This season's dynamic lineup of stars - including a Super Bowl champion, a telenovela star, a tennis legend, a Disney Channel star, a classical singing star and a music legend - will perform either the Foxtrot or the Cha Cha for the first time on Live National television with their professional partners during the two-hour season premiere of DANCING WITH THE STARS, MONDAY, MARCH 19 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. The celebrities, with their professional partners, heading to the dance floor this season include:
Gavin DeGraw -- Gavin DeGraw is no stranger to the top of the charts. He first broke through with the 2003 release of his debut album, "Chariot," which sold over a million copies, earned platinum certification and yielded three hit singles: "I Don't Want to Be," "Follow Through" and the title-track, "Chariot." DeGraw's self-titled second album debuted at No. 1 on the digital sales chart and at No. 7 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart in 2008, earning him his first Top 10 album. It spawned the hit singles "In Love with a Girl," which Billboard dubbed "a rocking homerun," and the gold-certified "We Belong Together." In 2009 DeGraw released "Free" as a gift to his die-hard fans clamoring for recorded versions of his live favorites. He released his third studio album, "Sweeter," in September of 2011. The album's first single, "Not Over You," co-written with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, was just certified platinum, is a huge hit and has been climbing the sales and radio charts since its June 2011 release. Gavin DeGraw partners with last season's champ, Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her 11th season.
ROSHON FEGAN -- Most widely recognized for his roles on Disney Channel, this musical artist, songwriter, producer and actor currently stars on the Disney Channel original series "Shake It Up!" as Ty Blue. Prior to this role, he appeared as Sander Loyer in the Disney Channel original movies "Camp Rock" and "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam." Fegan also performed songs on the "Camp Rock" soundtrack, as well as the DVD bonus track "Camp Rock." The 20-year-old Fegan recently released his first self-produced EP, "I Am Ro•Shon," which contains two new tracks written and produced by Fegan himself, "Got Me Like" and "Top of the World" that fuses a unique universal sound of Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, Funk and Electronic Dance music. He writes and produces all of his own music under his independently owned record label, 3inaRo Entertainment, where he serves as CEO. ROSHON FEGAN teams with Chelsie Hightower, who is returning for her 6th season.
Gladys Knight -- Eight-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight has enjoyed No. 1 hits in pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance. The Georgia-born Knight began performing recitals at age 4 in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church. Three years later, in 1952, she won the grand prize on television's "TEd Mack's Amateur Hour," and the following year she, along with her brother, Bubba, and her cousins, formed The Pips and had their first hit in 1961. In 1962 the group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips. With Knight singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon status, recording some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Top 20 hits like "Every Beat of My Heart," "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "If I Were Your Woman" set the stage for an amazing run in the mid-1970s, while Top 10 gold-certified singles like "Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye)," "I've Got to Use My Imagination," "Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me" and the No. 1 smash "Midnight Train to Georgia" establishing Gladys Knight & The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world. All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade. This spring she will release her newest album, featuring the hit "I Who Have Nothing." Most recently Knight appeared in the Tyler Perry film, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." A longtime Las Vegas resident, Knight returned to the Strip this past year at the famed Tropicana Hotel for a special engagement that ran in the newly named Gladys Knight Theater, making her the first African-American performer to have a venue named after her in Las Vegas. Gladys Knight partners with Tristan McManus, who returns as a professional partner for his second season.