# Peter Noble (music promoter)

Peter Bruce Noble OAM is an Australian entrepreneur active in the music industry for almost 50 years. He is best known as the festival director of the annual Bluesfest Byron Bay, which has been running since 1990 & that he became a partner of in 1994. The 5-day festival is now held every Easter at the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, just north of Byron Bay, a New South Wales beachside town.
Peter Noble's significant contribution to the industry was recognised in 2014 when he was awarded The Rolling Stone Australia Award for his services to Australian Music. On Australia Day 2016, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to live and recorded music, to tourism, and to the community.
By the time Bluesfest turned 25 years old it had won 27 awards including four Australian Helpmann Awards for Best Contemporary Music Festival and Australian Event of the Year at the Australian Event Awards, nominations at the prestigious Pollstar Awards for Best International Music Festival, received 17 further award nominations. It was the only Australian festival listed in Billboard's 2014 Top 10 festivals.

## Biography

Peter Noble has been a music industry professional for over forty years and his contribution to the industry has been recognised with many accolades including the Rolling Stone Award for his services to Australian music.
Drawn to music from an early age, the Sydney-born bassist played in rock, soul and blues bands during the 1960s and '70s, taking leading roles with artists including Clapham Junction, and Marcia Hines. Following extensive national and international touring, Peter settled in the US and set up Portland, Oregon's first International Jazz Festival, and was house booker at The Earth venue.
Peter returned home to Australia at the beginning of the 1980s, and became a pioneer for blues touring in Australia. As a direct result of Noble's efforts, soul, jazz, blues and reggae artists found a promoter, and a wide audience in Australia for the first time.
In 1990, Noble put the San Francisco band the Flamin' Groovies on a financially mismanaged 80-day, 80-city tour of Europe, which shattered the group. The Groovies disbanded in 1991.
He supplied two international acts for the East Coast Blues Festival with Canned Heat in 1990 & John Mayall in 1991 and became a director alongside founder Keven Oxford for the 1994 event. In December 2004 Noble along with four partners acquired founder Keven Oxford's 50% share in the event.
Peter became a pioneer for blues, jazz, roots and indie music touring in Australia, as well as running AIM Records, which became the first and only Australian independent label to win a Grammy Award in 2008 for ‘Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album’, by Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience. The same year the label got nominated for a second Grammy for Best Tropical Album 'Greetings From Havana'. Noble has worked in many areas of the music business including record producing, touring artists through his company Bluesfest Touring, artist management, setting up the Australian Artists Agency in the early '70s, event site development, and festival presentations throughout Australia and South East Asia.
Noble's long-standing dream to produce an Indigenous festival was realised in 2013 when he collaborated with leading cultural creative Rhoda Roberts, producing the inaugural Boomerang Festival: a ground-breaking Indigenous festival for all Australians held at the home of Bluesfest, the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, to extensive acclaim.
As the Director of the Byron Bay festival, Peter is passionate about social and environmental responsibility and is philanthropic, supporting many charities and community groups, and ensuring his events uphold their commitment to environmental conservation and animal welfare. This is reflected in the festival winning six International A Greener Festival Awards since 2007.
Bluesfest is respected for creating ongoing employment and contracts for individuals and small businesses in the Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers, a small regional part of Australia with limited employment opportunities. It contributes over $40 million annually to the NSW economy, and has provided countless opportunities for local musicians, artists and business people through performance platforms, stalls, and networks.
Peter Noble's son Otis Noble is a renowned figurehead of alcohol brand 'Fireball'.
Peter Noble is an ardent music aficionado whose work has shaped what is now cemented as one of the largest and revered music events in the world. He spends his time working and living between Byron Bay and Bali.

## Awards

Awards summary – Bluesfest
* 1 win at the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards Memphis - For Festival Director Peter Noble
* 8 wins at the NSW Tourism Awards for Major Festivals & Events (6 Gold, 2 Silver)
* 6 wins at the North Coast Tourism Awards for Major Festivals & Events
* 4 wins at the Helpmann Awards for Best Contemporary Music Festival, Ceremony for Australia's most talented and celebrated performers and industry
* 6 wins at the Australian Event Awards for Australian Event of the Year
* 10 nominations at the Pollstar Awards (US) for International Festival of the Year (6 in a row from 2012- incl 2017)
* 1 nomination at the Pollstar Awards (US) for International Festival of the Decade
Bluesfest Awards
* 2022 Gold Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Award
* 2019 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2018 Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event - Australian Event Awards
* 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive Award Memphis - For Festival Director Peter Noble
* 2017 Gold Major Festivals & Events - NSW Tourism Awards (After winning Gold 3rd time in a row Bluesfest entered the NSW Tourism Hall of Fame)
* 2017 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2016 Gold Major Festival & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2016 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2016 Gold Major Festivals & Events, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2016 Order of Australia Medal (OAM), Won by Festival Director, Peter Noble ‘For service to live and recorded music, to tourism, and to the community.’
* 2015 Gold Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2015 Gold Major Festivals & Events, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2015 Pan Australasian Festival Of The Year, Canadian Music Week International Festival Awards
* 2014 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2014 Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event, Australian Event Award
* 2014 Gold Major Festival & Event, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2014 'The Rolling Stone Award' Won by Festival Director, Peter Noble
* 2014 Silver Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2013 Silver Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event Australian Event Awards
* 2013 Gold Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2013 Gold Major Festivals & Events, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2013 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2013 Best Contemporary Music Festival Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2013 Business Excellence Award, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2012/13 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2012 Silver Major Festival & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2012 Business Excellence Award, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2011 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2011 Gold Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2011 Business Excellence Award, North Coast Tourism Awards
* 2010 Australian Event of the Year, Australian Event Awards
* 2010 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2009 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2008 Grammy Award, ‘Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album’, Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience (AIM Records artist)
* 2008 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2007 The International A Greener Festival Award
* 2006 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2005 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 1998 – 2013 Readers Poll Award, Rhythms Magazine – "Best Australian Festival"
* 1994 -96 Readers Poll Award, Rhythms Magazine – "Best Australian Festival"
BLUESFEST TOURING AWARDS
* 2017 Best International Contemporary Concert for Patti Smith and Her Band Australia Tour 2017, Australian Helpmann Awards
BLUESFEST NOMINATIONS
* 2022 Pollstar Awards (USA) for International Festival of the Year
* 2022 Best Cultural/Arts Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2021 Pollstar Awards (USA) for International Festival of the Decade
* 2019 Pollstar Awards (USA) for International Festival of the Year
* 2017 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2016 International Music Festival of the Year, 28th Pollstar Awards (2017)
* 2016 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2015 International Music Festival of the Year, 27th Pollstar Awards (2016)
* 2015 Best Contemporary Music Festival Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2014 Major Festivals & Events, NSW Tourism Awards
* 2014 Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2014 Best Tourism Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2014 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2014 Best New Event for Boomerang Festival, Australian Event Awards
* 2013 International Festival of the Year 25th Pollstar Awards (2014)
* 2013 Best Tourism Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2012 International Festival of the Year 24th Pollstar Awards (2013)
* 2012 Best Cultural/Arts Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2012 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Robert Helpmann Awards
* 2011 Best Regional Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2011 Best Achievement in Sustainability, Australian Event Awards
* 2009 Best Cultural or Arts Event, Australian Event Awards
* 2009 Best Overseas Festival, UK Festival Awards
* 2008 Grammy Award, ‘Best Tropical Latin Album’, Greetings From Havana - Cubanismo (AIM Records artist)
* 2008 Best Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Helpmann Awards
* 2007 International Music Festival of the Year from the esteemed US based Pollstar Concert Industry Awards