Colleen Summerhays recalled the day in 1940 when she walked into a local music store to inquire about a clerical position. She met the owner, her future husband, Hy Summerhays, who had op...
Dorothy Demmers was proud of the volunteer work she and her husband Bill provided the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. For over a decade she gave her time and talents by providi...
Rupert Neve’s long and historic career in audio provided recording engineers with innovative products for more than 70 years. His mixing consoles, with their unique designs and groundbrea...
Chick Corea loved being a music maker! Nominated over 60 times for a Grammy, Chick was among the most high profile musicians we have been blessed to interview for the NAMM Oral History pr...
Roz Cron was a member of the all female swing band known around the world as The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She toured with the group during World War II when many of her male c...
Frank Hackinson received the Music Publisher Association’s Life Time Achievement award in 2012 for a good reason; he was a legend in the industry! He began his career in music publishing ...
Lou Berger was an energetic piano salesman in the style of the old piano traveler of a by-gone era. In fact, what Lou knew about selling pianos he learned from some of the old timers when...
Bill Hollingshead enjoyed a long and successful career as a concert and live events booking agent as well as a director and producer for many years. He worked for Knott's Berry Farm in S...
Grady Gaines jumped onto the piano during a gig with Little Richard and wailed on his saxophone back in the early 1950s. The photograph of that event has become iconic as it represents th...
Lloyd McCausland worked with Remo Belli when the famed Hollywood drummer began creating his own line of synthetic drumheads in the late 1950s. Lloyd became a fixture at the company and wa...
Frank Charles is perhaps best known for playing the organ during most hockey, baseball, and basketball games during the 1980s in Milwaukee. His riffs for the Brewers influenced many other...
Ron Anthony can be heard playing his jazz guitar on several classic recordings of George Shearing as well as on the top selling album, Frank Sinatra’s “Duets.” His love of music goes back...
Jimmie Rodgers was a popular singer and songwriter who topped the charts in the 1950s and 60s with recordings such as "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again," "Are ...
Sammy Nestico has revolutionized the band and orchestra repertoire by composing and arranging top jazz charts for all levels of bands. As a result, this arranger of Count Basie’s band in ...
William Dollarhide was the president and co-owner, along with his wife Margaret, of Dollarhide’s Music Center in Pensacola, Florida. He grew up in a very musical family, with his mother a...
Tomcat Courtney was raised in a cotton field outside of Marlin, Texas. When he was ten years old he saw Bill Bojangles dance in a traveling minstrel show and Tomcat was hooked. He left ho...
Carma Lou Beck was an active musician and teacher when she began working in music retail in Iowa in the 1960s. She opened her own store in Cedar Rapids in 1967, after working for a few ot...
Günter Körner began designing musical instruments at an early age growing up in Germany and, after gaining an engineering degree in college, he spent his entire career making instruments....
Eugene Wright can be heard playing bass on the classic jazz song “Take Five” as a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, but what most people may not know is that Eugene fronted his own band...
Mototsugu Shimamura grew a small Japanese music retail store into the country’s largest music retail chain. Shimamura Music has played a vital role in music education and the expansion of...
Bob Brumley was the owner of Albert E. Brumley & Sons, a music publishing company established by his father in 1944. Albert E. Brumley was a gifted songwriter who often penned religio...
Daniel Mari followed in the footsteps of his father in running the Mari String Company in New York City. While serving as president of the company, Daniel worked hard to expand the produc...
Carl Mann sang in church as a child and grew up just a few years behind Elvis Presley, who, like Carl, brought the style of church musical expression to popular music when he began record...
Jim Eaton became a professional cellist and played often with his brother. He played in several orchestras and symphonies as well as small groups. Jim’s passion and knowledge of string in...
Paul Winther took over his parent’s music store in Boise, Idaho, which was opened in 1943. Paul enjoyed the selling side of the business, especially selling pianos and organs. Paul took...
Charley Pride was born one of 11 children in Sledge, Mississippi. Although he enjoyed music as child and learned to pick out songs on guitar by ear, Charley had a desire to be a professio...
William Demmers volunteered for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for over ten years. During that time he provided tours as a trained docent to guests of all ages. His own back...
Toru Hora was classically trained on the piano and attended Juilliard. He joined the Buffet Crampon company in 1964 and both established and served as president of the Buffet Japan branch...
Stan Lindenbaum grew up in Brooklyn and developed many thoughts and ideas about selling. While working for several different industries during his career, Stan studied the idea of incenti...
Bernice Ash began working at the Sam Ash Music Store in New York City in 1947, one year before marrying the founder’s eldest son, Jerry. Bernice and Jerry continued the tradition of keepi...
Fred Tinker and Rodgers Jenkins formed the Rodger Instrument Company in 1958. The partnership began when their church asked if they would join the team to help purchase an organ. Fred and...
John F. Edmunds began arranging music as a high school student, when he found that commercially available arrangements were not suitable for his band of non-standard instrumentation. Afte...
