Jim Wieda was just 14 years old when he was hired to play an organ for Farmer's Music Barn in Illinois. He was hired by Lowrey Organ and took part in their mall development program in the...
Art Wiggs has always admired the Gretsch brand of guitars. He grew up in a musical family, as his parents played in church and on the radio together. As a kid he played the guitar with ...
Barbara Wight smiled when she recalled being crowned the accordion princess of the Western States when she was a child. While she later had a long career as an executive in the agricultur...
Bob Wiley’s father opened a small music store in Kansas in the mid 1930s and specialized in steel guitars. When the sales rep, Charlie Hayes, came into the store with electric guitars fro...
H. P. Wilfer inherited the passion and drive of his father who formed the Framus Guitar Company. After hard times and his father’s retirement, H. P. bought back the company to bring the m...
Florence Wilfer was born in France and was working for a musical distribution company when she met HP Wilfer, her future husband. The two have been working together at HP's Warwick Compa...
Roland Wilfer is a fourth generation master luthier of the Emanuel Wilfer Double Bass Master Workshop. The workshop was founded 1905 and is specialized in crafting fine double basses for ...
Trev Wilkinson began painting cars as a teenager and soon there after painted his own guitar, which started him on the road to guitar restoration and building. His long and fascinating in...
Christopher Willcox was once a classical actor on the British stage. He was a teacher and writer, but feels his favorite job is that of piano salesman. For well over 35 years, he has done...
Roger Williams was known throughout the world for his countless albums and top ten hits as a solo pianist. He had a remarkable career in bridging rock and roll and in incorporating jazz a...
Dale Williams with the RapcoHorizon cable company is extremely proud of the success and continued growth of Rapco in the marketplace. With an emphasis on only hiring musicians within the ...
Hartmut Willms is the President of Piano Willms, a firm established by his grandfather and his two brothers back in 1912. Hartmut’s grandfather enjoyed building pianos and created the Wi...
Keith Wilson helped design and manufacture the famed SM57 and SM58 microphones for Shure back in the early 1960s. As an engineer, Keith later came up with the idea of creating a system fo...
Mac Wilson grew up in a musical home as both of his parents were singers. In middle school he learned the guitar and even earned a little money playing around town. Mac continued to pla...
Gary Winder has been active in music sales for over 30 years. Gary worked with G. Leblanc and Coda Music Technologies before he moved on in 1997 to join Yamaha, finally serving as Directo...
Karl Winkler began playing the viola in the fourth grade and got accepted into the local youth orchestra two years later. His first job in the music industry was working for Howard Beaver...
Dave Wintz has always enjoyed designing musical gear, whether it be guitars or pickups. His passion lies with creating a product that will provide any musician with the opportunity to ad...
Chip Wise served in the piano business for over fifty years and enjoyed the customers he met and the people of the music industry. During the early days of the NAMM Oral History program m...
Paul Wishart, a Scottish-born musician and innovator, was steeped in jazz from a young age, thanks to his father's passion for the genre and his mastery of multiple instruments. By his te...
Horst Wittner’s grandfather, Gustav Wittner, formed a precision mechanical factory for the production of metronomes in 1895. His son, Rudolf, expanded the plant and helped set standards ...
Karen Wojcik began working for Selmer in 1973 and watched the company change hands but stayed with the same company for her entire career. She works in the office for Conn-Selmer in Elkh...
Abe Wollam was a close associate of Bud Reglein. Beginning in the 1940s, Abe worked with Bud at the jj Babbitt Mouthpiece Company out of Elkhart, IN. Abe developed strong engineering skil...
Ken Woodcox was an early adopter of computer technology when he proudly joined Crown International in the 1970s. Bringing his skill set to Crown and having the company embrace computers r...
Dave Woodruff began working for King Band Instruments right out of college. He began in the personnel department and Human Resources before becoming involved with the production of the i...
Jim Wordinger was hired by the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore, in 1972. While he started as a technician, Jim’s career developed over the years and expanded to engineer an...
John Worthington began as an engineer in the early days of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and, in fact, helped program the MIDI time code. John also worked at Apple Comp...
Lucien Wulsin’s grandfather was taught the piano business by D. W. Baldwin, the founder of the world-famous piano company. What he learned was passed down to his son, who, like his father...
Bill Xavier was introduced into the music products industry while working with Hartley Peavey. Peavey became a strong mentor to Bill and was like a second father to him. Bill has often sa...
Hajime Yamaguchi was born on September 26, 1944 in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 18 he traveled the country as a professional drummer and a year later landed a stellar job as drummer for a ...
Nobunari Yanagisawa is the president of the company his father established just before World War II. The company began as a repair shop, which focused on the saxophone. The factory was ...
Masani Yanagisawa’s father formed the Pearl Drum Company in Japan just after World War II. Masani applied his marketing knowledge to assist in the growth and development of the company. W...
Robert Yates is known as Uncle Uke for a very good reason - he plays, builds, and sells ukuleles. Robert opened his own store, HUG Ukulele, on the big island of Hawaii with his wife Patri...