 218,000 fans with 19 sell-outs. The tour picks back up on May 18 in St. Louis and continues through mid-October.

Music icon Lionel Richie has created an unforgettable body of work that speaks to the hearts of people of all races, faiths and ages around the world with his universal themes of life, love and loss presented with poetic simplicity and irresistible melodies. He has earned sales of more than 100 million albums, with 22 Top 10 hits, five GRAMMY® Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe and a host of other awards from virtually every other major entertainment organization. His catalog of timeless hits includes “Say You, Say Me,” “Easy,” “Still,” “Hello,” “Stuck On You,” “You Are,” “My Love” and “Endless Love.”

Richie will collaborate with an all-star ensemble for “ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends – In Concert,” a once-in-a-lifetime concert event taping Monday, April 2, the night after the ACM Awards, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to be broadcast Friday, April 13 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Reigning Entertainer of the Year, Taylor Swift leads solo female nominees with three nominations, including her third consecutive nod for Entertainer of the Year. If Swift wins Entertainer of the Year, this will be her second consecutive win in that category. Swift, a six-time GRAMMY® Award winner, is nominated for the fifth time for Female Vocalist of the Year and for the third time for Video of the Year for “Mean.” In 2011, in addition to winning Entertainer of the Year, Swift was honored with the Academy’s prestigious Jim Reeves International Award, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music worldwide.

The 47th Academy of Country Music Awards, dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the country music industry, is produced for television by Dick Clark productions. Orly Adelson and R.A. Clark are executive producers. Barry Adelman is producer, and Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production. Bob Romeo is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.

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