Jim Kidder had already worked in music retail for several years when he was given the chance to take over the band instrument division and form his own business. Since then, Kidder Music ...
Kay Koster was a pioneering woman retail owner, who not only successfully ran a business on her own beginning in 1940, she also personally repaired guitars and amps of all makes and model...
Melvyn Libman was a child prodigy and toured the world as a classical pianist. He performed in many of the grand concert halls in Europe and Town Hall in New York City. When he decided ...
Jeff Lindahl began playing guitar and performing with his twin brother at a young age. They continued to play together throughout high school and college. At the time, Jeff formed a num...
Luyang Liu was born in China and was greatly encouraged by her mother to develop her skills as a musician. Luyang attended VanderCook College of Music and earned her degree in music educa...
Ron Lorenz has enjoyed a long career in the music business beginning in the early 1960s. Ron worked in retail, as a road rep, owned his own music retail store, and was the founder of Rap...
Elizabeth Mayton has a diverse background in both music education and religious studies. She integrates her academic knowledge into her musical journey. Whether as a cantor in her church ...
Donez McNeely sang in choir during her school days, following in the footsteps of her older sister who was a lead singer in a band. In 1980, Donez (whose name is derived by combining her ...
Don Middleton taught music lessons around town before working for Billy Hill at Hill’s Music in 1967. A few months later Mr. Hill announced his retirement and asked Don if he wanted to bu...
Amy Nelson is the store manager for Piano Trends Music Company in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She began working in the store in the 1990s before having a wonderful opportunity to play trumpet...
Rick Nielsen is among the very few rock stars who grew up in a music store! His story and background is perfect for the NAMM Oral History program as it ties together a professional career...
Mario Ortigara joined his brother’s music store just two years after it opened. Since 1949, Mario worked alongside his brother Ben who started the store to teach and sell accordions. By 1...
Mary Ortigara has always had a deep passion for education and was an English major at Xavier College. After graduating in the late 1950s, she began working in her brother’s music store gi...
Mike Ortigara runs the piano repair and restoration branch of the store his father Ben opened in 1947. Ben opened an accordion store in Chicago which expanded overtime to include pianos, ...
Frank Pampenella is the owner and president of PM Music Center in Aurora, IL and has worked in the music industry for over 30 years. He founded PM Music Center in 1982, when he transition...
Thomas Parnell formed an independent music rep firm at a time when few such firms existed. Tom wanted to focus on providing tools and ideas to his dealers to grow their business in order ...
Bobbi Paul is the Co-Founder of Piano Trends Music Company in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Bobbi and her husband opened the music store in 1990 and have been proud to see it grow into an impor...
Jason Paul was in middle school when his parents decided to open a music store. Jason recalls painting the walls and the grand opening of the store, Piano Trends in Crystal Lake, Illinois...
Tim Paul may have been destined for a career in the piano business. Growing up, his mother was a piano teacher and his father a piano technician. One of his earliest jobs was as a ballpar...
Barbara Paulsen is one of the joyous and passionate people our industry is lucky to have in great numbers. Barb entered the music industry as the director of national and global sales for...
Bill Pritchard played in a military band while serving the United States for over 20 years. When he retired, he took up what he had loved to do during his service, repairing band instrume...
Cindy Quinlan was once introduced at a NAMM meeting as “the boss lady” and the nickname stuck. She met her future husband, George Quinlan Jr., at a NASMD meeting in 1983. She was there on...
George Quinlan Jr. began working in the store his father established before he can remember, sweeping up on weekends and helping with band rental season in the fall. George worked in ever...
George Quinlan was proud of his store outside of Chicago, for which the walls are full of photographs of the children he rented or sold an instrument to, and the fact that he survived har...
Frank Reda began his career in the insurance business, where he honed his skills in customer service and sales—skills that would later prove invaluable in the music industry. In the 1970s...
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...
Art Risavy Jr. studied business in college and initially worked in a bank before returning to the family business, Swing City Music, which his father had founded just a few years before A...
Art Risavy Sr. has always been deeply fascinated with music. In 1964, he had the visionary idea of converting an old, abandoned bowling alley into a thriving music store in southern Illin...
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...
Victor Salazar is the founder and president of Vic’s Drum Shop, which is located on Loomis Street in Chicago, Illinois. Vic’s love of music and drumming began as a child and developed ove...
Lowell Samuel was the quintessential music man! He devoted his life to creating school band programs in the small towns of Illinois before and after World War II. After serving as a band ...
Dean Samuel is the son of industry leader, Lowell Samuel, who not only formed the Samuel Music retail store in Effingham, IL but the pioneering music wholesale company, MIDCO, in 1964. Lo...
