Michele Elefante was in junior high school when her father, Al, a passionate musician and skilled repairman, fulfilled his dream of opening a family-run music store. From the start, Miche...
David Ellis was greatly influenced by his father, Richard Ellis, the band director and music store founder. Growing up in the business, David developed a strong passion for music both as ...
Richard Ellis was proud of the three main areas of his professional career; playing, teaching and selling musical instruments. As a teenager Richard traveled with a big band, playing danc...
Billy Everitt grew up in the music industry beginning with weekend jobs at his father’s retail business in Dallas. Billy attended his first TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) annual...
Janet Faulhaber always had a special interest in the sheet music department of the Ward-Brodt Music Company in Wisconsin. Janet and her husband purchased the store and expanded the produc...
Michael Faulhaber has successfully carried on the legacy of his father who was the early passion behind Ward-Brodt Music Company in Wisconsin. The store has earned an important place in t...
Paul Finke played drums since he was just a kid and gravitated towards the music business in 1985 when he was hired at Willis Music. At the time the company had eight locations and workin...
Gary Francisco opened his own music store in Southern California in the mid 1960s. Over the years he developed a strong business calling on schools and creating lesson programs. After clo...
Paul Freehling was brought up in the music retail business as the son of Art Freehling, the legendary music man of Montgomery, Alabama. Art’s incredible knowledge of business and music no...
John Fulton has had a very interesting ascent to his position as Vice President of Sales for Conn-Selmer. He started taking violin lessons in the fourth grade, at first to get out of clas...
Gene Garb is the Vice President of NEMC, joining the company only a few years after it was established in the 1950s. NEMC is a school oriented music wholesaler located in Mountainside, Ne...
Sandy Goff, co-owner of Paige's Music, has had many first-hand experiences witnessing the importance of music education in the lives of young students as well as the passion for music so ...
Mark Goff was ready to work for a musical instrument manufacturer after college when he was told that he needed retail experience. Impressed with the idea and eager to learn all he could ...
CK Gottschalk is the president of the music store in Michigan that his parents established in 1936, the same year they married. They expanded their business just before CK was born and l...
Ray Guntren is the president of Midbell Music in Iowa, a retail store he first began working at when he was a teenager. Over the years the chance came up for Ray to purchase the store, w...
Bill Harvey was between band director jobs in the summer of 1974 when he took a road sales position with Buddy Roger's Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. He felt the sales job would allow him to ...
Todd Heid of Heid Music grew up watching the shop operate and found his passion for the business during his high school years. In the early years of Heid Music, the store had a large prod...
DeDe Heid met her husband Todd while selling his music store, Heid Music, their newspaper advertising. After attending numerous NAMM Shows with Todd, as well as other business meetings, D...
Paul Heid grew up in the music retail world. His father formed Heid Music in Appleton, WI, and Paul along with his brother, Robert, followed in their father’s footsteps. Paul served on se...
Dave Helms is the owner of Muncie Music Center. He joined the store right out of high school and had the opportunity to purchase the business in the early 2000s. By 2012, Dave was underw...
Beth Houlihan often reflects on the important role her mother played in establishing the family owned music store along with her father in 1974. Beth took note of the way her mother kept ...
Stephanie Howe and her sister Whitney run the chain of music stores their grandfather established in 1931, Ted Brown Music. Stephanie followed in his footsteps to run a business that supp...
Greg Howren is the past president of his family's music store in Charlotte, North Carolina. Greg followed in his father's footsteps and continued to build the music store, which focuses ...
Dennis Howren is the president of the Howren Music Store in Charlotte, North Carolina. The store was founded by his father and was run by his two older brothers before Dennis took over a...
Joe Hume was a veteran school band director before he opened Hume Music located in Kansas. His love of school bands continued as a retailer and as such he established new bands and expand...
John Jarvis is the president and owner of the music retail store in Florida, Music Man. His father was a band director back in 1944 who retired to Florida in 1973 and opened a small store...
Mickey Jent opened a small music store in Lubbock, Texas after World War II with her husband, Ray, after his return from military service. The store became a hub for local musicians inclu...
Ray Jent sought to bring service to the Lubbock, Texas, community when he opened a music retail store just after serving in World War II. Ray worked closely with the school band directors...
James Johnson was first and foremost a band director -- a well respected one at that! He opened Mississippi Music while still teaching and soon became involved with a long list of industr...
Mac Johnson, as she is known throughout the music industry, was the devoted wife of Mississippi Music founder Jimmy Johnson. She was also the mother of their sons, Bix and Dex, both of wh...
Rosi Johnson was hired by the founder of Mississippi Music and her future father in law, Jimmy Johnson, as the in-house accountant. She took over the financial end of the entire business...
Dex Johnson grew up in the music retail business. His mother and father formed their store, Mississippi Music, after World War II and his father became an industry leader, even serving as...
