Jimmy Gilmer was born in Chicago, but spent his formative years in Amarillo, Texas. As a singer and guitar player, Jimmy gravitated across state line to Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, N...
Ernesto Gittli was born in Uruguay and moved to the U.S. as a small boy before he began taking piano lessons. He met his wife, who also taught music, and together they envisioned a music ...
Steno Giulini served as the editor of the International Association magazine "Euro Piano" for well over 60 years. He was by far the oldest employee of the specialist publishing PPV Medie...
Kurt Glaesel was born into a violin-making family, which dates back to 1720, but it was Kurt who made his family name nationally known. After a noted 20 year career with Heinrich Roth, Ku...
James Glanville was part of the team that relocated the Conn instrument manufacturing operations from Elkhart, IN to Nogales, Mexico, back in 1972. The result was a heavy blow to Elkhart,...
Eric Glasnapp (1969-2015) was the archivist in the NAMM Resource Center, where he took part in the filming of 74 interviews during his short four months as an employee. He worked closely...
Heribert Glassl had two musical loves, the tuba and the cello. While it may seem like a strange pairing, Mr. Glassl made it work. In fact, after a long career in musical instrument making...
Donna Jean Godchaux was the only female singer to perform and record with the Grateful Dead, joining the band in 1971 and remaining with them through 1979. As the group’s first female voc...
James Goldberg grew up in Washington DC and was a journalism major in college, which led to jobs as a writer for newspapers. He later received his law degree at George Washington Univers...
Norman Goldberg studied music from an early age and became a band director early in his life. Seeing the needs of music educators, Norman opened his own store called Baton Music in 1948, ...
Stu Goldberg established Marina Music in San Francisco at the beginning of the guitar boom. The folk music craze was in full swing and the Beatles just hit the USA and within a few month...
Henry Goldrich had some of the most remarkable stories in the industry! As the owner of Manny’s Music retail store in New York City he saw it all. Playing a vital role in Manny’s world re...
Hugh Goldsmith was hired by the Mason-Risch Piano Company of Canada when he was still a teenager in 1937. Times were difficult during the depression era and into the war years when Hugh e...
Janice Goodman shared the history of the music products industry with music lovers of all ages as a docent for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. Among ...
Jerry Gorby followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a passionate advocate for music and music making. Jerry worked in the family music store, Gorby Music, in West Virginia, later b...
Charlie Gorby was a true visionary for the music products industry and the founder of Gorby Music in West Virginia. As a lone store retailer, Charlie was a regular attendee at the NAMM sh...
Bobby Gordon, the jazz clarinetist who helped expand the New Orleans traditions to audiences around the world, was interviewed alongside his long time friend Bob Greene. The two men reuni...
Harold Gore was a proud “march nut” as he often proclaimed. A former band director with a passion for the music of John Phillip Sousa and of other composers, Harold was well known through...
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...
Charlie Gracie was an early Rockabilly performer who recorded three charted songs in a single year, 1957, right in the heart of the golden era of rock and roll. His biggest hit "Butterfl...
Calvin Grafton was very interested in the radio business as a youngster. His early jobs included radio repair but he knew he needed more for a solid business, so he opened his own music s...
Billy Grammer formed his own guitar company after years of playing country music in and around Nashville. Billy recorded several hit records on his own as well as playing behind some of t...
Mel Graner was a school band director for nearly 30 years--it was in his blood and he very much enjoyed each class. When the school district let him go to hire a younger teacher, he was ...
Vince Grantano was a fixture among traveling piano representatives. He traveled the entire United States for several companies over the years to bring new products to retailers. His most ...
Janet Gratsch began working at Willis Music when she was 17 years old in the Choral Department. She remained with the store until she retired and even after her retirement she would be c...
Gene Gray was a sales rep for the mighty Wurlitzer Company from 1965 until 1988. During his NAMM interview, Gene spoke first hand of the great family feelings many had while working for t...
Carlo Greco was known throughout the world as one of the premier guitar luthiers. Yet, if you ever got to meet him, he was a very humble man who brushed off compliments with a smile. Afte...
Buddy Greco was classically trained on the piano and found himself arranging for Benny Goodman as a teenager. With his love of singing and the encouragement of mentors such as Nat “King” ...
Frank Green opened his first music retail store in Southern California in 1959 and called it Music For Everyone. He began working in the music industry some 12 years earlier as student en...
Hershel Green spent much of his career in the piano and organ field, working as salesman, technician, and tuner. Along the way, he gained the respect of reps and dealers alike. As a side ...
Bob Greene made a name for himself as he expanded the legacy of Jelly Roll Morton. Growing up in New York and playing piano from an early age, Bob became a well-known jazz performer whose...
Ron Griggs dreamed of being a band teacher as a child. His career as a teacher was rewarding as he was often stopped in the street by former students who would remark on how much of an im...
