Chris Hankes and his sisters attended Catholic schools and were always involved in the music programs, including Chris playing in the marching band in 7th grade. Those experiences created...
Ronnie Gardiner banged on his mother’s pots and pans enough that it encouraged her to buy him a toy drum set for Christmas when he was not yet four years old. He played all throughout sch...
Bob Kilpatrick wrote his first song in the fourth grade and went on to pen one of the most popular worship songs in the last fifty years. In his early twenties, Bob and his wife performed...
John Lambert is a docent at NAMM’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California, having joined the team in 2019. Just after his docent training was complete the pandemic of 2020 hit and...
Ikuo Kakehashi’s passion for music developed early in his life. Of course, he was exposed to many innovative electronic musical instruments being the son of synthesizer pioneer and Roland...
Bongo Bob Smith has had an amazing musical journey, which all began with his love of the music of Puerto Rico. Before the term World Music was used, Bob was exploring music from many coun...
Ney Nakamura established Marutec Music, a distribution company based in Brazil in 1994. The company distributed Yamaha consumer keyboards in the early days and later expanded into the gui...
Mickey Buckins played a significant role in the success of the FAME recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio’s founder, Rick Hall, hired Mickey in 1967 to assist with managi...
Dante Vater grew up in the family’s drumstick factory just south of Boston. Dante’s great-grandfather started making drumsticks for his music shop (Jack’s Drum Shop) just one year before ...
Oliver C. Brown was a member of KC and the Sunshine Band when they recorded their big disco hits that helped define an era of popular music. Oliver’s percussion instruments can be heard o...
Crystal Taliefero is primarily a percussionist, yet she plays many other instruments including the bass and several wind instruments. In 1986, she began her long association with LP, her ...
Elisabeth Link, wife of Horst Link, played an important role in the success of Sonor - a company synonymous with quality percussion instruments. For many years, a critical part of the pro...
Dr. Sherman Hong was encouraged at a young age by several outstanding music teachers to play percussion. In sixth grade he learned how to play drums using the Belwin band method series, w...
Eric Lindsey was given a guitar from his father when he was 13 years old. For years it puzzled Eric on how he took to making music so quickly and with such skill. He later learned that hi...
Chris Wright recalls hearing the drummer play in the famous British instrumental band, The Shadows. From that moment on all he wanted was a drum kit. His dear dad brought home a used drum...
Jade Yu has always treated her employees at Tycoon Music like family. She has worked as Managing Director with the company her husband started since the beginning, and is often called the...
Neil Larrivee was just four years old when he began playing drums. His father was a manager for rock bands and music was all around Neil as he grew up. He served in the Drum and Bugle Cor...
Carmine Appice looked up to drummers like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich as he honed his talent and became an extremely successful rock drummer. Working with names like Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, ...
Mat Donaldson set out to create an encouraging and exciting lesson program when he opened his own shop, Drum World, in 1990. He opened the store, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the idea...
Jeff Hamilton is right at home at the drum kit of a big band. While he has had great success and enjoys trios, Jeff considers himself a big band drummer. One key approach to his drumming ...
Matthias Hellinger and his brother, Andreas, own Rohema which was founded in 1888 by Eduard Robert Hellinger and produced batons, drumsticks, and percussion instruments. The company was s...
Pete Best grew up with a strong musical influence within his mother. She encouraged the passion and desire to bring music into the lives of Pete and the kids in Liverpool, England by open...
Jacques Masson was just 15 years old when he began giving drum lessons at a local music store. He has been involved with teaching music ever since. As a player, Jacques was approached by ...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out ...
Nicko McBrain joined the heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden in 1982 and has been an active endorsee of musical products since that time. Nicko can often be seen at a NAMM booth or on the f...
Frank Corniola was born in Italy and moved to Australia when he was seven years old and he began playing drums professionally as a teenager. Like many gigging musicians, Frank took a day ...
Mike Daws moved to Melbourne from England in 1974 where his brother-in-law, a drummer, introduced him to Billy Hyde. Billy was a well-known drummer who helped his son, Garry, run a succes...
Garry Hyde opened a small music store under his parent’s house back in 1962. Having a very famous musician as a father, he asked to use his dad's name for the store. Billy Hyde was a note...
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...
Tommy Robertson was born in Austin, Texas, a feat he calls “as rare as a unicorn these days.” Tommy played drums throughout his teen years before he decided to open his first drum shop. T...
Howard Kalisky is the president of Efkay Music Group in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. Howard's father Fred founded the company in 1957, and Howard is following in his footsteps. Howard has als...
