The 15th Annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration officially kicked off Super Bowl Weekend at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday featuring show stopping performances from Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling gospel and contemporary Christian artists.

The extravagant night of praise featured Gospel duo Mary Mary, ten-time Stellar Award winner Pastor Donnie Mcclurkin, world renowned legend Patti Labelle, contemporary Christian artist Natalie Grant, actress now gospel singer Tamela Mann, and NFL players and the NFL PLAYERS Choir.

The Celebration is one of the most attended events on Super Bowl weekend. Co-hosted by television show host Wendy Williams and EXTRA TV correspondent AJ Calloway.

The celebration kicked off the night with an amazing pre-show, which included a trio performance from GRAMMYAward-winning Gospel artist Tasha Cobbs and the AFI "Your Dream is Out There", Gospel Sensations contest winners Kristen Jamison and Valaree Wright-Pate.

Elev8.com says hosts Williams and Calloway, kept the packed theater laughing all night long. They described that Grants Performance of "Breathe On Me," inspired the audience to sing along and give praise. Along with gospel duo Mary Mary bringing audience to their feet with their performances of their classic hit singles "God In Me" and "Go Get It."

Adding that McClurkin gave an passionate performance of "We Are Victorious," and the power house actress/singer Mann moved the audience to tears with her performance of "Take Me To The King," "I Surrender All" and "I Can Only Imagine."

The NFL PLAYERS Choir men took the stage and sang The Winans classic hit "It's Time," Elev8 reported that it left the audience screaming for an encore.

singer LaBelle, who performed a duet of "If Only You Knew" and "Somebody Loves You Baby" with special guest - Season 12 American Idol winner Candice Glover as well as performing "When You've Been Blessed," again moving the audience to their feet in awe of the iconic performer.

The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration has donated a portion of its proceeds to a chosen charity since its inception. Proceeds of more than 5,500 tickets this year went to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The show will air in national syndication over broadcast television stations during Feb. 2014.listings will be on www.superbowlgospel.com