Carma Lou Beck was an active musician and teacher when she began working in music retail in Iowa in the 1960s. She opened her own store in Cedar Rapids in 1967, after working for a few ot...
Tom Bedell began giving guitar lessons in his home town of Spirit Lake, Iowa. Just a few months later, when Tom was 14 years old, he imported guitars with his name on the headstock from ...
John Beeson is the visionary founder and dedicated owner of The Music Shoppe in Terre Haute, Indiana. His lifelong love affair with the guitar began when he received one as a Christmas gi...
Harry Begian was one of the most respected band directors in the United States. Serving at the high school and college levels for over 45 years, Dr. Begian conducted his first band while ...
William Bell began singing in doo-wop groups before signing for Stax Records in Memphis, which is where his first hit was recorded. In fact that song, "You Don't Miss Your Water" was als...
Bryan Bell was given the task of engineering a working synthesizer using all of Herbie Hancock’s favorite keyboards back in the early 1970s, well before MIDI. Herbie’s single instruction ...
Al Bell was in the Stax recording studio in Memphis at the very moment Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed just a few blocks away. Ironically, the recording Al was produci...
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...
Archie Bell, a native of Houston, Texas, grew up listening to his mother sing in the Baptist church. Out of her seven sons she singled out Archie and suggested that he should try to be a ...
Remo Belli revolutionized the music products industry by introducing the Weather King, the single most popular drumhead in the world! As a jazz drummer, Remo was looking for ways to impro...
Ami Belli grew up in the Philippines surrounded by music. She played piano as a girl and would often sing with her mother and sisters. She earned her medical degree and moved to the Unite...
Bob Benedetto is a guitar luthier’s luthier! Respected around the world, Bob has achieved what few have in guitar craftsmanship: a unique style and sound, creative and classic design, and...
Christian Benker has been an influential leader in the German musical instrument manufacturing industry. With fresh ideas and marketing skills he helped Hofner reinvent itself during the ...
Gerhilde Benker served as president of Hofner Music, a firm founded by her grandfather Karl Hofner in 1864 in Eger, Germany. Her father, Walter, was the inventor of the Hofner bass, which...
Mike Bennett began playing trumpet at the age of eight and played jazz trumpet and piano throughout high school. He studied music at the University of Tulsa and in 1980, landed a part tim...
Richard Bennett served many roles during his long career in music, perhaps most notably as the sales rep for Wurlitzer towards the end of the 1960s. His involvement in retail and his phil...
Harry Benson became the president of William Lewis & Son when the company was under the ownership of Chicago Musical Instrument (CMI). Harry’s guiding principles resulted in the expan...
This is the full length NAMM Oral History interview with Lenise Bent, which was captured on September 2, 2014. For her biography and web clip, please follow the link: https://ww1.namm.or...
Lenise Bent, as an assistant or chief recording engineer, has been associated with some of the most successful and creative albums in rock history. Her passion for music and her incredib...
Andy Bereza was on the team that created the now famous Portastudio products for TASCAM. In fact, Andy is credited with the mixer’s first blue prints as well as coming up with its clever ...
Irwin Berg has a million great stories, like the one when Glenn Miller ensured that his father not serve in the infantry during World War II, but instead, design and manufacture all the m...
Bob Bergin fell in love with music-making the moment he joined his school band! While earning his degree in music, Bob was often found on the bandstand playing trumpet in a number of danc...
Laura Bergin met her future husband, Bob, while she was working in the dental field and Bob was a patient. Later the couple owned and operated Rhythm Band Instruments LLC, which specializ...
Arnold Berlin was a one-time president of Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) and co-founder of Norlin Music Corp. He is also Mr. M.H. Berlin’s son, one of the true icons of the industry. A...
Byron Berline established the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Oklahoma back in 1995. The store became a major hub for musicians which bought and sold a great number of both vintage and new in...
Fred Bernardo was repairing and teaching guitar in his local music store when the idea came to him to open his own shop. In 1972, with one guitar and a set of strings he was given as a pr...
Trent Berry and his twin brother have always been musical. They formed bands together starting in junior high school. While in college at Kent State University, Trent played guitar for pu...
Roy Bickel joined the circus as a teenager and at one point held the record for traveling the longest distance after being shot out of a cannon. One day he was asked if he wanted to make...
Charles Bickel was working on the bench at Selmer when George Bundy decided to try a different plastic emulsion for his idea of a plastic clarinet. The first try was not successful. Mr. B...
Ron Bienstock was playing gigs by night and the editor for the International Musicians & Recording World when he was hired by Hoshino to serve as their General Counsel. It was at th...
Larry Biernacki opened the first of three music stores in Deerfield, Illinois. Like with all three locations, he named it after the local community to provide a neighborhood feel to each ...
Fred Bigeh is the product engineer and one of the three founders of Audix. Fred has been the key designer for the company's product lines, notably the OM Series vocal mics and the D Ser...
