Maureen Wall credits the dedicated teachers who provided her with private lessons for shaping her musical path. Starting piano at age six and moving on to double bass by sixth grade, Maur...
Lauren Wallace was hired by the Baldwin Piano retail store in Cincinnati in 1997 as a salesperson. She had played piano as a young girl and took up playing again when her son was taking ...
Bill Wallin is the instrument repair technician at Chafin Musiccenter in Lake Worth, Florida. Bill began working for the company alongside the store's founder, Paul Chafin. While Paul's...
John Waltrip began being involved in music as a small child and in fact, became the main pianist for his church as a teenager. He played in the school bands and studied music in college....
Jay Wanamaker found his passion for music as a member of a drum and bugle corps and eventually honed his skills while attending the Crane school of music at SUNY Potsdam University in Pot...
Sam Wangler ran a music store in Bismarck, North Dakoda for 35 years before his retirement. He taught himself guitar after hearing "Walk Don't Run" by the Ventures as a kid. He later pl...
John W. Ward began working in the music industry as a piano salesman in the late 1950s, before working for the Sherman Clay store chain in 1961. After earning a position as one of the com...
Guy Ward was the president of the Ward Piano Company, located in Canton, North Carolina, from the 1940s until his retirement. After his daughter and son took over the company, he continu...
Carol Warden learned all she knows about the music industry from her mother and father who opened Dale Music Company in Silver Springs, MD. Over the years she has built on the lessons sh...
Ellen Warmoth and her husband, William, created a true “Mom and Pop” music store when they opened Artisan Guitars in Franklin, Tennessee, not far from Nashville. The store has a wonderfu...
William Warmoth and his wife Ellen opened a small guitar shop in Franklin, Tennessee, with the dream of providing acoustic guitars to music makers of all ages. Their small shop has grown...
WT Warmoth is currently an Industrial Design major at Savannah College of Art & Design and has dreams of becoming a guitar luthier. As the son of William and Ellen Warmoth, the found...
Gail Warnaar started a double reed camp for high school band students in the Michigan area, which lead to her involvement with the music products industry. In 1981 Gail formed the Double...
Bruce Waters grew up with his guitar ever-present. He played for small events around the Chicago area as a kid and started providing music lessons when he was 18 years old. He later toure...
Cathy Watkins worked for Mississippi Music for over 35 years! Although she spent much of her time in the Purchasing Department, Cathy played a vital role in the organization’s Wholesale D...
Greg Way has had a long and successful career in the Canadian music retail industry and has been a strong advocate for music and music making throughout his career. As an owner of St. Jo...
Greg Weast owned and operated Columbia River Music, a retail store in downtown The Dalles, out in Wasco County, Oregon. The location, 410 E 2nd Street, had its own musical history, havin...
Richard Webb’s grandfather opened a pawnshop in England and his father, Sydney, developed a small music division within the shop some 20 years later. Since the age of 12, Richard thought ...
Jimmie D. Webb operated a small music shop in Antioch, California, which was also the headquarters for his amplifier business. The Webb Amps were widely used by electric blues and rock b...
Dave Weiderman was raised in a family with a great love of music. Dave’s father owned a music store in Chicago, where Dave was able to meet some of the great musicians of the time. His ...
Thomas Weilbier is the President of No. 1 Guitar Center GmbH, which is located in the musical hub of Hamburg, Germany. Thomas related some of the strong rock and roll history of the city...
Steve Weiss loved playing the drums as a small child, but never imagined in a million years that he would have a career in music, let alone a pioneering and successful career in the music...
Bill Wellborn was honored with the National Piano Traveler’s Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his dedication to the industry. As a piano salesman, Bill has traveled the ...
Dale Wentworth put himself through college by teaching music lessons in the back of his father’s lighting store Kelowna, British Columbia. After finishing college, Dale realized that his ...
Stanley Werbin opened a small guitar shop he named Elderly Instruments on July 5, 1972. The original location was in East Lansing, Michigan and focused on "used instruments". Within a fe...
Parham Werlein followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather as president of Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like his predecessors, Parham also...
Bitsie Werlein was the last president of the famed Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. When its doors closed in 2003 it was the nation’s oldest operating music retailer. The company was e...
Lars Wern is the Vice President of Em Nordic AB in Stockholm, Sweden, working alongside the company’s founder, Benny Englund. In fact, during the 2013 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Lars and Benn...
Elliott Wessel likes to point out the fact that he has had five different positions at Schmitt Music at five different times during his career. He also conveys, as many others have, that ...
Eleanor West and her husband Pearl established a music store in Iowa City just a year after getting married in 1940. Eleanor was the bookkeeper in the early years of West Music Company an...
Steve West took over his father’s store and went on to become an industry leader who served as president of the NAMM Board. Steve recalls the days as a boy running around West Music as hi...
Harry West was the founder of Fine Musical Instruments located in Statesville, North Carolina. The store was an early pioneer in vintage stringed instrument sales and in fact, Stanley Ja...
