Grover Jackson grew up outside of Nashville, TN and developed a strong and lasting passion for music, not just playing it in noted bands, but in designing instruments to achieve creative ...
Dale Hyatt was hired by Leo Fender while the iconic guitar builder was still a radio repairman in Fullerton, CA. The year was 1948. Dale recalled all of the major landmarks that helped es...
Joe Hume was a veteran school band director before he opened Hume Music located in Kansas. His love of school bands continued as a retailer and as such he established new bands and expand...
Richard Myrland was a wizard, just as his name suggested! As a product designer for Wurlitzer, Dick created the famed 1050 juke box. With his devotion to the “Wurlitzer Way” credo, he, as...
Scotty Moore set a date and time on July 4, 1954, to get together with a young singer who wanted to record with Sam Philips at Sun Records in Memphis. Sam asked Scotty, who had recorded w...
Tommy Moore was introduced to the music industry by his father, Woods Moore, who operated Ault’s Music store in Fort Worth, TX. After earning a degree in finance, Tommy returned to the st...
Ruth Ann Melk recalled the days when her husband’s father would design specialized tools for the repair of musical instruments, which her husband, Phil Jr, soon developed into a full time...
Owen McPeek always wanted to play music, so he found several day jobs that allowed him to play music at night. He ran Rush’s Music on Alcoa Highway in Knoxville, Tennessee, for over a dec...
William McNamara reported to Mr. Alfred LaMotte, a true legend in the music products industry when Bill was first hired by Thearle’s Music stores in San Diego in the 1930s. Mr. LaMotte wa...
H. C. McMurtry sure knew a lot about the Wurlitzer Company! Not only did he work for the company for nearly 20 years, he traveled throughout the country, selling the company’s product l...
John McLaren Sr. served as the president of BBE Sound, which develops pro audio gear. The company purchased G&L Guitars and has been dedicated to keeping the spirit of the founders an...
Charlie McCoy is one of the noted musicians known as the A Team, in the Nashville studios of the 1950s, 60s and 70s! Charlie’s harmonica can be heard on several popular recordings –countl...
Jimmy Mays performed rock and country music for over 30 years. Along the way he kept his day job, working at Bill Higgins Music from nearly the beginning. Some 40 years later Jimmy stands...
Gil Marschner had several key positions in the music products industry beginning in the 1950s and into the 1980s. Best known as G. Leblanc’s accountant, Gil and his wife Vera, developed l...
Martha Markowitz married her knight-in-shining-armor right after World War II. She soon helped him run the small organ company he started before the war. The Allen Organ Company has been ...
Harvey Levy is the bow-tie wearing spokesman and brother of the founder of Levy – the world’s leading maker of guitar straps. Harvey has become synonymous with creating and designing prod...
William Brilhart grew up in a house of music. His father, Arnold Brilhart, was the jazz saxophonist who established a mouthpiece and accessories company and introduced innovative products...
Robert Brilhart is the eldest of the sons of mouthpiece pioneer Arnold Brilhart. Arnold was a well-known saxophonist in the early days of recorded jazz and throughout the Big Band Era. Al...
Stanley Werbin opened a small guitar shop he named Elderly Instruments on July 5, 1972. The original location was in East Lansing, Michigan and focused on "used instruments". Within a fe...
Charles Watkins invented the Watkins Copicat, an echo unit introduced in 1958. Mr. Watkins was inspired by the Morino Marini Quartet who made famous the Comi Prima, which contained a spec...
Charles Walter was a pillar in the piano business for nearly 60 years. He was hired by the C.G. Conn Company to work in the piano design department back in 1964. While there he worked und...
Nelson Varon is the founder of the Nelson Varon Piano and Organ Studios who has enjoyed a long career in the music products industry. During his career in the retail business, which focus...
Victor Tibaldeo Sr. loved to talk about the accordion boom of the 1950s, an element that helped establish his music store. The Miami-based store also was one of the country’s most success...
John Thomas was the lead piano repair man for Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. The historic music retailer, which opened for business before the Civil War and closed in 2003, had sever...
Logan Swords has always been passionate about music and about promoting music makers. As a young child, he began playing drums and found out first-hand the benefits of music making. When ...
Lars Seifert was interviewed alongside Karl Pucholt in the oldest building of the CA Seydel & Sons harmonica company in Klingenthal, Germany. The two men headed the team that brought ...
Gerson Rosenbloom grew up in the music industry! His father, Harry, formed Medley Music for which Gerson would later become president. Gerson took pride in being a member of the industry ...
Randy Navarre loved teaching music as a band director. He composed works just for his own bands and even developed a few methods before ever thinking that his efforts could be published....
Frank Nelson played trumpet and cornet during the swing era, touring with Alvino Rey’s Orchestra among others. He arranged music for the bands, both small groups and the larger outfits an...
Prescott Niles was the original bassist for the Knack. His driving licks can be heard on the classic recording of “My Sharona” and his strong rhythmic teaming with band drummer Bruce Gary...
