Billy Klein is a co-founder of Hybrid Studios in Santa Ana, California. He got into the music industry the way most of us do - playing in a band and experimenting with recording. He then ...
Seah Kok Hwa was born in Malaysia and wanted to make music when he first heard the Beatles. His uncle gave young Seah a guitar and he learned to play some of his favorite songs. After wor...
Fritz Kollitz was an expert on woods used for musical instruments and gained an international reputation for his knowledge and service to violin and guitar luthiers alike. As the founder ...
Akira Komaki recalled the early days of his grandfather’s career as a Japanese retailer. Akira took over the company from his father, the eldest son of his grandfather. Komaki Music opene...
Dirk Kommer grew up close to Hohner, where he began his industry career as an apprentice in 1956. Over the years his dedication and passion for the products resulted in advances in duties...
Ted Kornblum has a long legacy in the music industry. His grandfather started St. Louis Street Music and his father started Crate amplifiers and Alvarez guitars. Not content to rest on hi...
Eugene Kornblum’s father formed the famed St. Louis Music Company, which played a legendary role in the music products industry during most of the 1900s. As President beginning in the 196...
Mike Korpak enjoyed his work in the factory at Gibson Guitars beginning back in the 1960s in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During his career at Gibson, Mike was able to grow into management and ra...
Danny Kortchmar formed his first band in the 1960s called The King Bees. The year was 1964 and Danny was already hooked on a career in music. He went on to become one of the most sought a...
Kay Koster was a pioneering woman retail owner, who not only successfully ran a business on her own beginning in 1940, she also personally repaired guitars and amps of all makes and model...
Gary Kramer broke into the music products industry, with partner Travis Bean, when they unveiled the innovative all aluminum guitar neck design in the early 1970’s. With his entrepreneur...
Alberto Kreimerman opened Hermes Music Stores in the United States with branches in Mexico beginning in 1982. His goal was always to serve music makers with quality products and service a...
Dale Krevens has been involved with Tech 21 since before its inception. In fact, Dale was instrumental in urging Andrew Barta to start his own business (when he was originally only lookin...
Robby Krieger is the guitarist and songwriter best known for being a founding member of the rock band, The Doors. The incredible influence the band had on generations of music makers and...
Michael Kropp loved folk music for as far back as he could remember. As he grew up and played in various bands in the 1960s and 70s he also became involved with the music industry. After ...
Uwe Kruger grew up singing old German folks songs with family in Switzerland. Picking up the guitar at eight years old, he later played with his brother, Jens, on street corners. His love...
Ilja Krumins is a co-founder of Gamechanger Audio. He was born in Latvia and studied music in London while playing rock, surf, and rockabilly in several bands he formed with his friends. ...
Silvan Küeng was born in Switzerland and began a friendship in school as a young boy with Pirman Giger. The two share a passion for music and guitars and began talking about how they wou...
Rick Kukulies helped design and develop the Kustom line of amplifiers in the 1970s. His electrical engineering background along with the advances in technology during that era resulted in...
Sergey Kupriyanov is the president of a retail and wholesale company in Russia. In fact, Sergey was the first current music retailer from Russia to be included in the NAMM Oral History c...
Uli Kurtinat loved playing the guitar and wanted to be a rock star! He later worked for the Hoyer Guitar Company and began making his own guitars as well as working in retail stores as a ...
David Kuzminski, owner of Connecticut Valley School of Music and Dance, epitomizes dedication to and passion for music education. For three decades, alongside his wife Ronna, David has nu...
Milton Kyser was raised in a small, poor farming family in East, Texas. He grew up during the Great Depression and in fact as a boy told himself if he ever had a business of his own he w...
John LaBouve’s background is in business and marketing. When he married into the Goodell Family, he took a chance at working in his father-in-law’s music store, Goodell Music in Sheboygan...
Mike Ladd was one of the first music retailers in the United States to provide custom-made guitars. He had three locations in Memphis, the last of which was right across the street from G...
Marvin Lamb was looking for a job in 1958 and found an opening at the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo. “This was right at the time of the boom in the industry and it was a great time ...
Sonny Landreth was born in Canton, Mississippi and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, grounding his musical foundation in the blues, jazz, zydeco and rock and roll. He played trumpet in sch...
Lyndon Laney built his first amplifier in his father’s garden shed with little thought of turning his craft into a business. That was the case until his friends began requesting his amps...
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turni...
Lenny Lanteigne has been a passionate musician as long as he can remember. When he had a chance to work in the music industry, he was thrilled. Beginning in the early 1980s, Lenny worke...
Jean Larrivee fell in love with the guitar as a young boy growing up in Canada during the folk craze of the 1960s. He imagined a unique sound for an acoustic guitar and set out to create ...
Grit Laskin grew up in Toronto and as a teen had his mind set on playing the guitar during the folk boom of the 1960s. He performed, recorded and wrote music, some of which was recorded ...