John R. Smith and his wife, Valerie Day, formed the 1980s pop band Nu Shooz, which charted several hits and helped established the synth sound of that decade. As a kid, John played guita...
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...
Johnny Smith! What can you say about meeting not only your personal hero but also a hero to thousands in our own industry! Johnny Smith was in person what he has been on recordings, warm,...
Johnny Smith played drums professionally with the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt, among others, before a group of investors approached him to help create the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Joh...
Paul Reed Smith began playing guitar as a teenager. He soon designed his own style of guitar, which he built. At first he did not think about selling the instruments he was designing, but...
Dan Smith was inducted into Fender’s Hall of Fame for good reason. Dan designed the re-launching of the famous guitar company after it was sold by CBS. Dan’s vision was to bring the produ...
Kenny Smith serves as the Managing Director of the Peavey Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard. However, this is only part of what he does in the shop. Kenny is a born salesman and enjoys...
Perry Smith was already playing the guitar when he walked into a small music store in San Rafael, California, and heard someone playing jazz. That one moment changed his musical path and ...
Preston Smith is immensely proud of his vibrant musical journey as a versatile musician and songwriter, primarily because of the extraordinary people he has had the fortune to collaborate...
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...
Steve Soest played in several local rock bands and studied hard on the makes of electric guitars and amps, an expertise that came in handy around 1972 when he began repairing musical inst...
Mike Soldano says he was late to game, picking up the guitar when he was 20, but soon made up for lost time by jumping in with both feet! He studied the instrument and listened to live an...
Ervin Somogyi began his career as a instrument repairman, which is how he learned the important elements of a guitar. He studied what went wrong with guitars, their weaknesses, and what h...
Marcus Spangler cut his teeth in the furniture business, working with his hands, seeing products to completion and adding his own ideas to the design and function of each piece. When he ...
Joe Spann joined the Gruhn Guitars crew in Nashville, TN to assist in writing appraisals. Appraising musical instruments is an important part of the retail store's business, and has been ...
Bob Sperzel’s grandfather and father were both mechanical engineers working in their own shops creating machine parts for several industries. As Bob learned from them he discovered on his...
Bob Spikard formed an instrumental rock band with his high school buddies and they called themselves the Chantay’s. The band’s greatest hit, co-written by Bob, was entitled “Pipeline”! ...
Peter Sprague smiled as the audience at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California continued their applause. It was one of many performances that month in mid-2...
Michael Spriggs is a session guitarist who got his start at the age of 14 when he joined “The Rogues”. In 1971 Michael moved to Nashville where he played with Eddie Rabbitt. With over 35 ...
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 ...
Stephen Stern was born a wood craftsman. In fact, growing up his two passions became building furniture and playing the guitar. When he had an opportunity to put both together in the earl...
Tom Steuckert is a veteran of the music industry having served as store manager at Union Grove Music in Santa Cruz, a road rep and sales manager. His career began when he helped assemble...
Wade Stewart entered the pro audio industry in the late 1960s when he worked alongside Bob Crooks, the founder of Standel Amplifiers. In the early 1970s he formed Wade Electronics and foc...
Mal Stich worked for the BC Rich Guitar Company from 1975 until 1985, which was an important time of growth for the guitar maker. Mal helped the company's founder, Bernard Rico, expand th...
Jochen Stock is the president of Just Music in Berlin Germany, one of (if not the) largest music retail stores in the world! With a space of 7000 square meters, the vast store is equally...
John Stowell has been a strong supporter of the music industry as a jazz guitarist and has performed at the NAMM show over the years as well as at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making ...
David Strait is one of two sons of original Strait Music Company owner and founder, Dan Strait. During his interview David talked about growing up working with their father in a true fami...
Robert Strait is proud of the music retail traditions that his father developed when their family owned store was first established back in 1967. Since that time, his father, Dan, along w...
Clint Strait was born in Austin, TX and is the 3rd generation to work for the Strait Music Company. Clint is carrying on his family’s tradition of great customer service and selection to ...
Peter Stroud is probably best known for his work as guitarist with Sheryl Crow. While that gig may have helped Peter come to greater recognition, he first developed his love of gear while...
Marty Stuart grew up in the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi surrounded by country music, which he taught himself to play on a family guitar when he was 12 years old. Marty soon le...
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...
