GRAMMY Winning Group Lady Antebellum to Perform at 2012 Belk Bowl

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Belk Bowl is thrilled to announce Country Music Awards' 2011 Vocal Group of the Year, Lady Antebellum, will be the featured act at the 2012 Belk Bowl this coming December.  The 11th annual Belk Bowl will kick off at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 27 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. and will feature a matchup of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East Conference.

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"Bowl games are always a lot of fun whether your favorite team is playing or not," said Lady Antebellum. "This is going to be our New Year's Eve pre-party celebration in Charlotte!"

The group's record breaking third disc "Own the Night" debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard's Top 200 chart in October 2011, becoming the biggest first week debut by a country artist last year.  The album has already produced two No. 1 singles—"Just a Kiss" and "We Owned the Night."  The band has now tallied six No. 1 hits since its debut in 2007.  The current single, "Wanted You More", is now being played on country radio stations and is making its ascent up the charts.  The trio's previous two albums, "Lady Antebellum" and "Need You Now", have sold more than five million albums across the globe, spawned four No. 1 hits, scored six GRAMMYs and more than a dozen other awards.

The group received five nominations for the 2012 Academy Of Country Music Awards and won the Group of the Year award for the third straight year.  Additionally, the group received a 2012 Grammy award for Country Album of the Year.  Past wins include Vocal Group of the Year at the 45th Annual CMA Awards, Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group for the 2011 American Music Awards and being one of CMT's five Artists of the Year for 2011.

"College football season is our favorite time of the year," said the band members of Lady Antebellum.  "When we're out on tour, we make sure a TV is set up so we can all hang out and watch the Saturday games together."

This year's FanFest event is free to the public and will begin at 1:00 p.m. with Lady Antebellum scheduled to begin their performance at 4:30 p.m.

Individual tickets for the 2012 Belk Bowl will go on sale in early October and will be available through TicketMaster and the participating schools.  Fans can visit the official website, www.BelkBowl.com, for more information about the game and surrounding events.

About Belk, Inc. 
Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk, Inc. (www.belk.com) is the nation's largest privately owned mainline department store company with 303 Belk stores located in 16 Southern states.  The company was founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, N.C., and is in the third generation of Belk family leadership. Its belk.com website offers a wide assortment of fashion apparel, shoes and accessories for the entire family along with top name cosmetics, a wedding registry and a large selection of quality merchandise for the home. To connect with Belk via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blog, mobile phone text messages or by email, go to: Belk Get Connected.

About Belk Bowl 
The first college bowl game to call the Carolinas home, the Belk Bowl has averaged nearly 60,000 fans each year, with three sellouts.  In addition, the 2011 game was viewed by more than 15 million people.  In 2003, it was named one of the five best start-ups in sports over the past five years by the Sports Business Journal, behind only the NFL Houston Texans and ESPN The Magazine.  Ticket packages for the 2012 Belk Bowl are available at www.belkbowl.com.

SOURCE Belk, Inc.