Peter Bartkus grew up in Rockford, Illinois and was proud to establish a music shop there in the early 1950s. Tru Tone Music became a hub for musicians and was known throughout the area f...
Luigi Bruti was an accordion champion as a teenager and was asked by the Siel Musical Instrument Company to demonstrate their latest products. It was the beginning of his life long career...
Abbott Buegeleisen and his late brother ran the music wholesaling business that his father formed in New York City. Abbott’s father and a friend, who soon after passed away, combined thei...
Skip Buss played trumpet for several big bands on the road and in local hotel ballrooms during the great Swing Era of the 1940s. He decided to leave the road when his son was born at whi...
Alex Carozza has designed his own reed system for the accordion. The idea came to Alex after years of performing on the instruments and repairing them in his shop, Alex Music, on 48th St....
Frank Charles is perhaps best known for playing the organ during most hockey, baseball, and basketball games during the 1980s in Milwaukee. His riffs for the Brewers influenced many other...
C.J. Chenier is the son of Clifton Chenier, known as The King of Zydeco. C.J. was always encouraged to play music and fondly remembers his father purchasing a guitar for him at a very you...
Dick Contino had a series of hit recordings and popular television appearances in the 1950s playing his trusty accordion. By the end of that decade, he was hired by M. H. Berlin at Chicag...
Michael Diehl opened a small store in Freehold, New Jersey after serving in the United States Navy during World War II. He attended college on the GI Bill and found that he could run the ...
Michael Doucet has become an important link to the roots of Cajun music, not only because he has written and performed the musical style since he was 6 years old, but because of the month...
Peggy Falcetti and her husband, Sam, opened Falcetti Music in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1957. Since that time, Peggy and Sam have been very active in many community music programs. Pe...
Sam Falcetti can tell you everything you’d ever want to know about the accordion and, as the salesman that he is, he would sell you one! Sam’s retail store, Falcetti’s Music, is located i...
Ilse Fischer delivered orders for Kirschnek on her scooter to the luthiers of the music town of Schönbach/Luby. Her father, Franz Kirschnek, established the company which specializes in e...
Gary Galanti comes from a well-known and well-respected music products family. His great grandfather began building accordions in Italy in 1890 and later his uncle and father sold them in...
Matteo Galanti and his family have been instrumental in the growth and development of the accordion and organ industry, both inside and outside the United States. Beginning in the 1950s, ...
Frank Green opened his first music retail store in Southern California in 1959 and called it Music For Everyone. He began working in the music industry some 12 years earlier as student en...
Steve Halpern is an esteemed docent volunteer at NAMM’s Museum of Making Music, which provides an opportunity for him to blend his love of music with his background as an educator. As a y...
Jon Hammond's career is a testament to his musical prowess and unwavering passion for the industry. With more than 40 years of experience, Jon has not only graced the stage alongside lege...
Frank Huang joined the Hohner Harmonica Company along with his brother, famed Chinese performer Cham-Ber Huang, to design a specialized harmonica. Frank’s understanding of the development...
Chad Huval puts a whole lot of Creole heritage into his playing. Born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, he received his first accordion from his father as a child. As he grew and developed his...
Art Kubera began taking accordion lessons when he was eight years old growing up in Buffalo, New York. His love of music continued to develop and within a few years he was playing in sch...
Larry Larson loved the accordion! He played it most of his life, so when he had the idea to sell and teach the instrument, opening a store seemed like the right thing to do. He opened ...
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, ...
Tony Lovello began playing accordion when he was five years old, thanks to the fact that his father was a professional musician. Tony performed on stage, television, radio and in the mov...
Yasuharu Mano’s grandfather opened a toy business in 1902 in Japan and by 1917 expanded to include a small line of harmonicas. Soon, the harmonica became in high demand and the company ch...
Harry Osiecki’s father started a music store out of his parent’s home. In 1933, he opened up his first store, which had a living unit upstairs for his family. Although he tragically died ...
Bonnie G. Rowe did not seem to mind much when people thought he was a woman because his given name was Bonnie. For 87 years he corrected people and never gave much thought to using his mi...
Isaac Sadigursky credited much of his understanding and passion for music to the school he attended in his native Russia. He began attending music school at the age of five and developed ...
Tony Santorella opened his own music publishing company just north of Boston after learning the trade from the iconic publisher Charles Hansen. Tony was an All State trumpet player who st...
Al Slivinski was in the third grade when a salesman visited his school with the pitch “you too can be an accordion player!” Al developed great techniques on the accordion that served him ...
Palmi Snorrasen grew up in Iceland and was formally trained on the trombone, vibraphones, and accordion as a teenager. By his eighteenth birthday, Palmi was playing professionally and he ...
