Mike McGuire and his brother Bud were always encouraged to write and perform music while growing up in Northern Alabama. Their uncle, Leon Jackson, wrote the country classic “Love Please ...
Gary Panton grew up in Niagara, New York, and played the drums and vibes in high school. It was there that he started his first band, a jazz trio. In 1970 he was hired by Dick Crino in Du...
Jim Mingo learned much more than he can put into words from his experience in his school's marching band. Jim developed many skills he uses to this day including how to work within a team...
Mel Brown didn’t have the money growing up to afford drum sticks so he used rolled up newspapers to bang out a beat nearly everywhere he went. At the age of 17, young Mel was playing in a...
Gary Hobbs is a third generation professional drummer. His grandfather Harry led several big bands during the Great Depression era and his father, who later became a strong leader within ...
Jack Bruno was just 16 when his rock band, Apple Pie Motherhood Band, landed a record deal with Atlantic. The band was based in Boston and drove down to New York to record there, and even...
Terry West started playing in bands at an early age and continued throughout his twenties and thirties. He was always one to maintain a day job, and his many roles at an outdoor advertisi...
Bill Koepnick is the co-founder of Advantage Audio in Burbank, CA where he specializes in creating and recording sound effects for movies and television. Bill got interested in music at a...
T. Bruce Wittet is the widely read drum journalist who began his musical passion playing harmonica. His love for all things music led him to an exciting career playing in the school’s jaz...
John Maier had parents that were both singers and would often hang out at the theater where his parents would perform. He used to get in trouble for tapping his pencil during tests and wo...
Ron McMaster grew up in the Sacremento area and joined a rock band while still in school. The band went through a few name changes before settling on Public Nuisance. They released a sing...
Keith LeBlanc was one of the first drummers who used his funk music background to create beats that helped popularize hip-hop music. Keith was there in the beginning and while working for...
Billy Amendola is the Editor At Large for Modern Drummer magazine whose background as a musician makes him perfect for the job! His passion for music began at an early age and by the time...
Hal Smith is a drummer deeply rooted in the traditional ragtime and early jazz styles. His performances are often a history lesson not just in sound but in the techniques of creative jazz...
Gene Haugh began his career as a factory worker for the Baldwin Piano Company in Arkansas making parts for the electric organ. Gene was hired by the DH Baldwin Company in 1966 and in just...
Michael Marquart established Windmark Recording Studio in Santa Monica, California in 1983. The studio was the location for countless landmark albums including several featuring Michael o...
Jamal Batiste grew up in a very musical family and when he saw his brother’s drum kit at 3 years old, he fell in love. Raised in New Orleans he was surrounded by what he calls the gumbo o...
Chad Smith developed a great sense of rhythm at an early age and attributes that to having music constantly surrounding him. He was in love with the musician’s lifestyle and knew that he ...
Dennis Chambers has always had music in his life and started playing professional gigs before he was ten years old! He joined the group Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 and is considered to ...
Dave Lauser accidently discovered the drums while helping clean out a friend’s room and was allowed to keep the sticks he found as a reward. His curious nature developed into a passion fo...
Billy Hart was born in Washington DC, where he was exposed to the drums at a young age. He worked with several R&B groups before landing an important gig with the jazz singer Shirley ...
Fred Armisen is an award-winning comedian and writer who was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 2002-2013. Playing drums since he was a kid, Fred was heavily involved with punk roc...
Mark Schulman remembers seeing The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show when he was three. The moment he saw Ringo something resonated within him and he knew what he wanted to do. Mark...
Tris Imboden was just five years old when he saw a drumline at a local parade and knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Even though Tris is self-taught he would go to a loca...
Noel Lee recognized an opportunity to introduce high quality cables that would consistently provide the top-level audio signals to support high-end instruments and amplifiers. He had stud...
Mike Dorfman was introduced to the industry with his design of a special polish for drums. In 1990, he opened Trick Drums, getting the name from his love of cars and how a super enhanced ...
Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett grew up in New Orleans and used the style he developed in clubs, starting at the age of 10, to create a unique place in music history. His first significant r...
Dusti Dryer was just one year old when she was dubbed the world’s youngest musician. A photograph of her playing the harmonica, or rather holding it, was featured in a magazine and launch...
Victor Quarterman began taking drum lessons as a kid at Leonard’s School of Music, which was established by the father of his longtime friend and mentor, Danny Leonard. Danny introduced V...
Slim Jim Phantom and his two school friends, Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker, formed the iconic band Stray Cats in New York back in 1979. They revived the rockabilly style of the 1950s with a...
Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez is the long-time drummer for the rock band Oingo Boingo, playing on all of the band’s big hit songs including “Deadman’s Party” and “Just Another Day.” He played ...
Elisabeth Link, wife of Horst Link, played an important role in the success of Sonor - a company synonymous with quality percussion instruments. For many years, a critical part of the pro...
