Michael Nugent was the former president of Norlin Corporation. He joined the company when it was still Chicago Musical Instrument Corporation (CMI). M.H. Berlin, CMI’s founder, had purcha...
Lee O’Connor was a noted trombone player in the golden era of the big bands. His experience on the radio, traveling from town to town for name and territory bands, reflected the struggles...
Richard O’Donnell was vice president of Yamaha Corporation of America at a very historic time in the company’s growth and development, the 1970s. Richard worked on several projects includ...
Michael O’Dorn remembered the moment he met one of his musical heroes, Merle Travis. Mr. Travis flicked a thumb pick to young Michael, who soon developed an even greater appreciation for ...
Hiroaki Oh-oka sat on a thin mat in front of a leg-less table in his traditional Japanese home where he outlined the history of the bamboo flutes his five- man company produced. The compa...
Ryoji Okamoto was the chairman for Kiwaya Corporation in Japan, which was established in 1919 and has since become one of the most important manufacturers of the ukulele. With his keen in...
Milt Okun was the founder of Cherry Lane Music Publishing. His career in music, outside of his own playing, began as a record producer. He had success during the folk movement of the 1950...
Jamie Oldaker sat down in his living room in Tulsa, Oklahoma for his riveting and inspiring NAMM Oral History interview in December 2018. He opened up about his background in music and ho...
Grassella Oliphant was a drummer is entire life and it is what he loved to do. During his long career, he played back-up for a host of jazz and blues performers as well as singers such a...
Jess Oliver was the inventor of the Ampeg Baby Bass, the first electronic upright bass instrument. The fiberglass body and unique design was key to projecting the sound of a double bass i...
Pauline Oliveros pioneered composing music using electronic instruments. She recorded both with the Moog and Buchla synthesizers as well as the Expanded Instrument System, an electronic s...
Dave Olsen’s passion for music began when he was eight years old and his mother, who also played, gave Dave lessons. He later played French horn for the school band and piano for the hig...
Bob Olsen often said because he did not play a musical instrument yet had a successful career in the music products industry that he was “a vegetarian in the business of prime meat.” The ...
Matanya Ophee was born in Jerusalem at the time when it was Palestine. He began playing guitar as a young boy and continued to play it as a hobby while he trained to be an airplane pilot...
Gil Orr played a part in the era of popular music known as the Surf Sound. With the steady growth of instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Orr performed and recorded his gu...
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...
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...
Sonny Osborne and his brother Bobby created one of the most powerful bluegrass sounds of their generation. The Osborne Brothers were powerful in popularity because of their influence as w...
Bobby Osborne is the mandolin/guitarist who teamed with his brother to form one of the most beloved duets in bluegrass music history. The Osborne Brothers recorded several key songs for ...
Jerry Osiecki’s grew up in the music industry. His father started Osiecki’s Music store out of his parent’s home in the middle of the Depression. When he was little his father passed away...
Harry Osiecki’s father started a music store out of his parent’s home. In 1933, he opened up his first store, which had a living unit upstairs for his family. Although he tragically died ...
Tom Ostrander was the founder of Colonial Music in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Now a string of stores, the retail company began with the simple idea of providing top quality instruments to the area...
Chip Owen was the product specialist at Fox Bassoons who helped engineer a series of instruments for Fox over the years including the Fox Model 900 Contrabassoon, which was first introduc...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Patti Page was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner...
Bob Page opened a small store in Pasadena, California, in 1971 called The Guitar Shop. Nearly from the beginning his brother Tim was involved. By the time Bob moved the store to Leucadi...
Earl Palmer may be the most recorded jazz and rock drummer in history! He performed with just about every recording artist from Little Richard and Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson and Frank Si...
Ken Parker began building guitars and basses—first for his brother and then for other players—in the early 1970s. He fell in love with archtops and became one of the most respected and in...
Fred Parris grew up close to the Apollo Theater in New York where he was able to see many of the top acts in music. These experiences sparked a passion which led to his singing in several...
Vito Pascucci was assigned to band instrument repair during World War II for Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band. Although Miller was much older, the world-famous bandleader and Vito becam...
Phil Passin began working for Carl Fischer in 1947 in the shipping department, where he took a deep interest in the industry. After serving in the US Army during the Korean War, Phil ret...
Les Paul will forever be known for his role in the popularity of the electric guitar, the design of the Gibson Les Paul guitar, the multi track recording, the early guitar effects, and hi...
Michael Paul, known as MP, always had an interest in the visual arts, especially those that could involve multiple formats. When he had the chance to create light and color programs for ...
