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 ...
Dr. Mable John played many roles for a wide variety of people. She was a singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, author, educator, leader, minister, mentor, and friend. Her career as a ba...
Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco single-handedly brought back the popularity of the Hammond B-3, beginning in the 1990s. Joey’s soulful approach echoes his heroes of the past such as Jim...
Beverly Grigsby was enrolled in medical school in Los Angeles when on the way home from class one day she stopped into a small music studio. There she met electronic composer Ernst Krenek...
Chuck Wackerman always enjoyed making music. As a child he took trumpet lessons and later fell in love with jazz. Chuck joined the United States Air National Guard after high school, and ...
Dan Miller grew up with music all around him and joined the school band the first chance he got. Dan was the first to admit how fortunate he was to have opportunities to go to many clinic...
Normalu Cooper was inspired by her piano teachers as a young girl so she eventually began providing lessons in her father’s piano store when she was a teenager. Like her father, Normalu w...
