Jeff Nelson's mother was a sought-after pianist who had a regular gig in San Francisco playing at the Top of the Mark. As a kid, Jeff took lessons from a woman who had the best name for a...

Sam Moore and his singing partner Dave Prater helped put Stax Records on the map with their string of top hits in the 1960s. Their powerful performances inspired their nicknames of Double...

Dr. George Shaw  has had a big impact on the lives and careers of thousands of young musicians. As a music educator and sought after musician, George always looked for opportunities to en...

Bob Hardy was greatly influenced by the American rock and roll artists he heard on the radio as a kid growing up in 1950's Liverpool, during which time he was a pupil at the Liverpool Ins...

Gary Hobbs is a third generation professional drummer. His grandfather Harry led several big bands during the Great Depression era and his father, who later became a strong leader within ...

Steve Propes has been a longtime supporter of the NAMM Oral History program and sat down with us to discuss his views on the development of R&B, doo wop and rock and roll. As a long t...

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...

Sylvester Rivers has applied his musical talents to thousands of hit recordings over the years as well as music for television and motion pictures. His list of credits includes several ca...

Fred Parris grew up close to the Apollo Theater in New York where he was able to see many of the top acts in music. These experiences sparked a passion which led to his singing in several...

Sal Cracchiolo learned how to play the trumpet on his mother’s horn. As his love of the instrument grew she saw to it that Sal received classical trumpet lessons with some of the top teac...

Brenda Russell had a series of hit R&B recordings in the 1970s, 80s and 90s including “Piano In The Dark” and “So Good, So Right.” The success of her recording career as a singer led ...

Bobby Brooks Wilson is the son of famed soul singer, Jackie Wilson, but he didn’t always know that. Bobby grew up loving music and only found out who his biological father was after so ma...

Joe Chambers was inspired by his older brother George to play guitar and write songs. The brothers, Joe, George, Willie and Lester, formed The Chambers Brothers and began singing gospel m...

Willie Chambers and his brothers fell in love with gospel music while growing up singing in church. Even though they received some strong criticism, they expanded the places where church ...

Charles Wright had a desire to form a solid soul band that would take the drive of R&B and push it to the limits. With an amazing cast of musicians, Charles formed the Watts 103rd Str...

Vernon Porter can be heard playing bass on many Kenny Loggins recordings from 1981-1984, which is one of many crowning achievements of his career. It started when young Vernon was in the ...

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 ...

Ricky Peterson is a lifelong Minnesotan musician whose family is deeply rooted in a characteristically “Minneapolis” sound. Ricky is best known for his 20 year association with saxophone ...

Jewel Bass is known for singing backup on countless Malaco recordings since 1969 and with her own band, These Days. She started singing in church, influenced by her uncles who sang in a g...

Jerry Puckett is a studio musician for Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi who played guitar on the hits “Groove Me” by King Floyd and “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jewel Bass, among many others....

Tommy Couch was born in Tuscumbia, not too far from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and grew up with many of the studio musicians and engineers at the Fame Recording Studio. He later moved to Jack...

Wolf Stephenson met Tommy Couch (the founder of Malaco Records) while the two studied pharmacy in college. They began booking musical acts for their college parties and soon expanded to e...

Norman Whitfield Jr grew up surrounded by music. His father was the noted songwriter, Norman Whitfield, who penned such classic hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Just My Imagin...

Mike Finnigan was a leading Hammond B3 performer who recorded with many of the top performers in pop, rock, and jazz for nearly 60 years, although his soul had always been rooted in rhyth...

Bill Gardner grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by music. His mother worked at a local record store where he heard the music that would forever shape his life. Years later, Bill went on th...

Donald Harrison Jr. was born in New Orleans to a deeply musical family steeped in all styles of music: brass bands, jazz, R&B, funk, and world music. His father was a Mardi Gras India...

Roy Head was born a sharecropper's son in the tiny town of Three Rivers, Texas. Growing up listening to every style of music available on his small radio, Roy became heavily influenced by...

Archie Bell, a native of Houston, Texas, grew up listening to his mother sing in the Baptist church. Out of her seven sons she singled out Archie and suggested that he should try to be a ...

Billy Arnold played drums behind several Motown recordings including those with saxophonist, Junior Walker. While he often played a Gretsch kit, Billy never fussed about having to set up ...

Betty Wright was three years old when she was placed on a pile of phone books in a studio in order to reach the microphone when her family recorded gospel music. She began writing songs v...

Papa John DeFrancesco was taught music by his father, a saxophonist for several big bands during the great Swing era. Papa John first played trumpet and later began playing the organ, whi...

Percy Bady grew up surrounded by gospel, thanks largely to the fact his father was a minister.  Since he was six years old, Percy expressed his feelings through music, especially in churc...