Pat Moore is the founder of Moore Music in Evansville, Indiana, which he opened in 1976. His passion for music began when his mother rented a snare drum for him when he was 11 years old. ...
Jerry Goldenson has always had a love for music growing up and has many fond memories of playing drums in clubs and weddings as early as 12 years old. He later toured and recorded with ma...
Chris Hankes and his sisters attended Catholic schools and were always involved in the music programs, including Chris playing in the marching band in 7th grade. Those experiences created...
Ronnie Gardiner banged on his mother’s pots and pans enough that it encouraged her to buy him a toy drum set for Christmas when he was not yet four years old. He played all throughout sch...
John Lambert is a docent at NAMM’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California, having joined the team in 2019. Just after his docent training was complete the pandemic of 2020 hit and...
Ikuo Kakehashi’s passion for music developed early in his life. Of course, he was exposed to many innovative electronic musical instruments being the son of synthesizer pioneer and Roland...
Spike Klein thanks his sister and her love of Van Halen for bringing music into his life. Their father made guitars for them out of plywood but pretending to be musicians soon turned into...
Bongo Bob Smith has had an amazing musical journey, which all began with his love of the music of Puerto Rico. Before the term World Music was used, Bob was exploring music from many coun...
Jim Hart has two passions, music and animals! His love of music began for him in the 6th grade when he began playing drums for the school music program. In 1981, his family purchased a mu...
Jules Follett is the published photographer who established The Sessions as a way of teaching musicians the business side of the Music Business. As a result, she has brought experts toget...
Music journalist Robyn Flans has been an effective and passionate promoter of drummers ever since she heard the Beatles (and Ringo in particular) growing up. She took her skills to Modern...
Jimi (Chopmaster J) Dright was surrounded by music growing up in Berkely, California. Sly Stone lived in his same fourplex, Tower of Power practiced in their garage and music promoter Her...
Sandy Gennaro’s skills as a drummer can be heard on recordings and live performances by artists such as Hall of Famers Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bo Diddley and Cyndi Lauper, The Monk...
Paul Finke played drums since he was just a kid and gravitated towards the music business in 1985 when he was hired at Willis Music. At the time the company had eight locations and workin...
Tony Escapa was inspired to play music from his father, fittingly who he was named after. Younger Tony began beating on furniture at an early age and was given drums when he was nine year...
Eggy Hernandez’s grandfather purchased a drum kit for him when he was in the seventh grade from Micheo Music in Puerto Rico. Eggy took lessons for three years and really developed a passi...
Clem Burk is the rock drummer who has played with the group Blondie since 1975, a year after the band was formed. With the band, Clem played on all of the band's tours and hit records suc...
Rob Shanahan was interviewed on the day Palm Springs unveiled a star on their Walk of Stars dedicated to Hal Blaine. The legendary studio drummer was first a hero then a friend to Rob, wh...
Ney Nakamura established Marutec Music, a distribution company based in Brazil in 1994. The company distributed Yamaha consumer keyboards in the early days and later expanded into the gui...
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...
