St. Louis Music

Bill Cooper is an independent sales representative whose background includes a great many experiences that have helped Bill best serve his dealers. Bill, who played French horn in school, taught college, owned a chain of music stores in Ohio and worked for St. Louis Music for 17 years before becoming an independent sales rep. Bill provides dealers with more than a list of products; he works to help the store grow by providing services and suggestions, which have proven to be appreciated by most of his long time dealers/friends. 

Ron Griggs dreamed of being a band teacher as a child. His career as a teacher was rewarding and helpful when he was hired by Selmer as the sales and marketing manager because he had gained understanding of the players’ needs. Since then, Ron has worked with many of the industry’s best known band instrument companies and applied his knowledge and passion to increase awareness of products and innovations.  

Donald Johnson is known throughout the industry as DJ. He began working in music retail in 1958 in the San Jose, California, area before joining Coast Wholesale in 1961. It was an interesting and historic time to begin calling on retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. The folk music boom was in full swing and DJ was on hand to witness first-hand the British Invasion and the full power the Beatles had on the music industry. He ran his own music retail store in northern California before returning to wholesale in the late 1970s for Kaman, which had purchased Coast. DJ also had a long association with Saga Musical Instruments in San Francisco and the company’s founder Richard Keldsen.
 

Eugene Kornblum’s father formed the famed St. Louis Music Company, which played a legendary role in the music products industry during most of the 1900s. As President beginning in the 1960s, Gene expanded the company with a number of important product lines including Ampeg basses and amplifiers. Under his leadership, the territory covered by the company’s sales representatives also expanded. Gene sold the business before his retirement; both events were the end of a vital and important era in the history of the music products industry.
 

Ernie Lansford has served our industry well. With his attention to his customers and dedication to their satisfaction, Ernie has earned the respect and friendship of many –both supplies and dealers. As a sales rep for St. Louis Music and for Peavey, Ernie was well traveled, which allowed him to promote the importance of NAMM member services as well as the educational programs created by the American Music Conference. Ernie has also been a strong proponent of this interview program, seeking to preserve the rich history of the industry he loves.

John Maher began his career as an employee of a retail store in Illinois before joining the sales team at St. Louis Music Supply. He worked for the wholesaler for 11 years and traveled to dealers, creating programs and promotions to help them with sales while at the same time developing new and innovative product placement and marketing ideas. John’s passion for selling became as apparent as his love of music and music making. In his early days he played organ for pizza places and piano for special events, a talent he used to sell product, such as the time he was a front pumper in a mall organ store in the heyday of the home organ boom. John later worked with Peavey in Mississippi, which was as far as we got in his first interview. Part two is in the works. 

Charles Phillips played trombone in his high-school band and continued through college. He studied music and business, and along the way played in an R&B band. He was hired at St. Louis Music in 1974 to fill orders and work in the warehouse. Over the years, he grew into other positions including customer service and was later given the task of creating the telemarketing department, which included hiring and training the staff. He developed many friends along the way as evident in this clip from his NAMM Oral History interview, where he humbly reads a list of names of those with whom he has worked over the years and wanted to thank in a formal way.