Soul's Charlie Wilson gets big-name back-up

Charlie Wilson had one excited background singer and dancer supporting him: Justin Timberlake.

The pop star took a back seat to the soul singer at Sunday's BET Awards, joining Wilson onstage for an energetic medley of his solo and Gap Band hits.

Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, Pharrell, Snoop Dogg and India.Arie were also part of the tribute to 60-year-old Wilson, who earned the lifetime achievement award.

"Charlie Wilson is soul music. His impact colors the work of many artists, which is basically my nice way of saying I and a lot of other artists have stolen from him," Timberlake said when presenting Wilson the award.

Wilson's lively stage presence was the arguably the night's top moment, though others were also on fire.

Nicki Minaj picked up her fourth consecutive win for best female hip-hop artist.

Minaj performed with Chris Brown, who opened the awards show with a medley of new songs. BET couldn't bleep some of the rapper's expletives — much like the awards show last year. Expletives from Wayne Brady, Erykah Badu and the singers who performed with R. Kelly slipped, too.

Miguel won the night's first award, best male R&B pop artist, beating out Brown, Usher, Timberlake and Bruno Mars.

Don Cheadle presented Miguel with the award, and dedicated the night to the ailing Nelson Mandela.

Jamie Foxx, wearing a shirt that featured a picture of Trayvon Martin, won best actor, and Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas won sportswoman of the year and the youngstars award.

Kendrick Lamar, who performed with Badu, won best new artist and best male hip-hop artist.

Jennifer Lopez sang "Happy Birthday" to the leader of Turkmenistan during a show, but her representative said she wouldn't have performed there at all if she had known there were human rights issues in the country. The singer and actress performed in the former Soviet bloc country on Saturday night. The country's leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, attended the show. Berdimuhamedow has been criticized for oppressive rule by human rights organizations.

a first: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' single "Same Love" is the first song to explicitly embrace and promote gay marriage that has made it into the Top 40, gay-rights advocates and radio executives said.

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