The London Music Awards is honoured to announce Saul Holiff as a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

The Lifetime Achievement award is presented to an individual who has been an outstanding contributor to the London and area music community over many years. The FCLMA board of directors grants this distinction to thank such people and inspire others to make an impact on the community.

Saul Holiff certainly made an impact. As the manager of U.S. country superstar Johnny Cash from 1960-1973, Holiff helped shape the future of the modern Canadian music industry. He managed the careers of many Canadian artists, including Tommy Hunter and Debbie Lori Kaye — and made London a music business city in the 1960s.

Holiff was among the first to bring live Rock ‘n’ Roll to Canadian audiences, including Bill Haley and His Comets; The Everly Brothers; Buddy Holly; Chuck Berry; and, Jerry Lee Lewis. He also promoted country acts, including Marty Robbins; Kitty Wells; Jimmy Rodgers, Faron Young; and, Johnny Cash (starting in 1958).

In his autobiography, CASH, the singer said: “It was Saul who pushed me to take my show, and my career, to another level. I was perfectly happy where I was, doing what I loved to do and getting paid for it but, after I got to know Saul, I started liking his ideas. Instead of just ballrooms and dance halls, Saul said I should be aiming at Europe, the Orient, and big places in big cities. And that was just the beginning.”

The first Lifetime Achievement Award honouring Londoners who have made an outstanding commitment to music was handed out by a LMA forerunner in 2003. 

Holiff will be honoured at the Awards Gala April 15, part of the 2018 Jack Richardson London Music Week, April 8-15.