Neil Matthews, in Memory of

This annual award was established by the family of Neil Matthews (1939-2017). Neil was an Island-born country music singer and songwriter who was a multi Music PEI Award winner and ECMA Award winner. He and his band toured Canada and recorded albums in both Toronto and Nashville. He moved back to PEI and in 1976 and opened a music store, Matthews Music, in Summerside. This shop supported the Island music scene and supplied instruments to Islanders for 14 years before relocating to Charlottetown for its final five years. To honour Neil, his musical family came together during the summer of 2018 and recorded a collection of 14 songs written by Neil which resulted in a CD, “Beautiful Island, a Tribute to Neil Matthews”. In 2018, they held a CD launch at the Silver Fox Entertainment complex. Admission was by donation (or through the purchase of a cd) and all proceeds of this event were used to create the Neil Matthews Memorial Award.