Marty Panzer was just 16 years old, working in the mail room at CBS Television in New York when he met and became lifelong friends with Barry Manilow. Barry was also working in the mailro...
Michael Campion has attended the NAMM Show since the late 1970s, first as a wide-eyed musician, then as a retailer and finally as an exhibitor. Tracing his evolving roles at the show mirr...
Bill Lloyd is one half of the country duo Foster & Lloyd. Along with his partner Radney Foster, Bill wrote and recorded several hit songs including “Crazy Over You” and “Since I Found...
Jim Hodsonis the co-founder of Advantage Post Sound Services specializing in complete sound design and mixing for Animated Television and Movies. As a kid Jim remembers seeing a Rolling...
Kevin Ray Clark grew up with music in his home and played in a family band at church. He was inspired by the musicians playing at Disney World and pursued the trumpet in his school band p...
David Lindley grew up close to the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California, where he was exposed to stringed instruments from around the world. He also worked for Berry Grassmuek Music...
Warren Roché met Michael Thomas in the sixth grade where they were studying the trumpet. Both went on to studio careers and together they formed a valve oil company (Roché-Thomas) to make...
Doc Bochenek provided some interesting background on a number of important companies and instruments during his 2020 NAMM Oral History interview. Having worked with Moog Music, Doc was th...
Neal Pomerantz developed a passion for music at a young age. He started on the guitar and had aspirations to become a rockstar. In 1988, Neil took a job at a local music store to make som...
Richard Sherman is musical film songwriter along with his brother, Robert Sherman. The duo specializes in animated musical-films. Some of their most famous work can be heard on films such...
Tony James hosted the popular Disney Channel series “Out of the Box” for seven years. The show exposed the young audience to music and music making, which is why he continues to be stoppe...
Nedra Pedersen grew up playing French horn and studying all areas of music. She landed a job in the publishing side of Disney and worked with Hal Leonard on several projects including Th...
Isao Tomita was the world-renowned composer of electronic music who famously used the Moog synthesizers to create award winning music that influenced a generation of music makers! Among ...
Kazuhiko Shima is the director of the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum, which opened to the public in 1995. He was hired the year before to help assemble the instruments and create th...
Roy Bickel joined the circus as a teenager and at one point held the record for traveling the longest distance after being shot out of a cannon. One day he was asked if he wanted to make...
Dick Schory had a very successful career as a composer and arranger of percussive music. With over a dozen albums as a musician and arranger and another 400 as a producer, Dick has made a...
John Ledwon is a theater organist with a love for the instruments he plays. Since the age of 11 John has been enamored with the sound and design of pipe organs and has become an expert on...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Phil Harris was a big band leader, singer, and actor who hi...