Organiser Lee Bennett, right, with Suggs from Madness at a previous stone unveiling

IT is a line-up that wouldn’t look out of place at an expensive-ticketed summer music festival – but in the punk-infused spirit of Camden Town, there is no door charge and everyone is welcome.

Early next month, a new event – the Camden Music Festival – will take over part of Camden Town and the acts on a stage just off the High Street will include Billy Bragg, The Buzzcocks and Jazzie B.

The party will follow a run of new stone unveilings on the Music Walk Of Fame – the Hollywood Boulevard-style trail that is taking shape in Camden Town. The Sugarhill Gang, the late Janis Joplin and promoter Harvey Goldsmith will be honoured, as well as dance music legends Gordon Mac and Paul “Trouble” Anderson. Eddy Grant will be back in Camden to see one of the pavement plaques dedicated to him on September 7, while The Kinks will see their stone unveiled the following day.

Ray Davies from The Kinks – the legendary band are being added to the Walk Of Fame next month, and, below, Janis Joplin will also have a stopp on []

In total, there will be 11 new stops on the walk celebrating the world of music.

Mr Grant, who now lives in the Caribbean but was a pupil at Acland Burghley School as a teenager, told the New Journal how much he was looking forward to visiting the streets he once called home.

He said: “It will be great to be back in Camden, where I grew up, to be honoured with a stone plaque which will be laid in the street where I walked, rode and drove from childhood to manhood.   “It is especially satisfying to be receiving this honour in 2023, the year of my 75th birthday and the 40th anniversary of Killer on the Rampage.

“My grandmother, who gave me all my sensibilities after coming out of the womb, always told me that when someone gives you something and it’s something good the most important thing to say is thank you.”

Eddy Grant will be honoured with a tribute stone; he was a pupil at Acland Burghley as a teenager [Stuart Sevastos]

The free festival in the street will then take place on Saturday, September 9, and is the brainchild of music promoter Lee Bennett, who launched the Music Walk of Fame in 2019 with the aim of celebrating the impact Camden Town has had on global music.

The first tranche of pavement plaques included Madness, The Who, Amy Winehouse and Soul II Soul. He said: “We are unveiling 11 stones in one week and our plaques committee have chosen some truly iconic and seminal artists.” He said Camden Town’s global cache meant inviting the surviving members of the Sugarhill Gang to see their stone unveiled and getting a positive reply was straight forward. “We wanted to mark the 50th anniversary of hip hop and who better to do that than the Sugarhill Gang?”

How the plaques in Camden High Street look once they are installed

Mr Bennett said. “It was no problem to persuade them – the Walk of Fame has global recognition and they knew about it because of what we have done previously. “Having an unveiling broadcast live on American TV network ABC, for example, makes it easier when approaching artists of that calibre.” The street festival – with a live stage in Hawley Crescent and DJs and a sound system in Buck Street – is the start of an annual music festival Mr Bennett aims to host across the borough, incorporating established events and creating new ones aimed at celebrating a range of genres.

“We’d like to bring together other events, venues both large and intimate, and have a weekend where Camden showcases its homegrown talents and brings in performers from around the world. It’s what Camden Town deserves and is perfectly placed to provide,” Mr Bennett said. “I’m very excited that once again we’ll be progressing the project to a new level of integration and fan engagement by incorporating what will become an annual borough-wide festival utilising all the venues and open spaces that the borough has to offer.”

Billy Bragg is playing at the free music festival

He added: “Camden Town has always been about inclusivity and it is time to celebrate that heritage and how it expresses itself in the music it produces. A festival like this is long overdue – I first thought it would be a good idea when I was working with Bagleys back in 1992.”

On the day of the festival, Billy Bragg will unveil his stone before performing in Hawley Crescent. Supported by the Music Venue Trust, American R’n’B performers Shalamar are due to take to the stage.

l The Camden Music Festival takes place on Saturday, September 9
For details see www.themusicwalkoffame.com