Dave Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits and inventor of the polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 5. Dave was also the designer and original pioneer of MIDI (musical instrument di...
Brad Smith is the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager for Hal Leonard. During his career as a writer and industry historian, he worked for MIX Magazine before joining the Hal Leonard team...
Glenn Snoddy was working in the recording studio in Nashville, when a short on the control board caused Grady Martin's guitar to take on a new sound. The engineers and producer looked at...
Marvin Snyder became president of Rico Reeds in 1976, after managing the cane plantations, which were used to make the reeds. His father worked with the Lockie family, who owned a chain o...
Cassandra Sotos is the owner of AmpRx, which creates products, such as the BrownBox, to provide a safe range of optimized voltage reduction levels to improve sound and help protect ears a...
Harry Sparks is the founder of the Famous Old Time Music Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. Harry grew up in the folk and bluegrass era of the 1960s and joined a band at a young age. Over the y...
Laurie Spiegel joined Bell Labs in 1973 wanting to explore what digital computers could offer for musical composition beyond what she'd been able to do with traditional acoustic, written ...
Philip Springer utilized his classical piano training to pen hit songs during a long and celebrated career making music. As a result his tunes often incorporated elements of sophisticatio...
Patrick Stansfield was the legendary stage manager who, along with Bill Graham of FM Productions, launched the modern music concert format by creating and popularizing the arena rock busi...
Dave Starkey is the engineer who served on the teams that brought us such innovative instruments as the Lowrey MX1 in 1979. For that special project, which included sixty circuit boards,...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Kay Starr enjoyed a long and successful career as a pop sin...
Ed Stasium, the producer and engineer, started out his career in the music industry performing with the Band Brandywine in the early 70’s. He engineered and produced records for The Ramo...
Mark Stein played an important role in psychedelic rock in the 1960s as keyboardist for Vanilla Fudge. His dad was a singer and was always supportive of Mark’s career in music, which bega...
Ned Steinberger is known around the world for his innovative instrument designs. His guitars and basses created without the traditional headstock gained wide popularity in the 1980s rock ...
Georg Steinmeyer was the factory supervisor at the Estey Organ Company in Brattleboro, Vermont. He joined the company in the years following World War II when he moved from Germany to the...
Henry Z. Steinway was quite articulate when speaking about the incredible history of the Steinway and Sons Piano Company. One could say that he lived all elements of being a Steinway as t...
Wolf Stephenson met Tommy Couch (the founder of Malaco Records) while the two studied pharmacy in college. They began booking musical acts for their college parties and soon expanded to e...
Bruce Stevens has served as President of Steinway and Sons longer than any non-family member in the company’s more than 150 year history. Bruce has presided over several important program...
TM Stevens was a well-known character within the music industry who was respected for his design and endorsement of products as well as his mega career as a musician. TM was also beloved ...
Jeanne Stiernberg teams with her husband, John, to run the Stiernberg Consulting Firm. Since the fourth grade, when she began piano lessons, Jeanne has always been active in music. Whil...
John Stiernberg was active in the music industry for decades and provided services as a consultant that he developed from his experience and relationships. Before establishing his consult...
Mike Stoller always had musical ideas as a kid but never felt complete as a songwriter until he met Jerry Leiber. Together Leiber and Stoller redefined R&B and Rock & Roll with a ...
Harold Stone served the music products industry in many ways over a long and celebrated career. After working in a music retail store (Mays Music), Harold joined the CG Conn Company where...
Bob Stroger found himself on stage at a blues club as a teenager not sure exactly what to do. He had an electric bass in his hand and laid down the bass parts he heard on his Jimmy Reed r...
John Suhr began formulating ideas of designing and modifying the electric guitar while working as a repairman at Rudy's Guitar Shop in New York City. After sharpening his skills as a mas...
Laurel Summerhays was 11 years old when she received her first paycheck working in her family’s music store. Her parents, Hyrum and Colleen, opened Summerhays Music in 1936 and their fami...
Colleen Summerhays recalled the day in 1940 when she walked into a local music store to inquire about a clerical position. She met the owner, her future husband, Hy Summerhays, who had op...
Scott Summerhays was the President of the company his parents established in Salt Lake City back in 1936. Scott and his brother Briant worked together to grow the family business and even...
Conrad Sundholm is the founder of Sunn Amplifiers and Biamp Systems, which revolutionized the music industry with several key design innovations, designs, and products. Although Conrad w...
Chuck Surack is the founder and president of Sweetwater Sound, one of the landmark companies within the music products industry. He formed the company in 1979 and worked hard to gather t...
Bruce Swedien was working with Quincy Jones when Michael Jackson asked the two if they would work on his upcoming album, entitled “Thriller.” It became the biggest selling album on the pl...
Syndenn Sweet was the first woman hired as a luthier at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Tucson, Arizona. This distinction is one she makes with pride, especially considering her father...