Bob Saunders began working in the accounting department for Kaman Corporation. He was asked by the company’s founder, Charlie, to work with his son Bill for the Kaman Music Corporation. ...
Franco Guccini expanded his family’s cane business from basket making to producing reeds for musical instruments. As president of Marca: Aches Reeds Canas Accessories, established in 1957...
Allee Willis wrote a number of successful songs that have become part of the fabric of pop music. Allee either wrote or co-wrote songs such as “September” by Earth Wind & Fire, the th...
Scott Anderson was among the renowned sales representatives at Wurlitzer during the iconic company’s heyday. When Wurlitzer “meant music to millions” (to use their famous slogan) Scott ...
Emil Richards played a significant role in the expanded use and knowledge of world percussion instruments. Through his recordings and work for TV and the movies, Emil was known for adding...
Gershon Kingsley composed several hit recordings using the Moog synthesizer in the very early days of electronic music. His mega hit “Popcorn” in 1969 led to a series of pioneering electr...
Stu Goldberg established Marina Music in San Francisco at the beginning of the guitar boom. The folk music craze was in full swing and the Beatles just hit the USA and within a few month...
Russell Lindquist joined his uncle’s piano store in Iowa in his early 20s, and soon discovered his love of the business. He especially loved selling. Russell opened a Hammond Organ dealer...
Mary Lou Hoogenboom was a factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was hired in 1951 and began working in the sanding department, but ...
Eddie Tishkoff and his brother Jerry owned the famous Hollywood Piano Company and Hollywood Piano Rental Company located in Southern California, one of the busiest piano rental outfits in...
Ed Cherney won a Grammy Award for his work as recording engineer for the 1989 Bonnie Raitt’s album “Nick of Time.” This was just one of his many projects as mixer and engineer. He has wor...
William Reglein played a key role in the growth and development of the jj Babbitt Company since taking over its presidency from his father, Bud. William’s great uncle was the company’s fo...
Richard Loberg worked for the Schmitt Music store for nearly his entire working career. The company was formed in 1896 in Minneapolis, largely as a piano store. Over the years the company...
Vinnie Bell was a studio musician in New York who often was asked to create new and unique sounds. As a luthier, Vinnie built several innovative guitars including one tuned like a sitar. ...
Karl Hirano was an electronic engineer for Yamaha in Japan during the great MIDI boom of the early 1980s. In fact, Karl was a member of the team that gathered at the 1983 NAMM Show to dis...
Gene Gray was a sales rep for the mighty Wurlitzer Company from 1965 until 1988. During his NAMM interview, Gene spoke first hand of the great family feelings many had while working for t...
Elaine Taylor began working on the bench at Selmer in Elkhart in 1975, where she covered cases. Over the years she has worked in the cork and padding department for saxophones, also in t...
Bob Hale had a long and successful career as an engineer and was able to devote his retirement time to his passion for music as a docent at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in...
Joachim Schneider proudly continues in the family tradition of hand crafted instrument making. His great grandfather was a violin builder as was his grandfather. His grandfather and fathe...
Jimmy Johnson was a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama along with fellow studio musicians Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood. The four musicians, known as th...
Donnie Fritts was born in Florence, Alabama, the right place at the right time to grow up to become a studio musician and songwriter. Just a little way down the road from where Donnie gr...
Clora Bryant was billed as the female Louie Armstrong in the era of the Ed Sullivan variety show. Her raspy-voiced imitations were a big favorite among viewers but the gimmick often over-...
Larry Taylor joined the rock/blues band Canned Heat in 1967 just before the band’s string of hit recordings. The gig came after nearly 6 years as a recording artist playing both guitar an...
Jack Martin was a leading piano sales rep for Wurlitzer from 1959 until 1963. Although he spent most of his career in the music industry it was those four years that Jack cherishes the mo...
Aspen Pittman grew up in the 1960s as a student of the folk music movement. He studied the art form and performed on every type of string instrument there was to play. During high school ...
Harvey Vogel was having a difficult time finding and purchasing quality percussion instruments and accessories for his daughter Lauren while she was in high school. He decided to do somet...
Betty Lee co-founded Tom Lee Music in Hong Kong with her husband in the early 1950s. In the beginning, Thomas Lee kept his full time work as an English secretary at a textile company whi...
Joe Cardinale played jazz bass in clubs and theaters all around New England. He created his own trio and studied at what would be Berklee College of Music. He joined the wholesaler Harris...
Ellen Cavanaugh brought her innovative business ideas and skillful communication and marketing concepts to expand the historic brands that make up the Super-Sensitive Musical String Compa...
Tommy Moore was introduced to the music industry by his father, Woods Moore, who operated Ault’s Music store in Fort Worth, TX. After earning a degree in finance, Tommy returned to the st...
Susan Brailove was the director of Oxford University Press and later formed her own music publishing company. With a tremendous understanding of the role of the music editor, Susan publis...
