Deke Dickerson began his musical career when he started playing the saxophone, but quickly realized he was much more adept at playing the guitar. As a part of the affectionately named “68...
Russ Miller, drummer on more than 400 albums including Tina Turner, Hilary Duff, and Andrea Bocelli, has always had a passion for music. During his 2008 interview for the Oral History Pro...
Dafnis Prieto grew up in a musical neighborhood in Cuba where he quickly fell in love with the drums. During his 2008 NAMM Oral History Interview, Dafnis discussed some of his musical inf...
Rick DePiro fell in love with music when he first decided to play the organ at the young age of 10, getting his first official gig just a few years later playing the electric piano in his...
Daniel Keller is the founder of Get It In Writing and a strong advocate for promotion and marketing within and for the music industry. He has played bass since he was a teenager and built...
Allee Willis wrote a number of successful songs that have become part of the fabric of pop music. Allee either wrote or co-wrote songs such as “September” by Earth Wind & Fire, the th...
Phil Ranelin stood in line at school to pick an instrument for band. He really wanted the saxophone but when he got to the head of the line all the saxophones were gone and he was given a...
Les Brazil’s first retail job was in Manchester, United Kingdom in 1966 when he was just 15, at a shop called Reno’s. Reno was a famous violin player that worked with the likes of Stephan...
jj Babbitt Co. Inc. was established in 1919 by Jesse James Babbitt and as of 2019, as the family owned and operated company embarks on their 100th year in business, they are preparing for...
Sonny Wittkopp studied business in college and landed a job as a bookkeeper for a local music store in Washington state. This experience generated a great passion for the music industry w...
Don Wilson was a founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures! He formed the band with his friend Bob Bogle. Shortly after their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” Nokie Edwards,...
Ken Hyams was a key franchise owner of Altec Lansing in the early days of consumer electronics. He worked for a Los Angeles retailer for audio, consumer-electronic, products in the late 1...
Normalu Cooper was inspired by her piano teachers as a young girl so she eventually began providing lessons in her father’s piano store when she was a teenager. Like her father, Normalu w...
Morris Diamond sat down with us for his NAMM Oral History interview at the age of 97 and recalled his career in music which started when he was 15 years old. He was hired to be the “band ...
Betty Bennett was inspired to pursue a career in music when she was brought along to gigs by her mother and was allowed to sing with her. After Betty’s first paying gig, making 50 cents f...
Bonnie Guitar produced a series of hit recordings for her label, Dolton, in the 1950s and 60s. Among the labels most popular acts were the Fleetwoods and the Ventures. Bonnie even recorde...
Moze Mossay was given a guitar as a gift from his father when he was a kid and he fell in love with the instrument. Moze sought to understand all elements of the guitar and soon found him...
Trevor Rabin was raised in a musical household, with a father who was a musician and he encouraged Trevor to play the piano at an early age. Later, his father gave him a guitar as a gift ...
Mike Ortigara runs the piano repair and restoration branch of the store his father Ben opened in 1947. Ben opened an accordion store in Chicago which expanded overtime to include pianos, ...
Mary Ortigara has always had a deep passion for education and was an English major at Xavier College. After graduating in the late 1950s, she began working in her brother’s music store gi...
Mario Ortigara joined his brother’s music store just two years after it opened. Since 1949, Mario worked alongside his brother Ben who started the store to teach and sell accordions. By 1...
Bob Olsen often said because he did not play a musical instrument yet had a successful career in the music products industry that he was “a vegetarian in the business of prime meat.” The ...
Clay Barclay was associated with Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for more than 40 years. As a kid, he took radios apart to see how they worked and has been fascinated with audio h...
Jim Wordinger was hired by the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore, in 1972. While he started as a technician, Jim’s career developed over the years and expanded to engineer an...
Tom Szerencse worked his way up to an Engineering Group Manager overseeing Crown International’s design prototyping efforts. In the mid 80’s his team worked with the Marketing department ...
Jim Marks always enjoyed ham radio and often sought opportunities to learn more about audio equipment. He was working as a radio station engineer for Progressive Broadcasting when he hear...
Don Peterson wore many hats during the 21 years he worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana. He began on the factory floor in QA Factory Services before working in the Engineeri...
Ken Woodcox was an early adopter of computer technology when he proudly joined Crown International in the 1970s. Bringing his skill set to Crown and having the company embrace computers r...
Brenda Mortimer worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for 36 wonderful years. Her mother and aunt both worked in the factory, so Brenda grew up understanding and appreciating...
