Musician awarded city's highest civic honour
Newcastle City CouncilA renowned musician has been awarded the freedom of the city of Newcastle.
Councillors agreed to award internationally-acclaimed saxophonist YolanDa Brown with the city's highest civic honour, making her the first black woman to receive the accolade.
She is credited with helping bring the Mercury Prize to Newcastle in 2025, the first time the ceremony had ever been staged outside London.
Brown, 43 and chair of the British Phonographic Industry, called the award "deeply meaningful" and said she hoped to bring more opportunities to the city having this month been announced as a patron of the Newcastle United Foundation.
She was also recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours with an OBE for services to music, music education and broadcasting.
PA MediaCouncillors heard on Wednesday night that Brown first fell in love with Newcastle when she attended a football match at St James' Park in 2009 and had since become an avid Newcastle United fan and advocate for Tyneside.
She said: "Newcastle is a city that believes in community, champions talent and shows up for its people no matter what age or background."
London-born Brown was also praised for arranging online music lesson plans used by an estimated 30,000 primary pupils during the Covid-19 pandemic and co-founding the Drake YolanDa Award to support emerging musicians aged 16 to 30.
City council leader Karen Kilgour said: "YolanDa's contribution to Newcastle has been real, recent and transformative."
The ceremonial status of the freedom of the city involves recipients being presented with a scroll and having their name carved into the sandstone wall of the Civic Centre's Banqueting Hall.
Other recent recipients include Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, chef and restaurateur Terry Laybourne and music icon Stevie Wonder.
