Sheldon Dingwall wasn’t yet a teenager when he began machining his own guitar bridges. The process of guitar building has been in his blood ever since, as has his interest in all things m...
Amin Bhatia award winning composer/synthesist has worked in film and television in both electronic and orchestral environments. In his youth, Amin won Roland’s International Synthesizer T...
Jeff Sazant began working with his brother, Sheldon, at Steve’s Music in 1967. The Canadian-based music store has played a significant role in the industry and gained a reputation for its...
Yvan Miron is from a long line of craftsman, a family trade that he traces back to the mid-1600s. Born in Quebec, Yvan started playing guitar when he headed off to college and after he fi...
Noel Moore was hired by the B&J wholesale company in Canada in 1951 and served the company for 53 years before his retirement. Noel came to represent the integrity and dedication to c...
Tom Hebert was serving in the Canadian Air Force when he had the idea of opening a small music store. His idea was to provide lessons to some of his fellow servicemen and the young studen...
Bruce Chapman has always believed in the importance of music education and the positive role music can play in a young person’s life. All-throughout his music retail career, Bruce looked ...
Brenda Hebert remembers driving to the music wholesaler who represented the small store her husband formed, Cosmo Music. She was several months pregnant with her son, Mark, and was given ...
Doug Davies entered the music products industry in 1972 when he was hired by Turner Music in Canada. Turner was a subsidiary of Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) and at the time, Doug was...
Guy Desjardins was composing and arranging music as technology in musical instruments was changing. His adaptation of these developments resulted in his nickname of Mr. MIDI. He was hired...
Jacques Masson was just 15 years old when he began giving drum lessons at a local music store. He has been involved with teaching music ever since. As a player, Jacques was approached by ...
Ralph Angelillo grew up inspired by Joe Morello. His dad was a bassist for big dance bands in the 1940s and '50s and his four brothers all played music. In 1961, at the age of 17, Ralph p...
Gerry Labelle’s first musical instrument was the alto saxophone; later the tenor and soprano saxophone remained his main instruments, and he later played C Flute, piccolo & Alto flute...
Stefano Galante is a recording engineer and producer who designed his own studio in his native Italy before moving to Montreal. Over the years, Stefano has witnessed many changes in the t...
Marc-Pierre Verge came to work on computer generated musical instruments by first studying acoustics. He and his colleagues at Applied Acoustics Systems used physical modeling to recreate...
Rick Peate recalled the story of how his family’s multi-generational music business began and developed. During his NAMM Oral History interview, Rick talked about his innovative grandfath...
Howard Ungerleider spent over 40 years as Lighting designer/director as well as 25 years as Tour Manager for Rush! His focus has always been in creating a show for the audience and not j...
Dave Morrison is a big fan of Jimi Hendrix and was able to see the legendary guitarist in Toronto in the late 1960s. Dave’s passion for music was equaled only by his love of audio. When h...
Rebecca Brill-Argall and her husband, Charlie, worked hard to build their customer base of dealers throughout Canada. Their distribution company provided musical instruments and accessori...
Mark Kortschot is a Professor of Engineering at the University of Toronto who was approached by Guy Légère with an interesting idea in 1997. Guy wanted to make a synthetic reed for the cl...
Charlie Argall picked up a guitar and wanted to join a band the moment he heard the Beatles. He took lessons where he was introduced to his local music store, a place he found fascinating...
Dick Papalia witnessed a need for organ and piano owners in his neighborhood to have their instruments serviced in the early years of the home organ boom of the 1960s. As a result, in 196...
Howard Kalisky is the president of Efkay Music Group in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. Howard's father Fred founded the company in 1957, and Howard is following in his footsteps. Howard has als...
Dale Wentworth put himself through college by teaching music lessons in the back of his father’s lighting store Kelowna, British Columbia. After finishing college, Dale realized that his ...
Alan Macpherson began his career working for the retailer, The Music Shoppe II in Toronto Canada. As a musician, Alan fell in love with the music industry, getting to talk gear with fell...
Alan Merriam grew up in a home filled with music. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a fan of the big bands. Alan took piano lessons and studied music in college before b...
Michael Remenyi has been the proud third generation of the company his grandfather founded in Hungary in 1890 to build and repair violins and other string instruments. After World War II...
Mike Remenyi represents the fourth generation of family members running the Remenyi House of Music located in Toronto, Canada. It was his great-grandfather Mihály who opened a small viol...
Peter Janis played in school orchestra and rock bands growing up as his mother played piano in the home and encouraged him to pursue music. His first job in the industry was working at S...
Sheldon Sazant began working for Steve's Music in Canada in 1978. What he recalls as his first impression of the store was the very tall, big, red-bearded owner, Steve. Steve was bigger...
Michael Kirman was on hand for the 50 Year Milestone Awards during the 2015 NAMM Show. The award went to Steve's Music, a chain of stores in Canada, which were established by Michael's f...
Dave Gantz watched the Beatles on television and instantly he knew that he wanted to play bass. Dave had many interesting adventures in music throughout the 1960s, including attending Woo...