Davie Allan was an early user of the fuzz tone boxes in the 1960s and put them to good use on a number of his instrumental hits with the Arrows. He also used the effects on many of the so...
Bob Berryhill was the original guitarist for the surf band the Surfaris. The group of teenagers had a pop hit with "Surfer Joe," which was followed up by the 1963 chart topper "Wipe Out."...
John Blair grew up during the first wave of the Surf Music craze in America during the late 1950s and early 1960s. John later formed his own surf band and again, years later, in the 1970s...
Dave Brubeck played Baldwin Pianos for most of his long career. As a classically trained performer, he added poly-rhythmic concepts to jazz. Among his most celebrated recordings is the wo...
Larry Byrom recalls hearing Louis Armstrong as a young kid and wanting to play the trumpet, so he did for a few years. Then, he saw Chet Atkins on television and by 14 years old began pla...
Ace Cannon grew up in Mississippi singing with his father on street corners and in church, and he knew even as a small child that he wanted to have a life in music. When he was ten his f...
Dennis Coffey was a member of the studio musicians at Motown known as the Funk Brothers. Dennis recorded a string of hits with the group in the 1960s and 70s. He later joined the songwrit...
Dave “Baby” Cortez made history with his infectious instrumental hit “The Happy Organ,” the first pop single to feature the Hammond B-3 organ as the lead instrument. He followed it with t...
Dick Dale was the King of the Surf Guitar whose driving style redefined instrumental music in the early 1960s. His music conjures the mood of the era so successfully that many of his tune...
Gregg De Lorto has had a passion for music and playing the guitar from a young age. Growing up playing in multiple bands and feeling the influence of popular music, Gregg eventually enter...
Barry De Vorzon began writing songs as a teenager and had several hits during his long career. Among his top charters were two hit instrumental songs, the theme for the television show S...
DJ GrandMixer DXT brought the turntable front and center as a musical instrument! DXT is a proud member of the "first generation" of DJs in the dawn of Hip-Hop. When he recorded a sessi...
Vernon Drane played several musical instruments growing up in Tennessee including the trumpet and saxophone. He later studied instrument repair and spent 68 years (!) working with the Amr...
John Durrill has enjoyed a long and successful career in music, which ranged from performing to songwriting! In 1963, he was a member of the rock band The Five Americans, which enjoyed s...
Duane Eddy has profoundly influenced generations of guitarists and helped establish instrumental songs as viable hits in popular music. Beginning in the late 1950s, Duane recorded numerou...
Nokie Edwards was an original member of the Ventures, a rock group of the 1960’s that helped popularize instrumental recordings. The band enjoyed several hit records including “Walk Don’t...
Preston Epps was the percussionist who had a top 20 hit recording in 1959 entitled "Bongo Rock." The success of the song led to additional recordings and concert tours that forever tied ...
Little Willie G. sang in one of the most successful bands to come out of East Los Angeles in the early 1960s, Thee Midniters. Willie G (the G stands for Garcia) was always proud of his cu...
Jimmy Gilmer was born in Chicago, but spent his formative years in Amarillo, Texas. As a singer and guitar player, Jimmy gravitated across state line to Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, N...
Will Glover was among the first wave of surf rock guitarists when he formed a band with several friends from high school in 1961. The Pyramids, the Long Beach, California based rock grou...
Gary Hoey is a fantastically gifted guitar player who continues to inspire fans around the world. Honing and perfecting his chops on the East Coast, Gary’s talent was recognized early on ...
Randy Holden was a teenager when he formed a rock and blues band in Pennsylvania called The Iridescents. The core of that band moved to California to follow the wave of emerging Surf ins...
Paul Johnson formed one of the early surf bands in Southern California during the golden era of instrumental music. As a guitarist and songwriter, Paul performed and recorded in the days ...
Bruce Johnston has been a member of the Beach Boys since the mid-1960s, first singing with the group on the hit "California Girls." He appeared on most of the groups albums, including th...
Booker T. Jones grew up in Memphis and began recording as a session player while still in high school at the age of 17. While waiting for a session to begin, Booker and the other musicia...
Dave Koz is best known as the smooth jazz saxophonist who recorded hit albums beginning in the 1990s. However, his life in music began as a piano student before playing in the high school...
Art Laboe admired radio broadcasters from the first moment he heard voices coming out of a box his aunt had sent to Art's family when he was eight. He went on to have a successful and i...
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...
Ramsey Lewis had a monster hit record with his jazz version of "The In Crowd." The song, which is considered to be the quintessential instrumental jazz hit of the 60s, led to a series of ...
Hank Marvin and his buddy, Bruce Welch, formed the instrumental rock band The Shadows in 1958 in England. The highly influential group pioneered the four-member rock band format consistin...
Bob Moore’s bass can be heard on countless recordings made in Nashville during the 1950s through the 1980s. As a member of studio musicians known as the A Team, Bob played on recordings ...
Joe Morello’s influential drumming style was showcased on the landmark Dave Brubeck recording of “Take Five.” Ever since, he has inspired generations of performers. Joe became an icon in ...
