Local teen to play ‘Beatles at the Ridge’ festival

Local teen to play ‘Beatles at the Ridge’ festival

Cameron Hicks, 16, will be back at Walnut Ridge gathering for third straight year

www.beatlesattheridge.com Each year the Walnut Ridge, Arkansas Beatles at the Ridge Music Festival hosts many experienced bands such as the Legendary Pacers and Louise Harrison's own 'Liverpool Legends,' but it also features an Authors and Artist Symposium that runs the two days of the festival.

This year, for the third straight year, West Memphian Cameron Hicks is returning to Beatles at the Ridge as a Guest Presenter for the Beatles Artists and Authors Symposium, an integral part of Beatles at the Ridge. This year's spotlight is Beatles 1964.

Cameron will be performing twice during the weekend. On Friday afternoon, Sept. 14, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Cameron will perform the full soundtrack LP to “A Hard Day's Night”, the Beatles film released in 1964, along with a few other surprise selections.

Then on Saturday morning, Sept. 15, Cameron will kick things off with a 'Bea- tles Sock Hop' from 9 to 9:45 a.m., complete with Silly Sock Contests and more.

'We're so proud of this unique 16-year-old musician,' says Jude Southerland Kessler, Beatles author and Chair of the Symposium. 'He will be an important part of the weekend's activities.'

Cameron Hicks is, indeed, remarkable. He is not only an outstanding musician, but, like young John Lennon before him, has been recognized as an artist as well. In August of 2015, he won the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans Art Contest.

Hicks is, furthermore, making a name for himself in the Memphis area music scene. He has performed many times in local restaurants such as Big John'sShake Shack He has also been featured at intermission for the popular Memphis band, Vintage.

He freely donates his time to play for local charity causes as well as being a regular member of his church's Sunday morning and Youth Worship bands.

He has competed in piano competitions for 4-H as well as the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans. His Beatles at the Ridge talent show win in 2015 (performing the Beatles' “Blackbird”) earned him the opening act slot for GRAMMY-nominated Liverpool Legends.

At the age of 13, he performed on stage with author Lanea Stagg at the GRAMMY Museum in Mississippi.

Having met and become friends with Beatles reporter and friend, Ivor Davis, Beatles Fan Club Secretary Freda Kelly and some of the most outstanding Beatles experts in the world, as well as winning a Scholastic contest for a trip to New York City for a Beatles webcast, where he met Dave Grohl and Whoopi Goldberg, Hicks is well-versed in Beatles history and music. He's also been able to see Ringo Starr live in concert, and he's seen Paul McCartney live twice. So, when asked about his favorite Beatlesrelated moment to date, he found it hard to choose.

This year's Beatles at the Ridge Author and Artist line-up includes such notables as authors Ivor Davis, Art Schreiber (both reporters toured with the Beatles in 1964), authors Kit O' Toole, Lanea Stagg, and Jude Southerland Kessler, John Lennon impersonator Alan Bernhoft, author and Tony-winning producer (nominated for 44, recipient of 25) Vivek Tiwary, and author and film-maker David Bedford of Liverpool, England.

Cameron and his family will host Mr. Bedford in their home as he spends a few days visiting the Memphis historical highlights before the festival kicks off Friday at noon.

As always, the Walnut Ridge Beatles at the Ridge Festival is free admission and free parking. For more information visit www.beatlesattheridge.com .

From BATR Media