Bruce Zinky loves playing guitar, but even at a young age he realized he enjoyed modifying instruments for himself and his friends. The Fender custom shop hired him in the early 1990s to...
Mel Wisniewski gave music lessons in a small music store in upstate Wisconsin and soon discovered he was interested in the idea of owning his own store. Not wanting to compete with his fr...
Vanetta Wilson was the fourth generation owner of her family’s music business. Chesbro Music began in 1911 as a music retailer and expanded over the years to become one of the largest mus...
Agness Tsao earned her college degree in banking and always had a love of music, singing in choirs from a young age. After college, she began working for KHS Musical Instruments, which ha...
Donn Trenner was one of the most successful pianists in the big band and Bebop jazz eras. He began his career with the popular Ted Fio Rito Orchestra beginning in 1943. He later played wi...
Csaba Toth was working in the hotel management business when, by pure chance, he had the opportunity to work in the music products industry. As a keyboard player in a local band, Csaba wa...
Peter Tork was an original member of the Monkees and enjoyed great success on TV and the top of the pop charts during the mid and late 1960s. Years later, Peter admitted that the cast mem...
Mark Terry always dreamed of being a recording engineer, even as a kid when he first discovered his love of music and technology. In time he would become just that, but along the way he d...
Bryce Taylor was one of the best known and respected bandmasters in the state of Texas. His school bands performed at the Midwest Band Clinic, TMEA, and the Texas Bandmaster’s Association...
Richard Taninbaum grew up in a musical family. His father, Wolf, played saxophone for many top big bands during the Swing Era and later created his own mouthpiece company. So, it was no s...
William Stonier always stressed the importance of personal relationships when conducting business in the music industry because the passion for music was a very personal and very critical...
Patrick Stansfield was the legendary stage manager who, along with Bill Graham of FM Productions, launched the modern music concert format by creating and popularizing the arena rock busi...
DeWitt Scott knew about as much as a person can know about steel guitars! As a retailer he sold them, as a performer he played them, as a composer and author he wrote about them and as a ...
Stanley Schireson’s father opened up a small music store in 1902 that would eventually branch out into manufacturing and distribution of musical instruments. The company began making ukul...
Leo Scala was born in Belgrade Serbia and moved to Moscow to attend college. He studied chemical engineering, but soon realized this was not his true passion. Having played guitar since h...
Luis Ruvina grew up in the music industry! His family established the Daniel Ruvina Music Company back in 1917. Over the years Luis continued in the tradition of the company and the indus...
Elliott Rubinson fell in love with the bass at the age of 12 and played it every waking moment as he grew up in Queens, New York, in the rock era of the 1960s. He toured with a number of ...
Floyd Rose began his career as a machinist working on jewel inlays, all the while playing guitar on the side in local bands and in clubs. Over the years he became frustrated with the lack...
Jimmie Rodgers was a popular singer and songwriter who topped the charts in the 1950s and 60s with recordings such as "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again," "Are ...
Johnny Rivers had a series of top hits as a pop singer beginning in the 1960s with records such as "Seventh Son," "Poor Side of Town" and "Secret Agent Man.” Within the music products ind...
Bernard Purdie became a studio drummer in the early 1960s. In fact his first recording was when he provided the influential drum beat heard in the beginning of “Just One Look” with singer...
John Pisano was a celebrated jazz guitarist, featured on thousands of recordings. He collaborated with legends such as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, Chico Hamilton, and Diana Krall. John’s...
Charles Phillips played trombone in his high-school band and continued through college. He studied music and business, and along the way played in an R&B band. He was hired at St. Lou...
Michael Pettersen is the official historian of Shure Incorporated. He can tell you everything you’d ever want to know about the long list of innovations and long-lasting microphone develo...
Erik Norlander is the perfect musician to have come into his own as a performer as the synthesizer and other electronic musical instruments were being developed in the 1980s. In addition ...
Terry Lewis has fulfilled many roles within the music products industry including Executive Vice President of Yamaha Corporation of America. Under his leadership, the company expanded its...
Hans Kuhner has followed long traditions in print music by engraving musical notes on lead plates to reproduce songs – hearkening to the days and the style in which Germany’s music publis...
Dave Koz is best known as the smooth jazz saxophonist who recorded hit albums beginning in the 1990s. However, his life in music began as a piano student before playing in the high school...
Gene Garb is the Vice President of NEMC, joining the company only a few years after it was established in the 1950s. NEMC is a school oriented music wholesaler located in Mountainside, Ne...
James Decker had been an active music maker ever since performing with his mother on radio broadcasts while he was a child. Over the years, he continued his pursuit of music study and eve...
