Coastal Carolina University President Ronald R. Ingle will receive the Carroll Campbell Award at the fourth annual Beach Music Day in Columbia on April 27.

The award, given annually to a non-music industry person, will be presented to Ingle for his support in establishing a partnership between and the Beach Music Association International (BMAI) and for designating Coastal as a repository for the study of beach music, its artists and history.

Beach music, which has been declared the “official popular music of South Carolina” by the general assembly, is celebrated at the annual event that begins on the statehouse steps. Many performers and bands are scheduled to perform, including the Embers, Bill Pinkney of the Original Drifters, Maurice Williams and more. (Williams will receive the Bill Pinkney Pioneer Award and the Hennessy Privilege Award.)

Coastal’s ties with beach music include a 2002 agreement with BMAI to develop courses on the cultural, sociological and musical aspects of the genre, positioned within the university’s Waccamaw Center for the Cultural and Historical Studies. Center director Charles Joyner is an expert on Southern musical styles and his upcoming book on Southern music includes a chapter on beach music.

In addition, Pinkney of the Original Drifters received an honorary degree in 2001 from the university, and Steve Nagle, distinguished eremitus professor of English at Coastal, wrote the entry for beach music in the “Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.”