Essence announces Prince as headliner for 2014 Music Festival

If you've never been to the annual Essence Festival, you may want to check it out this year, especially if you're a Prince fan.

Essence is going all out for it's 20^th anniversary and they're gonna party like its 1999. Singer/songwriter Prince was just officially announced as the headlining act for the 2014 Music Fest.

This will be Prince's second appearance at the Essence Fest. He performed back in 2004 for the 10^th anniversary. The Purple Rain singer will also partner with Essence in a special community initiative called #YesWeCode. The initiative, led by the Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund, sets out to encourage our young people to use technology and creativity to code.

Michelle Ebanks, Essence Communications President, had this to say:

"Welcoming an artist as iconic as Prince back to the Essence Festival for a 20th anniversary performance is incredibly exciting. The Essence Festival is where we come together to connect to both our culture and our community, so we are pleased to support Prince and the Rebuild the Dream Innovation in advocating for our youth."

That's big of Prince to use his celebrity for a greater cause.

The Essence festival is slated take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome stage in New Orleans from July 4 to 6, 2014.

This year, the Essence Festival grew by 30 percent, with a record-breaking 540,000 attendees. Wonder how many people Prince can bring out?

For tickets and more information about the Essence Music Festival, check out https://www.essence.com/festival.

Will you be in attendance?