Leon Rhodes was one of the most beloved country music guitarists in history. He established himself as a clever and hard driving musician as part of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours. Leon’...
Maury Rhodes enjoyed a long career in the music industry with a focus on the music publishing side of the business. He oversaw the Chicago operation of the Carl Fischer Company before bei...
Emil Richards played a significant role in the expanded use and knowledge of world percussion instruments. Through his recordings and work for TV and the movies, Emil was known for adding...
Rusty Richards would like to point out the distinction between Singing Cowboys and Cowboys that sing. He was very much a cowboy, having roped, rode in the rodeo and worked as a ranch hand...
Dick Richardson was working with the Lyons Band Instrument Company in Chicago in the early 1960s when he was given the chance to run the Musser vibraphone division of the company. Dick b...
George Riley is an embodiment of the passion so often found in the music products industry. George worked side by side the founder of Electro-Voice, Al Kahn, during the major expansion ye...
Al Rinaldi was the first person ever to receive the Steinway Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to him in 2012. Al never worked for the piano manufacturer nor did he work for an...
Jack Ripperger was the director of marketing for the Hammond Organ Company for seven years, at the height of the home organ boom in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. During hi...
Bob Rissi was the founder of Risson Amplifier Company, which produces Made-in-America products based on Bob’s own designs. He began designing amplifiers in 1960 when he was hired by Leo ...
Art Ritchie grew up in East Rochester, New York in the same part of town that Elmer Brooks grew up. Elmer would later hire Art becoming one of his mentors in the music industry. After ser...
Lyle Ritz worked for a Los Angeles music store in the 1950s when his career as a studio musician began to take off. Lyle’s studio years were filled with numerous ground-breaking hits, man...
Jimmy Rivers was known in the world of Western Swing as an innovative guitarist who played a double neck and brought to life a hard driving style known as the Brisbane Bop. Jimmy was a c...
Pat Rizzo heard Sly Stone was looking for a sax player to join the band. He went backstage at a concert with his horn and Sly told him to go into the bathroom. Sly asked if he was good a...
Ed Rizzuto was surrounded by music his entire life. As a young boy he started playing trombone, which he continued throughout high school and into his military service in the early 1950s....
Hargus “Pig” Robbins became a member of the Nashville studio group of musicians known as the A Team. As a gifted piano player, Pig gained the attention of producers such as Owen Bradley a...
Bud Roberds was two months shy of his 103rd birthday when he was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program about his life in music. His father was an avid musician, always bringing in...
George Roberts is known in the jazz world for his recording of “Stella By Starlight” with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, which featured George on bass trombone. He is known among music instru...
Robbie Robertson was a member of the rock group The Band, which backed Bob Dylan and went on to record a string of hit songs, many of which Robbie wrote. During his NAMM Oral History inte...
Robert Rockley took over the music store that his parents had started in Denver, Colorado. Bob, along with his wife Nina, expanded the products they carried while he focused on growing th...
Danny Rocks was associated with music publishers for many years. He served at Alfred Publishing as vice president and was a large part of the RPMDA. By all who knew him, he was the RPMDA ...
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 ...
Scott Rodgers was offered a whopping $5.00 an hour from his friend’s dad to help with the staging at a Deep Purple concert in 1973. It was the start of his career in the music industry an...
Manuel Rodriguez Sr. was very proud of his ancestry as a classical guitar luthier in the deep tradition of his native Spain. With honor, pride and passion, the art and craftsmanship has b...
George Roeder played the flamenco guitar and sang in Barber Shop Quartets ever since he was young. While he was taking lessons from Evelyn Breu, he took a liking to the retail business –a...
Ed Roman opened a guitar store in Las Vegas after a successful career in the motorcycle industry. What he learned about that business and the customer base he found, he could easily apply...
Chan Romero made a significant impact on pop music in the late 1950s and early 60s by blending his Mexican and Native American heritage with rock and roll. He wrote and recorded timeless ...
Wallace Roney attended the Anaheim NAMM Show in 2018, playing his Kanstul trumpet and taking time to sit down for an Oral History interview. He spoke of his love of the trumpet and some o...
Del Roper performed the xylophone for several society big bands, playing on radio with Xavier Cugat in the early 1930s. Del was later a powerful force in studio orchestras and developed a...
Harry Rosenbloom was the founder of Medley Music and one of the true pioneers of import relations with the Japanese beginning in the late 1950s. He developed and maintained key partnershi...
Bud Ross made his first amplifier for his own band in 1958 to save a little money. Within 5 years he had established Kustom Amps, a leader in product design and innovations. The powerful ...
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...
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...