Fred Allard has been passionate about music making since he began playing guitar in the 8th grade. As a teen he worked for Milano’s Music Center in Mesa, Arizona in the mid 1960s. Fred wo...
John Anning is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Independent Music Merchants (AIMM). He began his career as a sales rep for the pro audio industry after growing up as a musician ...
Ted Berquist had a touch with fame in the 1960s with the group, the Novas. Their song, “The Crusher” was picked up by the national billboard charts and shot the group to stardom. After th...
Jon Bormann attended his first AES Show in 1973. Just two years later, at the age of 25, he formed his own pro audio dealership, AVC Systems. Soon Jon began designing and building studi...
Bill Cooper was an independent sales representative whose background included a great many experiences that helped Bill best serve his dealers. Bill, who played French Horn in school, tau...
Rich Covas owned Modern Music store's three locations for thirteen years beginning in 1966. The locations covered band and orchestra instruments as well as guitar, keyboards, and drums. T...
Tracy Dean is a well-known and well-regarded independent rep based in the St. Louis area. He began his career in the industry at St. Louis Music where he began as a telephone salesman. ...
Jerry Donegan began his career in the music industry in October, 1966, when his brother arranged for him to get a job in the shipping department of the Zildjian Cymbal Company. He found t...
Jerry Goldenson has always had a love for music growing up and has many fond memories of playing drums in clubs and weddings as early as 12 years old. He later toured and recorded with ma...
Paul Hanoud always enjoyed providing the audio equipment for live concerts. While studying to become an electrician, Paul worked in a hi-fi store deepening his knowledge of the gear and t...
John Hood was working music retail in the Sacramento area at a very heady time. The California capital was booming with innovative rock and pop bands in the 1980s and 90s while John was a...
Phil Jost had a very interesting career in music as a musician before joining the sales team at St. Louis Music in 1974 and thus entering the music products industry. In his early days, b...
Eddie Kramer began his long career as a record salesman in the San Francisco Bay Area before opening his own record store in the 1960s. As the Beatle Boom began, Eddie was selling a few g...
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 ...
Bob Lynch is a pioneering independent representative in the era when many manufacturers were slowly phasing out the inside rep. Bob began playing trumpet at an early age and even provide...
George Mantoan got his start in music by playing in a rock and roll band. He took his knowledge of music products and ran a successful music store in downtown Chicago. He also offered cre...
Al Marinaro has helped define the role of the independent rep in the music products industry for over 40 years. Al’s passion for music and the industry has played a critical part in his q...
Gary Marshank grew up in the business his grandfather had established in 1920. The Los Angeles based Marshank Sales focuses on independent manufacturer’s representation of electronic and ...
Norman Marshank joined his father’s independent manufacturer’s representatives full time after serving in World War II. His father, David, formed Marshank Sales in Los Angeles in 1920 and...
Jim Mathews played drums and formed a band when he was just ten years old. He was encouraged by his mother, who was a singer in the big bands during the swing era. He soon developed a str...
Jerry Muenchow a veteran of the music industry worked in music retail for five years before joining the famed Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI) as a field sales representative in M...
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 ...
Hyman Peller, in 1975, left a corporate job in NJ and moved to upstate, NY. Once there he found employment in a music store, a job for which he says he was unqualified. The owner set abou...
Ed Rider grew up playing guitar and writing songs, and later played trombone in the school band. After serving in the United States Army and also playing in the Army Band, Ed found a musi...
Bill Robinson began working in the music industry when he was in his 20s. His high school friend opened a music store after graduation and hired Bill to work for the store where he late...
