Ringo Starr

Billy Amendola is the Editor At Large for Modern Drummer magazine whose background as a musician makes him perfect for the job! His passion for music began at an early age and by the time he began working for the magazine in 1997, Billy was already a seasoned studio musician and founding member of the band Mantus. Ron Spangnardi, the founder of Modern Drummer, first hired Billy to help with his drum festival in 1990.

Music journalist Robyn Flans has been an effective and passionate promoter of drummers ever since she heard the Beatles (and Ringo in particular) growing up. She took her skills to Modern Drummer magazine for which she wrote for over 40 years. Along the way she had some wonderful career highlights including interviewing Ringo and becoming close friends with Jeff Porcaro, a studio drummer best known for his gig with the band Toto. She wrote a book about Jeff called It's About Time, Jeff Porcaro The Man and His Music (2020) and continues to promote well-known drummers as well as tho

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 Institute with George Harrison and Paul McCartney. A few years later, around 1961, he was blown away when a friend of his, Richie Starkey, who played drums with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and went by the name of  Ringo Starr, gave Bob an album that contained several American blues artists, including Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Paul Leim established himself as one of the top studio drummers in both Los Angeles and Nashville. Paul has recorded with the likes of Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, Brian Setzer and Lionel Richie (along with many others). He has also played for several television shows and movies including Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. During his 2019 NAMM Oral History interview, Paul spoke about his love for NAMM as well as the many friends in the industry he has made over the years. He worked with Ludwig back in 1975 and became an official endorser of Remo three years later.

Marc Mann grew up with an insatiable love for music, always requesting tunes in the car and teaching himself guitar after buying one from a vendor on a Mexican beach. Early piano lessons with a neighbor sparked a lifelong connection to keyboards, which later became central to his career. After starting as a math major at UCLA, Marc switched to music, earned his master’s, and immersed himself in the university’s electronic music lab, mastering synthesizers, sound physics, and emerging computer music technologies.

Geno Mulcahy is your go-to man if you need deep product knowledge on all things pro audio. Around the office at The Music People, where he has worked since 2008, Geno is summoned by saying “ask Google.” Behind that knowledge is a deep passion for the gear and a long and interesting life in music. He played reeds in high school and ran sound for his father’s doo wop band. For ten years Geno was the sound engineer at a local casino working with an astonishing list of artists including Ringo Starr, the Everly Brothers and Glen Campbell.

Cosmo Watts is a multi-talented musician and songwriter who played an important role in the music products industry as a sound designer, synthesizer programmer and music teacher. Growing up in a home surrounded by music, his father was close friends with big band vibraphonist Red Norvo. Cosmo began working at a local music store at 15 years old and later formed his own band, The Farm, which had a hit with “Rockin’ Chair.” He worked for several music stores as his professional career developed and attended his first NAMM Show in 1968.

T. Bruce Wittet is the widely read drum journalist who began his musical passion playing harmonica. His love for all things music led him to an exciting career playing in the school’s jazz ensemble, gigging in coffee houses and working as a studio musician for over 12 years. These experiences provided the background to write articles for Modern Drummer magazine, which Bruce has done since 1980. Among his articles still talked about today were the two he wrote about John Bonham and those that covered the makers of instruments such as William F.