Dave Koz is best known as the smooth jazz saxophonist who recorded hit albums beginning in the 1990s. However, his life in music began as a piano student before playing in the high school...
Gene Garb is the Vice President of NEMC, joining the company only a few years after it was established in the 1950s. NEMC is a school oriented music wholesaler located in Mountainside, Ne...
James Decker had been an active music maker ever since performing with his mother on radio broadcasts while he was a child. Over the years, he continued his pursuit of music study and eve...
Jimmy Cypher is a vanguard guitarist who is forging a career of guitar performance with live DJ's in their environment. Reversing the trend of incorporating DJ's into musical instrument e...
Tony Blair is the proud president of the Kay Musical Instrument Company, which has a long and important history in the music products industry. As Tony points out, many noted musicians to...
Dominique Agnew has been dedicated to the music industry, serving NAMM for over 25 years -- most notably as the Associate Director for Trade Show Sales. She bore witness to the growth of ...
R. Thomas Lockie’s grandfather started a small music store in downtown Los Angeles in the 1920s. The store was later owned and operated by Tom’s father who played “keep the store in busin...
Bob Sperzel’s grandfather and father were both mechanical engineers working in their own shops creating machine parts for several industries. As Bob learned from them he discovered on his...
Jerry Pellegrino wanted to own a business ever since he was a kid, so when the opportunity arose to start his own music store, he jumped at the chance. With a small loan and the help of s...
Barbara Paulsen is one of the joyous and passionate people our industry is lucky to have in great numbers. Barb entered the music industry as the director of national and global sales for...
Rob Palmer served as president of UMI (United Musical Instruments) in the final years of the company before the brands it manufactured were sold to other companies. UMI played an importan...
Jackie Mills as a drummer put down the beat for jazz and big band stars such as Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. As a record producer, he played a critica...
Don Loeffler combined his love of music with his engineering skills to make several modifications to the percussion instruments he used throughout his career. He made his own vibraphones ...
Michael Kropp loved folk music for as far back as he could remember. As he grew up and played in various bands in the 1960s and 70s he also became involved with the music industry. After ...
Thilo Kramny is one of our industry’s creative minds that has established published material that has been innovative and resourceful for the music industry. He began as a musician who wa...
TK Keckler moved to Memphis at an early age and began playing with local bands, which is when he met Mike Ladd. Mike was a musician who opened a small guitar shop in town and would later ...
Gez Kahan, on a whim, offered to be the musical director for his college’s production of Tommy. The experience lit a fire under him and soon he was exploring all of the latest gear, espec...
Gabe Ireland joined the Coast Wholesale Company while in high school. After college he continued to work for the company as the rock and roll boom began and the entire industry began to c...
Paul Freehling was brought up in the music retail business as the son of Art Freehling, the legendary music man of Montgomery, Alabama. Art’s incredible knowledge of business and music no...
Maxine Eastman-Jackson met her future husband, Bud, in school when they were 14 years old. The year they married, 1953, they moved to Provo, UT, where Bud worked at Modern Music by day an...
Mervyn Davis began working full time as a guitar luthier in 1978. Located in South Africa, Mervyn had unique access to materials he used in making his instruments and because he was in an...
Paulo Caius played music as a child and enjoyed each chance he had to work with fellow musicians. When the chance came to open his own music store, Paulo jumped at it. Caius Music, locate...
Monica Burdex grew up enjoying music of many styles and having a real interest in research and library science. She combined her passions becoming the music librarian for California State...
Robert Bromberg has had a long career in the music products industry, as did his father. In fact, his father designed the mirror piano, which helped keep the industry alive during World W...
Steve Oppenheimer grew up playing music, as did his younger brother, known as Larry The O. Steve was seven when he made his TV debut singing “Big Rock Candy Mountain” on a children’s show...
Crazy Pete Newport began working at Breedlove Guitars in 1999 with the goal to help promote and market the product line. Over the years he spent many hours working with and learning from ...
John Nady began experimenting with wireless guitar systems as early as 1968, driven by a desire to liberate musicians from the constraints of cables. By 1976, he introduced the Nasty Cord...
Don Middleton taught music lessons around town before working for Billy Hill at Hill’s Music in 1967. A few months later Mr. Hill announced his retirement and asked Don if he wanted to bu...
David McAllister grew up in Eastern Canada as a child of the 60s and 70s and a big fan of the music of the era. He studied sales and marketing, getting a job in one of the country’s larg...
John Mahlmann has been executive director of MENC: The National Association for Music Education since 1983. MENC is the world's largest association of professional music educators. Over t...
