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...
Frederick Swann was one of the most famous organists of the last 50 years due to his many publications, recitals, church performances and his long run on the television program The Hour o...
Gene (Cip) Cipriano began his musical career with the big bands led by such stars as Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Tex Beneke. He later moved to Los Angeles where he soon began his incre...
Charles Lawson played church organ from boyhood all the way into his 90s. He was hired by a small piano store when he first moved to Bristol, Tennessee, from Knoxville to be close to his ...
Bill Cooper was an independent sales representative whose background included a great many experiences that helped Bill best serve his dealers. Bill, who played French Horn in school, tau...
Mary Ortigara has always had a deep passion for education and was an English major at Xavier College. After graduating in the late 1950s, she began working in her brother’s music store gi...
Don Lewis was trained as an electronic engineer and, because of his love for music, he created one of the very early integrated-sound controllers, a precursor to MIDI. In the early 1970s ...
Steven Wasser grew up in a very musical family, played reed instruments as a child and dreamed of owning his own business. After graduating from Harvard Business School, Steven worked in ...
Anthony Ortega was a mainstay on the west coast jazz scene beginning in the 1940s. Growing up in Watts, Anthony (known as Tony) went to school with and was exposed to many of the era's Lo...
Patricia Maultra was the first employee hired by Learning Unlimited by its three founders, which included Keith Mardak. Keith went on to become Chairman of Hal Leonard Publishing and all...
Jim Mathews played drums and formed a band when he was just ten years old. He was encouraged by his mother, who was a singer in the big bands during the swing era. He soon developed a str...
Don Edwards was raised on cowboy music despite being born in New Jersey, a fact he has joked about even in song. His easygoing style led to a successful career as a traveling singer with...
Cal Perkins was the product engineer for a number of innovative products over his long and successful career. Cal's background and training on early amplification and audio technology r...
Karlheinz Götz was proud of his musical heritage. His grandfather, Conrad August Götz, was the founder of the C.A. Götz Company back in 1884. The company, which was located near Markneukr...
Brooks Arthur began singing at an early age and began taking voice lessons to sing in his temple before he was a teenager. While working in the mail room of a record company, Brooks hear...
Art Laboe admired radio broadcasters from the first moment he heard voices coming out of a box his aunt had sent to Art's family when he was eight. He went on to have a successful and i...
Fred Catero was the "go to" engineer at Columbia Studios in New York before teaming with Bill Graham to form Fillmore Studios in San Francisco. Over the years, Fred engineered or mastered...
Wanda Pugh always enjoyed singing. As a child she sang in church and later formed several vocal groups and ran different chapters of the Sweet Adalines. Her love of music led her to the N...
Jody Carver was a legendary steel guitarist who, as a session player, recorded with many top performers beginning in the 1950s. Jody developed a life-long friendship with Don Randall at ...
Jerry Bongard enjoyed playing music since he was a kid. Along the way he became eloquent in his explanation of the benefits of music making and the passion music can add to your life. Jer...
Marybeth Peters worked in the United States copyright office for over 40 years and became one of the country’s leading authorities on copyright laws as it relates to published and perfor...
Ray Edenton played guitar on hundreds of recordings as part of the famed Nashville studio band known as the A Team. He grew up in a musical family with his grandfather playing fiddle an...
Dave McLaughlin began his long career with Crown International as a part-time employee in 1968. He later went to college and earned an electrical engineering degree and returned to Crown....
Marty Sheller was the award-winning arranger and jazz trumpeter whose musical skills can be heard on hundreds of recordings. He worked with Mongo Santamaria for many years (yes, that is M...
Ramsey Lewis had a monster hit record with his jazz version of "The In Crowd." The song, which is considered to be the quintessential instrumental jazz hit of the 60s, led to a series of ...
Lucien Hut dedicated his entire career to teaching, selling, restoring and designing the piano! As a retailer he established Pianos International in Colorado. He later moved to Montana ...
Smoochy Smith was hired by Sam Philips at Sun Studios in Memphis to play piano on a few sessions in the late 1950s. Smoochy was being requested for record dates from both local performer...
Phil Thompson enjoyed working in the leather company his grandfather formed in Nashville. As a teenager Phil made himself a leather guitar strap in the shop, although the business at the ...
Theodore Johnson was playing in the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra when he began to think of ideas that would improve his clarinet's mouthpiece. Over time, he designed his own mouthpiece a...
Bill Larson served as a band director for over 35 years in Montana. When he needed the support from a music store to service his bands, he called on Eckroth Music in Bismarck, ND. Bill ...
