Michael Tobias is well known as a gifted and knowledgeable guitar luthier. The Tobias bass, now made by Gibson, has often been praised for its playability and unique sound. Mike is also a...
George Tomsco formed the influential rock band The Fireballs with several of his high school friends. The band became known for its instrumental recordings, which were very popular in th...
Peter Tork was an original member of the Monkees and enjoyed great success on TV and the top of the pop charts during the mid and late 1960s. Years later, Peter admitted that the cast mem...
Helen Tozzi was hired to set up the accounting for a new music store that was opening in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Progressive Music opened in 1947 and Helen was there on opening day. She...
Marcellus Trach recalls with a smile the many rules a wood worker had to follow in the C.F. Martin & Company when he was first hired after World War II. He also expressed the pride so...
Happy Traum began his musical career in the 1960s, greatly influenced by the folk movement that had gripped the culture in America. He and his late brother, Artie, helped establish a New ...
Jane Traum and her husband Happy, are the founders of Homespun Music, which for decades has offered a growing collection of musical instrument training classes. Happy began with a new cla...
Norman Treitl’s grandfather was Otto Josef Klier, who established the Klira company to be the third largest music instrument production during Bubenreuth’s boom years. Norman Treitl can t...
Leanne Trevalyan was just twelve years old when she taught herself how to play the guitar using the Mel Bay method book on a no-name instrument her mother picked up at Montgomery Wards. L...
Sam Tritico has spent over five decades as a respected and well-loved music retailer, dedicated to helping musicians find their perfect sound. His love for music began as a child when his...
CC Tsai’s father and uncle ran the family business, Marina Guitar Company, in Taiwan. Young CC worked in the factory but decided to form his own company. Team Intl was formed in 1990 and ...
Rob Turner’s first instrument was the drums; in fact it was the drums that brought him to establish one of the world’s best-known guitar pickup companies! While on tour in the early 1970s...
Rick Turner was well known for his innovative handcrafted guitars and for pioneering the resurgence of American luthiers in the 1960s and 70s. With an ear for quality sound and an eye for...
Ike Turner was well known for his role in the life of Tina Turner and as the guitarist and arranger of her early career. However, during our interview with him, Ike took the time to discu...
Benny Turner grew up in a music family and after his brother, Freddie King, took him to a session with Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon, he was hooked. While Benny played guitar with the Kin...
Matt Umanov opened his first guitar shop in 1963, following his dream to have a life in music. Over the years, Matt has become one of the world’s leading experts on guitars, which is ofte...
Frank Untermyer studied woodworking and instrument building in Germany before returning to the United States to help form Hamer Guitars with college friends, Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig. T...
Phil Upchurch was a teenager when he joined the solid studio musicians for Chess Records in Chicago. The old veterans took Phil under their wings and showed him the ropes and welcomed hi...
Steve Vai is a man that could be described as a planet that revolves around a star named Music. His life is ever entwined in an orbit that includes composing, transcription, performance, ...
Arturo Valdez is known around the world as the “guitar repairman to the stars.” With his shop located on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California, Arturo has worked on thousands of guitars, ...
Willem Van Dijk started his career with Gibson Guitars as a sales rep for their European branch in 2005. With a focus on his sales and technology background, Willem helped expand the comp...
Jimmie Vaughan took time from his 2020 tour schedule for his NAMM Oral History interview during which he spoke about his early days as a musician. Jimmie recounted his Uncles playing musi...
Dan Vedda grew up playing music. As an arranger and trumpeter he gained a respected reputation in the Westlake area of Ohio. After working for a music retailer in town he was encouraged b...
Joe Veillette took a luthier class, a class by Michael Gurian back in 1971 and never looked back! He became so interested in guitar building that he teamed up with Harvey Citron and form...
Manuel Velazquez was one of the greatest guitar luthiers of the last one hundred years. He was born in Puerto Rico in 1917 and handcrafted his first classical guitar when he was still a t...
Koob Veneman’s father started the first Veneman’s Music Store in Holland, an idea copied by Koob in Maryland in 1960. Koob, like his father, was a luthier who designed his own instruments...
Ted Veneman grew up in his father’s music store. As early as 1975, Ted was etching out a mail order catalog under the name “Music Emporium,” which was much earlier than most mail order ca...
Carl Verheyen is a noted studio musician who has been a member of the popular rock band Supertramp. While in the studios, Carl has recorded with a long list of artists and for several mov...
Mike Vernon formed an instrumental rock band inspired by George Tomsco called The 3 Balls of Fire (the name taken from the first song they learned to play "Great Balls of Fire"). During ...
Fabrice Vignati and his wife Tracy teamed up to create a new take on Rockabilly music, which they call Gypsybilly. Being a fan of Rockabilly since he was a kid, Fabrice brings the classic...
Josh Vittek has always been immersed in music, his deep voice leading him to choir and Doo Wop groups in middle school. When his uncle gifted him a guitar, he discovered the thrill of ble...
Herbert Volkmann like so many of his generation saw the horrors of war while growing up in Germany before and during World War II. Herbert and other musical instrument makers moved to Bub...
