Sonja Lynne grew up in her mother’s music studio and found her voice as a singer. Sonja studied opera and can still be heard singing in her church. She had a few jobs, including as a scho...

Leng Tshua has played an important role in the piano industry both in the United States and his home country, Singapore. His passion for music began when he was inspired by his aunt playi...

Steve Dawe grew up surrounded by music! His mother was a piano teacher and he studied the trumpet in college, but ultimately gravitated to the Hammond B3 as his primary instrument on stag...

Seymour Bernstein shared great insight into his career and life in music during his NAMM Oral History interview. He proudly spoke of the first moment he put his hands on the white keys of...

Mike Vaccaro is a true piano salesman veteran! Having worked in the piano business for over 40 years, selling for several retail stores and running his own dealership for over 20 years, M...

Bob Snyder enjoyed his 40 plus years in the music industry, driven by his passion for music. His father was a professor of music and instruments of all kinds seemed to be everywhere in hi...

Peter Goodrich grew up playing piano and got into the music business when he began a job at Lyon & Healy as an assistant to the manager. He got a chance to go to the harp factory and ...

Dana Messina was always intrigued by all the machinery in factories thanks to his engineering background, but his business skills are what lead to his success at both Selmer and Steinway....

Fred Vail was making announcements on a local radio station in Sacramento, California when he was just 12 years old. While in high school, he led the committee that brought bands to the s...

Ray Stacy began working for the O.S. Kelly Company in 1978 and has a true sense of pride in the work they do in creating piano plates. Located in Springfield, Ohio, the foundry was establ...

Gordon McNelly is the Manager for Fields Piano in Santa Ana, California. Fields Piano is the local authorized Steinway dealer, which is a perfect home for Gordon who has been involved wit...

Jerry Goldman's father, Harry, opened a wholesale piano business inside Marshall Field's Department store in Chicago with his brother back in 1947. Just over a decade later, Harry and his...

Abel Sanchez is the noted restoration expert for such piano brands as Steinway and Chickering. Abel was born and raised in northern Mexico on the cattle ranch along with seven brothers. B...

Glenn Treibitz purchased Hollywood Piano from the original owners which was established in 1928. As the “go to” piano store for movies and television, Hollywood Piano has provided pianos ...

Chris Syllaba grew up in Washington D.C. and found music throughout the city during his childhood years.  He soon found a position within Jordan Kitt’s Music store in 1984 and rose throug...

Wally Boot spent 52 years working in the Steinway & Sons piano factory on Long Island New York! As it turns out, Wally was born on Steinway Street, just down the road from the factory...

Michael Mohr recalls Vladimir Horowitz coming to the house when he was a child, and he was just like a member of the family. The great maestro was a friend of Michael's father, who was tr...

Bill Youse is proud of the fact that his grandfather, George, worked in the Steinway & Sons piano factory on Long Island as did his father before Bill joined the company in 1973. Bill...

Prenta Ljucovic immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia in 1973. A friend from back home suggested that she seek a job with Steinway & Sons, especially given her pervious trai...

Brendan Murphy is the fourth generation of Murphys to hold an executive position with the M. Steinert & Sons Company, which follows three generations of Steinerts. For most of that ti...

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 ...

Donna Meyer was studying music in college when she met her future husband, Lloyd. After his stint in the army and the raising of their children (while Lloyd's career grew to president of ...

Michael Spreeman is the creator of Ravenscroft Pianos and founder of Spreeman Piano Innovations, LLC. Experience includes: 35 years as a concert technician, rebuilder, service technician,...

Vic Geiger has had a long and impressive career in the piano and organ business going back to the day he was hired by Kimball in 1974. While with Kimball, Vic played an important role wit...

Sean O'Shea began front pumping the organ during the big boom of home organs in the 1970s. His first gig was for a music store when he was just 14. He grew up in the business and worked f...

Ron Losby was classically trained on the piano and began his love of the music industry by providing free lessons at Sherman Clay’s retail chain. He later worked within the Wurlitzer musi...

George Nellas started his career in the music industry at Byerly Music in the 1970s selling home organs in the store's mall locations.  After moving to Los Angeles, George worked for Sher...

Elliott Wessel likes to point out the fact that he has had five different positions at Schmitt Music at five different times during his career. He also conveys, as many others have, that ...

Sara Faust may be the only music retailer who has won both the Chopin Piano Competition's first prize as well as the Concert Artists Guild's first place award!  In 1996, after her career ...

Sherry Bird teamed with her future husband, Steve Bird, to open a Steinway dealership in Austin, Texas.  Together they also opened a second location in San Antonio.  With a strong busines...

Steve Bird joined the piano industry right out of school and established a life-long career that he has thoroughly enjoyed.  While working for Sherman Clay, Steve was asked to open up sev...

Deena Bird began teaching piano while she was still a teenager.  She later established her own music school, which for a while was located in the Steinway Gallery of her hometown of San A...