North Carolina Music Hall of Fame announces this year’s inductees

The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame is adding six inductees this fall, and celebrating its 30th anniversary. 

The Hall of Fame celebrates North Carolina legends of past and present that have made their mark on the music industry. Inductees span all genres and range from jazz giants Nina Simone and John Coltrane to American Idol winners Fantasia Barrino and Scotty McCreery. 

One of this year’s most prominent inductees is Clarence Avant, a successful music executive and film producer originally from Climax, North Carolina.

Avant’s long list of accomplishments and successes earned him the title “The Black Godfather” of music and entertainment and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Avant also had friends in high places, with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama enjoying his political support and friendship. Avant died at 92 in his Los Angeles home last August. 

Another trailblazer will also be honored this year, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who, in 1941, founded the National Negro Opera Company, the first of its kind in the United States. Dawson was born in Madison, North Carolina and trained hundreds of young opera singers during her tenure as a musician and teacher.

She was president of the National Association of Negro Musicians and was appointed to the National Music Committee by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. 

Celebrated songwriter, radio personality and WBTV fan favorite, Tommy Faile, will also be inducted in the fall. Faile, who was born in South Carolina, is best known for writing and composing the song “Phantom 309,” a truck-driving ghost story, and the bluegrass classic “The Legend of the Brown Mountain Lights,” the story of a supernatural phenomenon born in the North Carolina mountains. Faile also launched a WBTV program, “The Tommy Faile Show,” in 1969, that ran for six years and cemented his North Carolina legacy. 

Inductee of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, Bobby Hicks, will add another Hall of Fame to his list of accolades this year. Hicks began playing the fiddle as a young child, and won the North Carolina championship at just 11 years old. With decades of experience and over 50 albums in his discography, the ten-time Grammy Award-winning musician has left a remarkable legacy in the world of bluegrass. 

The final artist adding their name to the Hall of Fame this year is Petey Pablo, a rapper and producer from Greenville. Pablo’s first single, “Raise Up” is an unofficial North Carolina anthem, and followed by other radio-favorites “Freek-A-Leek” and “Carolina Colors,” Pablo helped put North Carolina on the hip-hop map.

He received a Grammy nomination for his first album, “Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry” and collaborations with Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and Ciara have earned him multiple chart-topping hits. 

The sixth inductee, Merge Records will be the first record label to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The independent indie-rock label is based in Durham and was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan.

The pair originally started the label to release music from their own band, Superchunk, but it has since signed artists from around the world and become an influential voice in the music industry. Some of the most well-known artists they’ve worked with include Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Mountain Goats and She & Him. 

The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, located in Kannapolis, will honor the new inductees on Oct. 17, along with a celebration of the organization’s 30th anniversary. Tickets for the event can be purchased on the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame website.