Vinny Testa was the founder of Testa Communications, which he established in 1984 to provide the music products industry with such trade magazines as The Music & Sound Retailer and DJ...
Millie Swanson was known as “The Sweetheart of Wurlitzer.” She joined the company in 1931 as an office clerk while still in high school. Over the years, as Wurlitzer grew into the largest...
Murray Sunshine was a legend in the New York music retailing business. As an employee of Manny’s Music, hired by Manny himself, Murray witnessed first hand the growth of 48th Street as a ...
Henry Z. Steinway was quite articulate when speaking about the incredible history of the Steinway and Sons Piano Company. One could say that he lived all elements of being a Steinway as t...
Marvin Snyder became president of Rico Reeds in 1976, after managing the cane plantations, which were used to make the reeds. His father worked with the Lockie family, who owned a chain o...
John P. Smith was one of thousands of young musicians who toured the country on the buses, cars, and trains that carried the territory bands of the swing era from high school sock hops to...
George Shorney’s grandfather formed a small music publishing company in 1892 with the goal of serving the church by printing hymnals. The company, Hope Publishing, has done just that and ...
Doc Severinsen had a mighty career as Johnny Carson’s bandleader on the “Tonight Show” and as a recording artist on several important albums. He is also widely known within the music prod...
Eric Schwartz is the Chairman of Sherman Clay, the historic chain of piano stores. The stores are located in the northern half of California and have played a big role in the growth of th...
Peter Schmitt was not around when his family started a small retail store 110 years ago, but was proud of the role he has played in the expansion of the business into a wholesale business...
Gunter Schmalfuss has taken great pride in working on one instrument most of his career, the tuba. Since 1961, Mr. Schmalfuss has studied, built and designed tubas in addition to teaching...
Wesley Schaum’s father wrote and arranged music with the hope of serving school band programs in a meaningful way. He wrote several important scores including the noted Schaum Piano Metho...
Dr. Albert Sanderson revolutionized the process of piano tuning by inventing the electronic tuner. Although the device was first questioned by the industry among fears that it would put p...
Bonnie G. Rowe did not seem to mind much when people thought he was a woman because his given name was Bonnie. For 87 years he corrected people and never gave much thought to using his mi...
Manuel Rodriguez Sr. was very proud of his ancestry as a classical guitar luthier in the deep tradition of his native Spain. With honor, pride and passion, the art and craftsmanship has b...
Jean Francois Rico had an early interest in news photography, but following his grandmother’s passing, Jean began working at the company his grandfather had established, Rico Reeds. The c...
Don Ravitch pioneered many elements of keyboard retailing as president of Sherman Clay. With an engineering and financial background Don and his partners purchased the music store chain i...
Mario Procida formed a music distribution company in El Salvador in 1958 that soon expanded into several surrounding countries as well. His strong understanding of musical traditions and ...
Houston Person, after a 3-year old musical partnership with the great vocalist Etta Jones, is only now receiving the recognition he deserves as one of today’s leading instrumentalists in ...
Peter Perez represents a lot of musical history. A former head of CG Conn and CBS Musical Instruments, Peter went on to become the President of Steinway & Sons. His career also includ...
Rudy Pensa formed Rudy’s Music on 48th Street in New York City. It is a favorite for musicians and tourists alike. Beginning in the 1970s Rudy came to America from his native Argentina wi...
Sir John Pearse was proud of the role he played in encouraging countless people to play the guitar. His BBC program Hold Down a Chord was based on lessons he created by picking up simple ...
Earl Palmer may be the most recorded jazz and rock drummer in history! He performed with just about every recording artist from Little Richard and Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson and Frank Si...
George Osztreicher pioneered importing and exporting guitar and violin strings in the United Kingdom back in the 1960s. He formed British Music Strings after working for General Guitar St...
Andrew Barta was born in Hungary and came to the United States with a dream of working in the music industry. Having been in rock bands in Europe, Andrew formed a band in America and work...
Bert Neidhardt was one of the leading experts on musical instrument importing and exporting. As president of German American Trading, he established trade policies and relationships on bo...
Josephine Nadolny only had one job, working for Selmer Band Instruments. When she retired in 2000 she had worked there for 58 years! Over that time she developed the first instrument part...
Don Murphy joined the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music volunteer team as a retiree in 2003 and soon became one of the museum’s most requested docents. Don pioneered the community ...
Harold Moseley was hired by Charles Hansen in the 1960s at the height of the legendary music publisher’s innovative career. Harold was on hand when Hansen developed several now standard p...
James M. E. Mixter may very well have been the only person in the industry to have worked for Baldwin Pianos before, during, and after World War II. As a result, he was able to provide me...
