Lowrey Organs

Dennis Awe is passionate about the organ! As a recording artist he has performed on many products, endorsing the Lowrey Organ for many decades. As a keen salesman, Dennis has written books on the process of marketing and selling to encourage others. As a music maker, Dennis has brought the sounds of his talents to millions, with a smile and a friendly handshake. His love of the industry is only equaled by his desire to see growth in the sales of musical products, a goal he is always willing to share with others. 

Arnold Berlin was a one-time president of Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) and co-founder of Norlin Music Corp. He is also Mr. M.H. Berlin’s son, one of the true icons of the industry. Arnie spoke of how his father got started in the industry as well as how he was able to grow the company into one of the major players within the music products industry. Arnie also spoke of his own career, which began in the late 1950s.

Jim Connors joined Norlin Corp. originally as the head of the Lowery Organ factories. With his strong background in manufacturing and process control, Jim was able to keep up with the 25% growth the company was experiencing each year. Under Jim’s watch, the company created a new Lowery factory in Romeoville, Illinois in 1977. It was a “state of the art” facility for producing electronic organs and was one of the largest factories of its kind in the world. Among the many products Jim oversaw was the innovative MX1 in 1979.  

Jack Cookerly was an accordionist who was among the first to connect the instrument to the technology behind the electronic keyboard. He was chief engineer at Lowrey Organs and designed a number of unique and important advancements for the electronic organ. The resulting efforts can be found in the now historic Lowrey MX1. The MX1 organ had seven separate synthesizers that were all programmed to produce a given set of instrument sounds within the instrument. The MX1 was introduced at the 1979 NAMM show to a delighted industry.

Norm Erickson was hired by the Lowrey Company in 1947. At that time, the company was still producing cement powder mixture. However, Lowrey’s owner had an interest in the electronic organ that was being developed by Laurinz Hammond, so he sought Norm as an engineer.Norm’s designs, in addition to those of his teammates, led to a line of organs just right for the average home.When Chicago Music Instruments (CMI) purchased the Lowrey Company in the late 1950s, Norm was promoted to executive positions in the company.

Dennis Houlihan has played many important roles within the industry, all of which have been driven by his passion and love of music and music making. After years as a demonstration artist for Lowrey Organs, Dennis worked with retailers and suppliers alike, building his knowledge of music products in several countries. When he joined Roland Corporation U.S. as CEO and President, it was a perfect fit. His vision led to steady growth and market expansions. Beginning in the 1990s, Dennis also served on the NAMM Board for a decade, culminating in NAMM's first commercial chairman. (2005-2007). Dennis was also the one-thousandth person to be interviewed for the Oral History program.

Kazuo Ishibashi spent over 25 years in the Special Equipment Division of JVC (Japan Victor Corporation) and headed their musical instrument engineering section.  JVC marketed electronic organs and portable keyboards in Japan under the "Victron" label and exported them under the "JVC" brand. In the late 1970s, the Lowrey Organ Company and JVC entered into an agreement in which JVC manufactured a series of deluxe portable keyboards for Lowrey under the "Micro Genie" name.  The popular product was an important innovation that came at the end of the organ boom. This was at the beginning of the entire portable keyboard era back in the early 80s.

Alberto Kniepkamp engineered many of the electronic organs produced by the Lowrey Organ Company in the 1970s and 80s. Alberto took an active role in the development of the MX1 Lowrey Organ, which was introduced at the NAMM Show in 1979. The product was one of many engineered by Alberto, who began work at Chicago Musical Instruments, which owned Lowrey Organs in the 1960s and 70s. The company changed names to Norlin, which continued to fund research and development for the organ products until the company sold its assets in the 1980s.

Ted Krumwiede was a veteran of the piano industry working for Kimball and Story & Clark in the important re-birth of the piano business following World War II. Ted had training and a real passion for marketing and found success telling the great stories of the companies we worked for. Ted was with the original Story & Clark Piano Co. prior to its sale to Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) and stayed on to assist CMI / Norlin Music with their other keyboard products such as Lowrey Organs. In addition to his history with the industry, Ted’s interview also included his family background, his experiences during the Great Depression and his World War II service.

Lloyd Meyer is the president of Renner US, the world-renowned provider of piano keyboard actions. His long and productive career began with retail experience in Minnesota at the large Dayton Company. When the Dayton chain began carrying organs and pianos, Lloyd took a great interest in the instruments and has worked in the music industry ever since. He played a key role in the Lowrey Organ Company as they branched out into malls in the 1970s, and worked for CBS Musical where he was President of Steinway & Sons for several years. Over the years Lloyd has been a strong supporter of the NAMM Oral History program, providing invaluable resources and ideas.