Mark Sampson and his friend, Rick Perrotta, formed Matchless Amplifiers in Mark’s kitchen back in 1989. Two years later they pulled all of their resources to exhibit at the NAMM Show in ...
Chris Jasper was the funk and soul keyboardist, singer and composer who played a key role in the Isley Brothers sound. He later helped form Isley-Jasper-Isley, which, like the Isley Brot...
Seiki Kato was the president of KORG, the Japan based electronics company that has created innovative musical products since his father first established the company in the 1970s. Seiki p...
Denis Wick was only 25 years old when he became the principal trombonist for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Over the next 30 years, he played with the LSO and other world class orch...
Joan Flintoff LoPear joined the Southern California chapter of the Music Library Association (MLA) in 1967 just as the organization and the field of music librarians were recreating thems...
Harold Stone served the music products industry in many ways over a long and celebrated career. After working in a music retail store (Mays Music), Harold joined the CG Conn Company where...
Dr. Sherman Hong was encouraged at a young age by several outstanding music teachers to play percussion. In sixth grade he learned how to play drums using the Belwin band method series, w...
Garth Hudson sat down at the piano and played several classical works as the NAMM Oral History crew set up the camera and lights. He began by playing, stopping every once in a while, to r...
Arnold Poppenberg was hired by the Winter Piano Company as a traveling salesman in 1959, the same year he attended his first NAMM Show. He remained with Winter for ten years, but went on ...
Stu Cohen grew up playing the clarinet, and took lessons for close to eight years. In the early 1950s, Stu listened mostly to country music on the radio, just because it was the only stat...
Sam Moore and his singing partner Dave Prater helped put Stax Records on the map with their string of top hits in the 1960s. Their powerful performances inspired their nicknames of Double...
Peter Yarrow was the Peter in the wildly successful popular folk music trio Peter, Paul, and Mary. During his often musical NAMM Oral History interview, Peter spoke of the role music play...
Maureen Gamlin opened a music store with her husband in the coastal city of Cardiff in Wales. Gamlin Music was first opened in the late 1950s and was built as a family-oriented business w...
Michael Diehl opened a small store in Freehold, New Jersey after serving in the United States Navy during World War II. He attended college on the GI Bill and found that he could run the ...
Javier Batiz was very proud of the role he played in bringing American Blues music to Mexico! His own playing in bands and as a solo artist brought a great awareness to the Blues south of...
Leo Adelman spent much of his life playing the jazz trumpet. In retirement, he spends a great deal of time playing and promoting jazz throughout San Diego County. When the NAMM Oral Histo...
Michael O’Dorn remembered the moment he met one of his musical heroes, Merle Travis. Mr. Travis flicked a thumb pick to young Michael, who soon developed an even greater appreciation for ...
Jim Coleman Sr. recalled watching his father, a true traveling music man, tune a piano when Jim was just a boy. He not only went on to make a career of tuning, but set standards for testi...
Craig Smith began piano lessons at the age seven and by the time he was twelve, was fascinated with the sounds of the home organ. He started demonstrating organs for Karnes Music at thirt...
George Lemus opened a music store in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico in the late 1950s and named it M. Haus Lemus. He focused on building a family business with consistent and quality...
Vic Flick is perhaps best remebered for a little lick he recorded on guitar for the movie James Bond! His fascinating career as a musician, which dates back to the late 1950s, was capture...
Roy Haynes knows jazz! His ideas and techniques have made him a legendary drummer who in many ways helped develop Bebop and Free Jazz, a form of post Bop jazz that was popular beginning i...
Ella Jenkins earned the title The First Lady of Children's Folk Songs and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to bringing music to children. She began collecting and w...
Quincy Jones! How can you write a few sentences to describe Quincy Jones? His long and amazing career in music has produced the soundtrack to many of our own life experiences and his driv...
Jerry Hauer grew up in a very musical home. His father was a big band leader with a noted radio show, Michael Hauer and His Band of the Hour! When Michael was off the road with his band, ...
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...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Jack Jones was the son of actors Allan Jones and Irene Herv...
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...
Graham Blyth began playing music at the age of 4 and studied electrical engineering in college, which led to his final paper on the topic of electronic organs. While writing the paper, Gr...
Al Sturchio served the Texas Bandmasters Association for over 25 years as director and also as president. His passion and unbelievable energy has been a large part of the success of the a...
James Goldberg grew up in Washington DC and was a journalism major in college, which led to jobs as a writer for newspapers. He later received his law degree at George Washington Univers...
Owen Clayton began playing the double bass while in school. At the time, he had to stand on a box to play, but he didn’t mind at all because he enjoyed the sound of the instrument and it’...
