Richard Abreau played music in school as a kid but got away from it during most of his professional career. Then in 2001, upon his retirement, Richard returned to music! Encouraged by a...
Grace Marquette didn't care much for vacations or trips because it took her away from what she loved, her music store. Grace and her late husband, Robert, purchased the Loser’s Music Stor...
Richard Harrison owned and operated several music retail stores in the United Kingdom including well-known stores on Denmark Street. The street in London is often called the English Tin P...
Gary Bennett entered the music products industry in 1964 working for Chesbro Music in Idaho. At the time of his NAMM Oral History interview, taped during the NAMM Show in January 2012, Ga...
Rodgers Jenkins was the founder of the Rodgers Instrument Corp., based outside of Portland Oregon. Under Rodgers leadership, the company developed a strong engineering team that created ...
Jerry Gorby followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a passionate advocate for music and music making. Jerry worked in the family music store, Gorby Music, in West Virginia, later b...
Thomas Case provided a tour of the Case Brothers Piano Company before our interview. He proudly pointed to a logo of the company when his great grandfather began tuning pianos in 1904. To...
Jack Hill was introduced to music at a very young age as his uncle was a professional musician. Jack started taking guitar lessons at eight years old, which he paid for himself with the m...
George Borun began his luthier endeavors as a hobby and soon found himself enthralled with the angles, the woods and the tools of the trade. He embarked on a mission to assemble the bluep...
Mike Adams was a sound designer and engineer who began servicing SouthernCalifornia's audio needs in the 1970s. Seeing the need for sound reinforcement during changing times, he left his ...
Arthur Lee Williams was only five years old when his uncle brought over a harmonica for him as a gift. Arthur took to the harmonica right away and made his career playing it and singing t...
Sidney Davis took over the Musical Merchandise Review (MMR) trade magazine in the 1980s. Originally the magazine began reporting on the industry in the 1880s and became an important resou...
Denny Mack was surrounded by music his entire life! His father was a Vaudeville performer and it seems all Denny ever wanted to do was be involved with music. He played drums at sock-hops...
David Lindley grew up close to the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California, where he was exposed to stringed instruments from around the world. He also worked for Berry Grassmuek Music...
Anna Sipavich was a real life Rosie the Riveter with ties to the music products industry. She was a factory worker at the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb, IL, when the Second World War broke ...
Skip Maggiora has revolutionized retailing within the music products industry. With his Weekend Warriors program a whole new segment of the population was being targeted to become music m...
Phil Rovner was having some trouble with his intonation as a saxophone player, and decided to design a new approach to attaching the reed to his mouthpiece. As an engineer, he had the kno...
Dave Hill was always playing with electronics as a kid and also had a great love for music. He played drums in bands throughout high school but was always more interested in the science b...
Vic Lillo Sr. and his wife Doreen started a business in 1963, opening Lillo’s School Of Modern Music Ltd, a music school and retail music store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Lillo’s Music...
Butch Miles was born in Ironton, Ohio, on the 4th of July during a family reunion. When he was asked to join the school band he decided to play the drums. By the time he was in high schoo...
Louise Harrison was the older sister of George and played an important role in the Beatle's success in America. In 1963, the year before the Beatles arrived, Louise was living in the Uni...
Lane Zastrow was playing professionally and even teaching music as a teenager. His main instrument was the accordion! After years on the road, Lane made his way into the print world. I...
Jerry Blavat was a DJ and radio broadcaster with a lot of energy! Also known as “The Geator with the Heater” and “The Big Boss with the Hot Sauce,” Jerry started his career on the origina...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Robert Hill became the president of the Organ Exchange shortly after it was established by Curt Carter. Together the two men worked long and hard at creating a business model that helped ...
William C. Everitt was one of the big names in the music products industry from the big state of Texas. As a musical retailer, he assisted in the development of the industry and the way i...
Jim Lo Duca's father and uncle founded Lo Duca Brothers, a small music store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just before America entered World War II. With his uncle drafted, Jim's father, Tom, ...
Martin König’s father, Karl, partnered with Erich Meyer in 1949 to create a wholesale business in which their first products were music stands. Soon the Germany-based company grew to not ...
Freddie Roulette pioneered the use of the slide guitar in the blues style. When he began playing slide guitar he was emulating country and western music and felt the instrument would fit...
Bob Page opened a small store in Pasadena, California, in 1971 called The Guitar Shop. Nearly from the beginning his brother Tim was involved. By the time Bob moved the store to Leucadi...
Murray Grodner, along with his first wife Leah, formed Lemur Music, Inc., a catalog business that specialized in the needs of the Double Bassist. His impressive background as bassist, pro...
Walter “Wolfman” Washington was a staple on the New Orleans music scene since first picking up a guitar in the 1950s. After some minor corrections on technique and tuning, Wolfman hit the...
