Arthur Lee Williams was only five years old when his uncle brought over a harmonica for him as a gift. Arthur took to the harmonica right away and made his career playing it and singing t...
Sidney Davis took over the Musical Merchandise Review (MMR) trade magazine in the 1980s. Originally the magazine began reporting on the industry in the 1880s and became an important resou...
Denny Mack was surrounded by music his entire life! His father was a Vaudeville performer and it seems all Denny ever wanted to do was be involved with music. He played drums at sock-hops...
David Lindley grew up close to the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California, where he was exposed to stringed instruments from around the world. He also worked for Berry Grassmuek Music...
Anna Sipavich was a real life Rosie the Riveter with ties to the music products industry. She was a factory worker at the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb, IL, when the Second World War broke ...
Skip Maggiora has revolutionized retailing within the music products industry. With his Weekend Warriors program a whole new segment of the population was being targeted to become music m...
Phil Rovner was having some trouble with his intonation as a saxophone player, and decided to design a new approach to attaching the reed to his mouthpiece. As an engineer, he had the kno...
Dave Hill was always playing with electronics as a kid and also had a great love for music. He played drums in bands throughout high school but was always more interested in the science b...
Vic Lillo Sr. and his wife Doreen started a business in 1963, opening Lillo’s School Of Modern Music Ltd, a music school and retail music store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Lillo’s Music...
Butch Miles was born in Ironton, Ohio, on the 4th of July during a family reunion. When he was asked to join the school band he decided to play the drums. By the time he was in high schoo...
Louise Harrison was the older sister of George and played an important role in the Beatle's success in America. In 1963, the year before the Beatles arrived, Louise was living in the Uni...
Lane Zastrow was playing professionally and even teaching music as a teenager. His main instrument was the accordion! After years on the road, Lane made his way into the print world. I...
Jerry Blavat was a DJ and radio broadcaster with a lot of energy! Also known as “The Geator with the Heater” and “The Big Boss with the Hot Sauce,” Jerry started his career on the origina...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Robert Hill became the president of the Organ Exchange shortly after it was established by Curt Carter. Together the two men worked long and hard at creating a business model that helped ...
William C. Everitt was one of the big names in the music products industry from the big state of Texas. As a musical retailer, he assisted in the development of the industry and the way i...
Martin König’s father, Karl, partnered with Erich Meyer in 1949 to create a wholesale business in which their first products were music stands. Soon the Germany-based company grew to not ...
Freddie Roulette pioneered the use of the slide guitar in the blues style. When he began playing slide guitar he was emulating country and western music and felt the instrument would fit...
Bob Page opened a small store in Pasadena, California, in 1971 called The Guitar Shop. Nearly from the beginning his brother Tim was involved. By the time Bob moved the store to Leucadi...
Murray Grodner, along with his first wife Leah, formed Lemur Music, Inc., a catalog business that specialized in the needs of the Double Bassist. His impressive background as bassist, pro...
Walter “Wolfman” Washington was a staple on the New Orleans music scene since first picking up a guitar in the 1950s. After some minor corrections on technique and tuning, Wolfman hit the...
Isaac Sadigursky credited much of his understanding and passion for music to the school he attended in his native Russia. He began attending music school at the age of five and developed ...
Charlie Monk was known throughout Nashville as the Mayor of Music Row! Perhaps it was due to his long-running radio programs, books, and television spots with a top list of performers by...
Charlie Gracie was an early Rockabilly performer who recorded three charted songs in a single year, 1957, right in the heart of the golden era of rock and roll. His biggest hit "Butterfl...
Jerry Tishkoff and his brother Eddie owned the famous Hollywood Piano Company and Hollywood Piano Rental Company located in Southern California. The stores gained fame for providing instr...
Herbert Deutsch was down in Robert Moog’s basement when the two men were redrafting the design of an electronic synthesizer in the early 1960s. Herb suggested that the modular unit with p...
Newell Hardy had a life changing experience playing in the Youth Symphony on viola while in middle school. That opportunity led to his love of guitar and later his passion for the pedal s...
Bob McGrath, next to Elmo and Big Bird, maybe the most familiar face on Sesame Street. Without question, he is one of the leaders in the promotion of music education and for many years pl...
Gez Kahan, on a whim, offered to be the musical director for his college’s production of Tommy. The experience lit a fire under him and soon he was exploring all of the latest gear, espec...
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 o...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Louise Tobin was a popular singer during the golden years o...
Darrell Kersten served in the National Guard for over 20 years. After his time in the service, he joined the team at Groth Music in Bloomington, Minnesota. After working on the road and c...
