Franz Mohr was the chief concert technician for Steinway and Sons for many decades. During his long and colorful career, Franz worked on the pianos of many of the great pianists of his ti...
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...
Vic Firth was a classically trained timpanist, playing with a number of highly regarded symphonies around the world. Over the years he developed a few ideas that improved on the way malle...
Joe Calato was the inventor of the nylon-tipped drumstick, who turned the small idea of preserving his favorite sticks into an industry success story. He formed Regal Tip to produce his u...
Sonny Burgess was known as the wild man of rock and roll who brought a driving guitar style to early Sun recordings (the label that launched Elvis Presley). Among those recordings were “W...
Wayne Burdick’s pedal steel guitar made by Paul Bigsby graced the cover of the luthier’s first catalog. Wayne befriended Mr. Bigsby in the 1950s while Wayne was a member of the Tex Willia...
Jeanne Bundy-Morrow was only married to Frank Bundy a few months when her father-in-law, the pioneering instrument designer George Bundy, passed away. Because Jeanne had known George for ...
Gene Brown joined the Ovation Guitar Company within the first year of the company’s establishment in 1966. After serving in the United States Army during Vietnam, Gene was immediately off...
Junior Brown is a performer/inventor who dreamed of a sound to offset his rockabilly and blues styles. He designed a slide guitar and an electric guitar into one unit that did not require...
Maury Brochstein recalls growing up in the drum business. His father, Herb, established Pro-Mark drumsticks in 1957 and involved Maury at a young age. Maury saw the need to expand the pro...
Geoff Brash was an iconic music retailer in Australia who became known around the world for his passion and his brilliant business knowledge. As the managing director of Brash Music, Geof...
Hal Blaine was perhaps the most recorded drummer from the California recording studios of the 1950s-'70s. His influential style can be heard on more than 170 number one hit songs and 450...
Bill Xavier was introduced into the music products industry while working with Hartley Peavey. Peavey became a strong mentor to Bill and was like a second father to him. Bill has often sa...
Bert Turetzky likes telling stories in his playing. He likes to make his listeners think about new ideas and in doing so he often creates a way for people to feel something they may not h...
Peggy Sexton and her husband, Bob, formed Tactus Press to publish books on early percussion. Peggy’s passion for research and the social history surrounding the development of musical ins...
Carol Kaye can be heard on such landmark recordings as “La Bamba,” the Mission Impossible theme, and scores of hits produced by Phil Spector. She started playing jazz guitar in a big band...
Chubby Jackson was the 1947 Down Beat magazine’s reader poll winner for the best bassist of the year. When the Kay Music Company of Chicago told Chubby that they would be presenting him w...
Charlie Gorby was a true visionary for the music products industry and the founder of Gorby Music in West Virginia. As a lone store retailer, Charlie was a regular attendee at the NAMM sh...
Gary Burton, the renowned vibraphonist, provided wonderful and detailed insight into the Musser Company that he has been linked with for most of his life. He traced the company’s history ...
Bob Bull held many positions throughout the music products industry over his long career. However, he is perhaps best known as the president of the Steinway & Sons piano company durin...
Herb Brochstein had a million stories about his long and successful career in the industry. One of these stories was about how he developed a new drumstick and formed ProMark, one of the ...
David Briggs is a great example that not all those in the music products industry enters into it because of their passion for music. David’s passion is business and he has developed one o...
Q David Bowers contributed greatly to the archiving of the music products industry. As an author, he researched and published several books on the early era of mechanical instruments. His...
Carl Bosse played an important role in the uncovering of our industry’s history when he sat down for our interview to discuss the Artley Flute Company. Since Mr. Artley had passed away in...
Lee Berk’s father had a unique approach to teaching music, bringing the passion and fun of music making into the classroom. The Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, was founded with th...
John Beltrandi served as a road rep for Kaman Music on the east coast for over 40 years. He traveled mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut and helped pioneer the Ovation guitar, which w...
Dick Bell was surprised by the impact he had on the music industry, a fact that became clear to him at the NAMM Show 2009, when the Roland Corp gave him a retirement party and NAMM reques...
Ruby Beeston was a piano teacher when she suggested that a local piano store carry sheet music. The store offered her space to sell the materials, which led to her opening a small chain o...
Tom Beckmen opened a music store with his band director while still in college in 1958. The relationships he created in the store lead to a road salesman job with C. Bruno. He traveled th...
John H. Beck has an amazing talent for explaining the art of music making, not just teaching music, but providing meaning to the student in ways that fuel their passion. As the principal...
