Eugene Wright can be heard playing bass on the classic jazz song “Take Five” as a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, but what most people may not know is that Eugene fronted his own band...
Mototsugu Shimamura grew a small Japanese music retail store into the country’s largest music retail chain. Shimamura Music has played a vital role in music education and the expansion of...
Bob Brumley was the owner of Albert E. Brumley & Sons, a music publishing company established by his father in 1944. Albert E. Brumley was a gifted songwriter who often penned religio...
Daniel Mari followed in the footsteps of his father in running the Mari String Company in New York City. While serving as president of the company, Daniel worked hard to expand the produc...
Carl Mann sang in church as a child and grew up just a few years behind Elvis Presley, who, like Carl, brought the style of church musical expression to popular music when he began record...
Jim Eaton became a professional cellist and played often with his brother. He played in several orchestras and symphonies as well as small groups. Jim’s passion and knowledge of string in...
Paul Winther took over his parent’s music store in Boise, Idaho, which was opened in 1943. Paul enjoyed the selling side of the business, especially selling pianos and organs. Paul took...
Charley Pride was born one of 11 children in Sledge, Mississippi. Although he enjoyed music as child and learned to pick out songs on guitar by ear, Charley had a desire to be a professio...
William Demmers volunteered for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for over ten years. During that time he provided tours as a trained docent to guests of all ages. His own back...
Toru Hora was classically trained on the piano and attended Juilliard. He joined the Buffet Crampon company in 1964 and both established and served as president of the Buffet Japan branch...
Stan Lindenbaum grew up in Brooklyn and developed many thoughts and ideas about selling. While working for several different industries during his career, Stan studied the idea of incenti...
Bernice Ash began working at the Sam Ash Music Store in New York City in 1947, one year before marrying the founder’s eldest son, Jerry. Bernice and Jerry continued the tradition of keepi...
Fred Tinker and Rodgers Jenkins formed the Rodger Instrument Company in 1958. The partnership began when their church asked if they would join the team to help purchase an organ. Fred and...
John F. Edmunds began arranging music as a high school student, when he found that commercially available arrangements were not suitable for his band of non-standard instrumentation. Afte...
Scott Summerhays was the President of the company his parents established in Salt Lake City back in 1936. Scott and his brother Briant worked together to grow the family business and even...
Bruce Swedien was working with Quincy Jones when Michael Jackson asked the two if they would work on his upcoming album, entitled “Thriller.” It became the biggest selling album on the pl...
Mike Korpak enjoyed his work in the factory at Gibson Guitars beginning back in the 1960s in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During his career at Gibson, Mike was able to grow into management and ra...
Candido Camero was born in Cuba on April 22, 1921. By the age of four he was already interested in percussive instruments--a field he would revolutionize by blending Latin beats with jazz...
Joe Ussery was the supply manager for the Baldwin Piano factory in Greenwood, Mississippi when he first joined the company in 1973. He later helped manage the raw materials for Greenwood ...
Mari Mach spent nearly 40 years in the music industry in and around Elkhart, Indiana. She began her career in the sales department working for C. G. Conn for four years before being offer...
John Kuziel was a long time factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He worked as a final inspector for the guitar line and later was in t...
Viola Smith Viola played drums in a number of big bands and small combos during her career in music. She joined Phil Spitalny's all-female orchestra as the drummer and later appeared in s...
Spencer Davis hit it big with a string of rock songs during the heyday of the British Invasion of the 1960s. His band, The Spencer Davis Group, started with a school mate named Muff Winwo...
Bud DiFluri enjoyed a long and successful career in the music industry in both retail and manufacturing. He managed the Yamaha band and orchestra department in New York City with a focus ...
Horst Mucha was one of the most recognizable faces within the music products industry. As a past president of Hohner and a pioneer in the expansion of the company’s product line, Horst tr...
Chip Wise served in the piano business for over fifty years and enjoyed the customers he met and the people of the music industry. During the early days of the NAMM Oral History program m...
Richie Jones Jr. began playing drums professionally when he was 12 years old for teen clubs and skating rinks. While gigging, he developed skills in production and worked for Morris Broth...
Rocco Prestia grew up in Northern California where he began playing guitar as a teenager before joining the group Tower of Power just after the famous band was formed. It was during these...
Bugs Bower was one of the great characters of music publishing that helped re-direct the industry following World War II. Before and during the war, Bugs was a musician and arranger who p...
Rebecca Apodaca was the President of A & D Music Incorporated in Southern California. She played music as a child and gravitated to the electric bass. Her father and others such as Do...
WS Holland played drums behind Johnny Cash for over 40 years! The man put the beat to most of Johnny’s greatest recordings and his innovations in drumming inspired countless musicians aro...
Roy Head was born a sharecropper's son in the tiny town of Three Rivers, Texas. Growing up listening to every style of music available on his small radio, Roy became heavily influenced by...
