Peter Janis played in school orchestra and rock bands growing up as his mother played piano in the home and encouraged him to pursue music. His first job in the industry was working at S...
Chris Jasper was the funk and soul keyboardist, singer and composer who played a key role in the Isley Brothers sound. He later helped form Isley-Jasper-Isley, which, like the Isley Brot...
Ella Jenkins earned the title The First Lady of Children's Folk Songs and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to bringing music to children. She began collecting and w...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Al Jensen began his musical career at the age of 13 playing clarinet in a Vaudeville show. That is, he played until his parents found out where he was playing. His band director convinced...
Marie Jensen was born in Rosebud, Texas as the daughter of a Texas Ranger. She graduated college in Houston with a business degree before meeting Al Jensen on a blind date. The two were m...
Dr. John became the unofficial ambassador of New Orleans music by showcasing the mystic and voodoo rich traditions of southern Louisiana, which has become the backdrop to many Mardi Gras ...
Dr. Mable John played many roles for a wide variety of people. She was a singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, author, educator, leader, minister, mentor, and friend. Her career as a ba...
Merle Johnson was a past president of the famous EK Blessing Company in Elkhart, Indiana. Emil Karl Blessing opened a small brasswind valve company in 1906 and soon expanded his products ...
Robert Johnson served as a sales manager for Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) when the company first acquired the noted violinmakers William Lewis & Son. As a salesman, he worked clo...
Alphonso Johnson, an internationally renowned bassist and Chapman Stick virtuoso, epitomizes the epitome of musical mastery and innovation. With a career spanning decades, Alphonso has ca...
Jimmy Johnson was a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama along with fellow studio musicians Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood. The four musicians, known as th...
Ralph Johnson joined Earth, Wind and Fire in 1972. That was an important year for the band as founder Maurice White changed the line-up to include singers Jessica Cleaves and Philip Baile...
Steve Johnson played saxophone in high school and in college while earning his electrical engineering degree. He was able to apply both passions when he joined the pro audio industry work...
Don Johnston has become a well-respected sales manager for the Fender Musical Instruments Corp. He was hired just after CBS Musical purchased the famed electric guitar company in May 196...
Walt Johnston was best known throughout the industry for his role in introducing the Pearl Drum Company to the United States. After a gig selling band instruments, Walt was hired by CMI t...
Gene Joly is a well respected leader within the industry who has mentored many young employees who have developed within their own careers as well as helping grow the industry! After per...
Leslie Ann Jones is the renowned recording engineer and pioneering producer and mixer who helped re-define the craft of engineering in the 1970s and 80s. She is well known for her long li...
Quincy Jones! How can you write a few sentences to describe Quincy Jones? His long and amazing career in music has produced the soundtrack to many of our own life experiences and his driv...
Darryl Jones was born on the south side of Chicago into a musical family. His father taught him drums and xylophone at 7 years old. But when Jones saw his neighbor, Angus Thomas, playing ...
Simon Jones has a rich background with the guitar, which has come full circle with his role with the Yamaha Guitar Group. As a teenager he played, and even built his own guitar to play wi...
Buford Jones has thoroughly enjoyed his career as a live sound mixer and FOH engineer for over 50 years. He toured in excess of 47 years with artists such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Eric...
Booker T. Jones grew up in Memphis and began recording as a session player while still in high school at the age of 17. While waiting for a session to begin, Booker and the other musicia...
Judy Hauth loved being a docent for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music, a fact very clear on the faces of those who have been on one of her informative tours. Judy was also one ...
Al Kahn, the founder of Electro Voice and the inventor of several important microphone models told a great story on how his company got its name. Mr. Kahn was an industry pioneer and an e...
Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Corporation, created more than a successful business with a host of important innovations in electronic musical instruments; he has also paid trib...
David Kalt remembers, with a smile, the Fender Stratocaster he dreamed of as a kid. He also recalls that great day in 1985 when he finally got a 1970s Strat! The instrument has a special ...
Bill Kaman served as president of Kaman Music Corporation, a company started by his father. Under Bill’s direction, Kaman Music expanded its product line, developed overseas markets, and ...
Ziggy Kanstul knew more about brass instruments than most people. As an important part of the manufacturing end of the FE Olds Company, Ziggy became an expert on model designs, the specif...
Jim Kaplan and his longtime partner, Jim Botti, were both band directors in Pittsburgh area schools when they saw the need to provide private lessons after school. Together they opened a...
Hirokazu Kato took part in the innovative engineering team at Yamaha in Japan who utilized FM Synthesis to create an electronic musical instrument, first the TRX prototype and then the re...
Tsutomu Katoh had many ideas for using electronics to improve the way people make music in their homes. As the founder of KORG, Katoh-san (also spelled Kato) was able to see his ideas tur...
