Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
When Adam Blackstone moved to Philadelphia, he found himself staring at the pavement as he walked up and down Broad Street.<\/p>\n
Blackstone, who grew up in Willingboro, honed his bass-playing skills at El-Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Trenton, where his father was the organist and his mother sang in the choir. <\/p>\n
Coming to Philly in 2000 to study at the University of the Arts<\/a>, Blackstone would hurry from classes to gigs, like playing in the pit band in the Philly Soul musical Me & Mrs. Jones at the Prince Theater.<\/p>\n Along the way, he realized there were musical history lessons embedded in the concrete. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were some things I took for granted when I first moved to Philadelphia,\u201d said the Grammy-winning bandleader who\u2019s served as music director to stars such as Rihanna, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, and Jill Scott<\/a>, and has played a key role in presenting the music at seven Super Bowls. <\/p>\n \u201cI remember walking over those plaques not realizing they were some of the forefathers and foremothers that established the Philly music scene and how music had played such an important role in cultivating the culture of Philadelphia,\u201d he said referring to the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame plaques on Broad Street.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I started to recognize the names, and look at the plaques,\u201d Blackstone said, speaking from his home studio in Middletown, Del. \u201cIt sounds weird, but as I moved through the street, seeing names like Teddy P. and Patti [LaBelle<\/a>], I started to be careful where I walked. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd now \u2014 26 years later \u2014 to be afforded the same honor, it\u2019s mind blowing. It\u2019s just so crazy. I can\u2019t even fathom this. When I moved to Philadelphia, I was just a kid excited to play the bass guitar.\u201d <\/p>\n The honor about to be bestowed on Blackstone will be the unveiling of a plaque naming him as a member of the 2026 class of the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame<\/a>. <\/p>\n The ceremony will take place on Wednesday in front of the Kimmel Center on Broad Street when Gladstone will be honored at the plaque unveiling at noon and then at a gala inside the Kimmel that night. <\/p>\n Along with Blackstone, honorees include Philadelphia Orchestra music and artistic director Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin<\/a>, Afro-Futurist ensemble Sun Ra Arkestra<\/a>, the Philadelphia Boys Choir, hip-hop deejay Lady B<\/a>, Phantom of the Opera actor Hugh Panaro, \u201cGospel Queen of Philadelphia\u201d Louise Williams Bishop, and percussionist Pablo Batista. Philly sound drummer Earl Young<\/a> \u2014 \u201cThe Man Who Invented Disco\u201d \u2014 will receive a lifetime achievement award. <\/p>\n With the exception of the members of the Philadelphia Boys Choir, Blackstone, 43, is the baby of the bunch in this year\u2019s class, which includes longstanding contributors to the sound of Philadelphia in the Sun Ra Arkesta\u2019s Marshall Allen, who will turn 102 this month<\/a>, Bishop, 92, and Young, who\u2019s 85. <\/p>\n Blackstone may not have been active as long as his elders, but the bandleader \u2014 who will join The Roots backing up Jay-Z at The Roots Picnic at Belmont Plateau<\/a> on May 30 and then lead a star-studded tribute to the soundtrack to Waiting to Exhale on May 31 \u2014 has been an extraordinarily busy musician.<\/p>\n He says his decision to go to UArts \u2014 the school that abruptly announced its closure two years ago this month<\/a> \u2014 \u201chelped shape, literally, who I am today.\u201d <\/p>\n He cites Philly musicians like bassist Gerald Veasley<\/a>, guitarist Randy Bowland, and drummer Garfield Williams \u201cwho took me under their wing and saw something in me. And I\u2019m so thankful to carry that mantle out into the world. Because wherever I go, I\u2019m representing Philly music and culture.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI had that eagerness and the willingness to learn more,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was playing on records for free and doing lobby bar gigs just to see who I could meet coming in the lobby. I think that people just saw that hunger in me to be greater, you know?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Philly is that gritty town. Nobody looks down on anybody for doing a bar mitzvah gig or playing in the Sixers house band or doing a Hall and Oates cover band. People respect the hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, Sun Ra Arkestra, Philadelphia Boys Choir, Adam Blackstone, and Lady B. are among 2026 Philly Music Alliance Walk of Fame honorees<\/a><\/p>\n While Blackstone was learning to appreciate Philly music history, he was also meeting those who would carry it forward, hanging out at the Black Lily showcases<\/a> at the Five Spot in Old City<\/a> \u201cduring the quick boom of neo-soul,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Early gigs included serving as Philly singer Vivian Green\u2019s music director, which led to touring first as a bassist and then as MD for Scott<\/a> on the tour for 2004\u2019s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2.<\/p>\n Blackstone first teamed with The Roots at Jay-Z\u2019s Fade to Black concert at Madison Square Garden in 2004, and he was also part of the band at Dave Chappelle\u2019s Block Party that year. <\/p>\n Backing up LL Cool J<\/a> at the Superdome in New Orleans and working with gospel group Mary Mary eventually led to touring as Eminem\u2019s music director.<\/p>\n \u201cQuestlove put me on that,\u201d Blackstone said. \u201cAhmir has always been an advocate of mine. I call him my MD. I\u2019ve been very blessed to play the bass pretty good and musical direct pretty good. But my journey has really been about being nice to people and cultivating relationships.<\/p>\n \u201cEach gig leads to the next. Somebody like Dr. Dre sees me with Eminem, and he\u2019s like \u2018Oh man, come rock with me when you get to L.A.\u2019 Then Janet Jackson will see me with Dr. Dre, or somebody like Justin Timberlake will see me with Janet Jackson. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a continual evolution of relationships, and being prepared when you get that call. I pride myself on my teamwork but also pride myself on not being surprised by anything.\u201d <\/p>\n During the COVID-19 pandemic, Blackstone started to get the itch to make his own music. <\/p>\n \u201cI started to lose people, lose family members,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was cool to say I played with Justin Timberlake and Jill Scott, but I wanted something that my children can have their name on.\u201d<\/p>\n (Blackstone and his wife and manager Kaisha have a son Adam Jr., 10, \u2014 he\u2019s a singer \u2014 and a daughter, Adea, 5.)<\/p>\n His first album, 2022\u2019s Legacy, moved between gospel, jazz, and R&B, and includes Scott, Jazmine Sullivan, and Queen Latifah, among others. It was nominated for three Grammys, and while it didn\u2019t win, Blackstone did win one for best musical theater album <\/a>in 2025 for his work on Alicia Keys\u2019 Hell\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n Blackstone followed up Legacy with last year\u2019s Humble Magic, Vol. 1, a big band album inspired by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones. \u201cThe musical concept is about a big band as a very soulful, large ensemble,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n And the title? <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about God showing me how magical my gift was. How music has the power to heal and change the atmosphere. It\u2019s magical. All while \u2014 for me \u2014 remaining humble, which is how I give my gift back. I wanted people to know that you might not hear me brag about it, but what I do is magic.\u201d<\/p>\n The Philly Music Walk of Fame plaques will be unveiled Wednesday, May 13, at noon at the Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St. Free. The Walk of Fame gala will take place with a reception at 6 p.m. and a program at the Perelman Theater 7:30 p.m. philadelphiamusicalliance.org\/events<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min When Adam Blackstone moved to Philadelphia, he found himself staring at the pavement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[217665,156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-424377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-adam-blackstone-grammy-philadelphia-music-walk-of-fame","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}