Bob Bailey has a big gig to oversee each year, the annual Sweetwater Sound Gearfest! This is no small task as anyone of his friends on the NAMM staff can tell you, but Bob heads a strong ...
Nick Bowcott is a founding member of the British heavy metal band, Grim Reaper. Nick put the band together in 1979 and by 1985 had gained commercial success namely due to Nick’s guitar sk...
Don Carr has fond memories of his father, an electronics enthusiast, recording him sing as a young kid. He played a number of instruments in school as his parents were always supportive o...
Vern Crews grew up surrounded by music. His uncle, Pee Wee Marquette, who was the master of ceremonies for the famed Birdland jazz club, gave young Vern a Hammond Organ when he was a kid....
Nick D’Virgilio grew up in the Los Angeles area and was exposed to music at a very young age. He was given his first drum set when he was 5 years old and was in a band by the time he was ...
Scott Emmerman began taking guitar lessons in his hometown of Chicago when he was five years old. As a musician he toured and recorded with different bands and landed some great gigs, inc...
Daniel Fisher has a long and interesting history in music, which began as a child when his parents discovered that he could play by ear at age 5. His education continued on a Hammond B3 o...
Lynn Fuston was a junior in high school when he started recording the school choir. He had been singing his whole life but recognized the need to make better recordings. Following his pas...
Mitch Gallagher grew up in a musical family. His mother and her sisters sang three-part harmony for dance bands, encouraging all of the children in the family to get involved with music. ...
Johnny Grabowski was just four years old when he began playing his father’s piano by ear. He took lessons a few years later and in middle school joined the choir. Music has always been a ...
John Hopkins became best friends with Chuck Surack, the founder of Sweetwater Sound, thanks to one phone call. Running his own heating and air condition company by day and helping his cla...
Melvin Quinones has a fascinating backstory as to how he established Victory Musical Instruments in Puerto Rico. It all began with his love and passion for making music, which started whe...
Jeff Radke followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a saxophonist in the big bands. Jeff played sax in school and studied music and business in college. He attended his first NAMM...
Phil Rich remembers sitting on the couch with his mother, who was a nurse during the day and a songwriter in her spare time, as she wrote songs. His band directed the music at their chur...
David Stewart remembers making a choice to go from playing music professionally to the technological side of touring and working as a sound engineer. He toured during the 1980s, working l...
Chuck Surack is the founder and president of Sweetwater Sound, one of the landmark companies within the music products industry. He formed the company in 1979 and worked hard to gather t...
Abraham Wechter grew up listening to Yiddish music and took both piano and violin lessons as a kid. He used to sneak a transistor radio under his pillow at night and listen to underground...
