by Ann Braithwaite
December 2006
Newton-based writer Frank-John Hadley will be among 21 individuals and organizations to be honored with The Blues Foundation's 2007 "Keeping the Blues Alive Award" during an awards ceremony on Feb. 3, 2007, in Memphis.
Hadley was selected in the Journalism category. He is one of only two writers selected for "outstanding contributions" to the blues: the other, Peter Guralnick of West Newbury, will receive the award for literature. The Keeping the Blues Alive awards ceremony will be a key part of the International Blues Challenge weekend of events that will also feature the semifinals and finals of the 23rd blues challenge competition, seminars, forums, and receptions for blue and roots music professionals, societies, and fans from around the globe.
Hadley has been a music journalist since 1980. For many years, he has written the blues column at DownBeat Magazine, reviewing hundreds of blues albums for its international readership. He's done DB interview-features on B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and other luminaries, along with blues-related articles and "blindfold tests," as well. He introduced and wrote the blues column at Jazziz Magazine for several years, profiling John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Etta James, many others. Hadley was a consultant and contributing writer for the family of Jimi Hendrix family at Experience Hendrix. He's written about the blues for Amazon.com, Blender, the Boston Phoenix, the Houston Post, Living Blues, the Miami New Times, Pulse! and other newspapers and periodicals.
Hadley's provided liner notes for albums by Junior Wells, Mighty Sam McClain, J.B.Hutto, and, to name but one more act, Roomful of Blues. He authored the Grove Press Guide to the Blues on CD, with Nat Hentoff contributing the book's forward. For the Original House of Blues in Cambridge, Hadley composed hundreds of biographical essays on blues and R&B musicians for educational purposes, reporting to House co-founders Isaac Tigrett and Dan Ackroyd.
Hadley has also written extensively on soul, R&B, jazz, folk, country, klezmer, rock, and world music. As a native of Beverly, he spent his formative years in nationally known North Shore clubs, Sandy's Jazz & Blues Revival and Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike.
The Blues Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving blues history, celebrating blues excellence, supporting blues education and ensuring the future of this classic African-American art form. It is the umbrella organization for a worldwide network of 150 affiliated blues societies and has individual memberships in about every part of the world.
For more information, please go to www.blues.org
