A distinguished opera singer, a six-time Juno winning fiddler, and a country vocalist and guitarist will be inducted into the London Music Hall of Fame in May.
The late Garnet Brooks, John P. Allen, and Nora Galloway were announced Wednesday as this year's Hall of Fame inductees.
Brooks began his long singing career while pumping gas at his father's London gas station. After formally training at the Royal Conservatory Music and Opera School of Toronto, Brooks went on to join the Canadian Opera Company. He performed for audiences in opera houses throughout Europe and North America before turning his passion for music into a successful teaching career at Western University and the University of Regina. Brooks passed away at the age of 72 in July 2009.
Allen is best known as a member of the Canadian country group Prairie Oyster, which netted him six Juno Awards. He also played fiddle for bluegrass bands the Good Brothers and Dixie Flyers, and was a member of Tommy Hunter's band.
Galloway, a country singer and songwriter, was a staple at Smales Pace and the Home County Folk Festival. She has had a career spanning decades that has also seen her perform at London's Jeans 'n Classics.
The three will formally be honoured at the Pop Music Awards Gala hosted by Tara and Tom Dunphy at London Music Hall on May 5.
“The Class of 2019 adds to our classical wing and also brings in Londoners with outstanding careers in the roots-folk-country fields,” Hall of Fame Committee Chair James Stewart Reaney said in a statement.
The Hall of Fame induction night is the grand finale of the Forest City London Music Awards Week, which runs April 28 to May 5.
Also being honoured during the week-long celebrations of homegrown musical talent are John b. Young, Mary Lou Smoke, and the Bellone family. They will be recognized for their lifetime achievements.
Young supported big-name Canadian and local talent, allowing all a chance to perform in London. Smoke, known throughout all genres from opera to country, to traditional Indigenous music, hosted a radio and television show with her husband Dan on First Nations. The Bellone family helped hundreds of kids pick their first guitars, fixed celebrities instruments before big gigs, and provided a hangout for local musicians through their store John Bellone’s Musical Instruments on York Street.
The lifetime achievement awards will be handed out at the Classical, Jazz & World Music Awards Gala hosted by Clark Bryan and Bryan Gloyd at Aeolian Hall on April 28.
"We are so excited for the Awards shows,” said Mario Circelli, chair of music week. “It's the 17th annual London Music Awards and when we started this project back in 2001, we only dreamed it would become this important to the community or that we'd have a brick and mortar London Music Hall of Fame."
