London Music Hall of Fame to honour blues guitarist Teddy Leonard, Jones family and radio host Fred Smith

The Forest City London Music Awards is recognizing a blues guitarist, a radio programmer and a family synonymous with live entertainment as part of this year's London Music Week celebrations.

Ted "Teddy" Leonard will be inducted into the London Music Hall of Fame, while the Jones family and longtime CHRW-FM host Fred Smith will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards during the 24th annual awards program in June.

Leonard, a self-taught guitarist who launched his career after joining a jam session at London’s Fire Hall, has spent nearly five decades performing and recording in Canada’s blues scene. Over the years, he has shared stages with artists including B.B. King and members of The Band, toured with Colin Linden and performed as a sideman for Morgan Davis.

He later became a founding member of Fathead, one of Canada’s best-known blues bands, earning a Juno Award and several Maple Blues Awards along the way.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will go to the Jones family, whose roots in London's entertainment business date back to 1930.

The family’s history stretches from concerts at Wonderland Gardens in the 1960s to national touring productions and major festivals today through Jones Entertainment Group. Third-generation brothers Brad and Greg Jones now oversee a wide-ranging entertainment business that includes artist management, touring productions and Centennial Hall operations.

Locally, the brothers are perhaps best known as organizers of Rock the Park, the annual Harris Park music festival that has raised millions for charity while drawing major touring acts to London.

The awards will also honour Fred Smith, whose weekly CHRW-FM program, Hardcore Country, has introduced listeners to alternative country, roots, and Americana music for more than 30 years.

Smith became a fixture at Radio Western through his support of independent artists and non-commercial programming, which helped shape London’s DIY and alternative music culture from behind the microphone.

The honourees will be celebrated during two gala events as part of London Music Week, running from June 6 to 14. The first gala takes place June 7 at Aeolian Hall, focusing on classical, jazz, world music and folk categories, while a second event on June 14 will spotlight pop music categories.

Past Hall of Fame inductees and award recipients include Shad, Garth Hudson, Loreena McKennitt, Denise Pelley and many others.