Fredy Shen worked closely with Remo Belli becoming a Vice President in the Remo Corporation. Mr. Shen oversaw the expansion of the company’s manufacturing overseas. The relationships that...
Murray Sunshine was a legend in the New York music retailing business. As an employee of Manny’s Music, hired by Manny himself, Murray witnessed first hand the growth of 48th Street as a ...
Hal Cowan studied business administration while playing music all through school. He loved playing organ and found himself in the company of fellow organ buffs as well as employees of org...
Bert Neidhardt was one of the leading experts on musical instrument importing and exporting. As president of German American Trading, he established trade policies and relationships on bo...
Roy Burns played drums for several big names in swing and jazz including Benny Goodman with whom he recorded with during the 1950’s. Roy later provided clinics for Rogers Drums in music s...
Nick Peck’s entire face lights up whenever he talks about a great school music program! The son of a band director, the passion seems to be in his blood. After taking over the store his f...
Johannes Scherzer was a world-renowned master trumpet maker who spent much of his long career with JA Musik Group in Markneukirchen, Germany. His passion for the instrument contributed to...
Vincent McBryde picked up the saxophone at the age of 5 and played in bands throughout high school and into college, where he studied music with the hopes of becoming a band director. Aft...
Roy Fawcett was very successful when it came to thinking outside of the box. Unlike most retailers, Roy has not advertised his products and services in the yellow pages or in the newspape...
Jane Smisor Bastien together with her husband. James Bastien., wrote the best-selling method-book, Bastien Piano Methods, enjoyed by millions of students and teachers worldwide. The serie...
Bob Giacoletti and his wife Eleanor opened a small music school in 1978 that soon took on a line of instruments and accessories to become a full line retail store. The store moved to down...
Horst Teller was the son of Oskar Teller, who formed a small workshop in 1929 in Schonbach to make musical instruments. After World War II, the company was rebuilt in Bubenreuth in 1949 a...
Sally Schiff and her husband Mel moved from New York to Florida where they decided to open their own music retail business. All County Music in Tamarac, Florida first opened in 1976 with...
Nokie Edwards was an original member of the Ventures, a rock group of the 1960’s that helped popularize instrumental recordings. The band enjoyed several hit records including “Walk Don’t...
Joyce Shelven was a factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoon, Michigan. She was hired in 1947 just after the war and began working in the sanding de...
Bud Ross made his first amplifier for his own band in 1958 to save a little money. Within 5 years he had established Kustom Amps, a leader in product design and innovations. The powerful ...
Bob Kranendonk sang for the choral group, the Pennsylvanians led by Fred Waring. Bob’s father also sang for the group and in fact together both men had a hit and appeared on the cover of ...
David Leed was born in the United Kingdom where he was hired by Boosey & Hawkes, which sent him to South Africa. While there, David became the General Manager for the Hammond Organ Co...
Bob Bull held many positions throughout the music products industry over his long career. However, he is perhaps best known as the president of the Steinway & Sons piano company durin...
Nick Nixon and Andy Talamantez formed The Andy-T-Nick Nixon Band, which was based in Nashville. Nick teamed up with guitarist Andy to return to music, which he had left for many years. He...
Bill Causey had a long history of music in his family. His father was a band director and both his father’s brother and sister were fine musicians. Bill had great memories of the family...
Peter B. Smith was a composer and publisher who began his career as a musician in the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, later joining the Coldstream Guards and eventually the Queen's Royal Iris...
Robert Zadel spent nearly 50 years in the organ business working with two of the biggest names in the industry. Bob spent 12 years working as the marketing director for the Conn Organ div...
Bill Wellborn was honored with the National Piano Traveler’s Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his dedication to the industry. As a piano salesman, Bill has traveled the ...
Ndugu Chancler cut his teeth as a jazz drummer but later expanded his scope to include the blues, pop, soul, and funk. As a jazz drummer, he worked with an incredible line up of artists o...
David Van Koevering worked alongside Bob Moog in the early days of marketing the Minimoog synthesizer. The instrument was the first mass produced synthesizer that produce unique tones, us...
Ted Sambell was born in London, England and made his living as a piano technician in London, and Ontario, Canada. With poor eyesight Ted was often told he was limited in his career choice...
Stan Kitchen, along with his late wife Shirley, were the co-owners and founders of Studio Music. This music publishing company was established in 1957 in London and has grown over the yea...
Rick Hall was born just down the country road from Sam Philips, the founder of Sun Records in Memphis. Perhaps there was something in the Florence River there near Muscle Shoals because ...
Dee Vinton was known as Dancin’ Dee around the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music where she was a noted docent since the early 2000’s. Dee was fond of telling her tour groups that h...
Curly Seckler was a pioneer in the development of Bluegrass music. He began performing professionally in 1935, on a daily radio program on WSTP in Salisbury, NC. After the breakup of the...
Dan Hall was the founder of Hall Piano Company, located on David Drive in Metairie, Louisiana. The store was opened in 1958 just after Dan had moved from Beaumont, Texas, where he began ...