Jack Schechinger enjoyed his career in the music products industry. When he sat down for his NAMM Oral History program in retirement, Jack recalled the many friends and companies he work...
Bob Scheiwiller taught music for three years before landing a job at a music store; the very first store he would later purchase. Bob bought and opened several music stores over the years...
Tom Schmitt is the CEO and Chairman of Schmitt Music Company, which was founded by his great-grandfather in 1896. The company, which now has several locations throughout the Midwest, has...
William Schultz turned the struggling Fender Musical Instrument Corporation into an industry leader after purchasing the famed guitar company from CBS in 1985. Born in McKeesport, PA on J...
Denny Senseney is a passionate music retailer who began his career as a band director. When he formed Senseney Music in 1984, he sought to provide the service to band directors that he fe...
Lynn Sheeley Jr.'s father opened a small piano store in east Tennessee in 1908. After serving in D-Day during World War II, Lynn returned home to work in the store, which he later took ov...
Peter Sides is the president and third generation of his family to operate the Robert M. Sides Music Center Pennsylvania. His grandfather opened the store out of his home, selling and rep...
Alysha Sides-Greevy grew up in the music store that her grandfather established in 1937 and has enjoyed working in music retail along side her parents and brother. The Robert M. Sides Mus...
Myrna Sislen is a professional musician who took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a struggling music store and bring it back to being an active and beloved part of the neighborhoo...
Michael Skinner grew up in jazz and cut his teeth as a musician at Berklee College of Music. He was a band director right after college and designed several music programs including some...
Dan Slick grew up in Johnstown, PA playing the family’s upright piano but soon switched his focus to the organ. He began his career in the music industry working at Fulton Piano and Organ...
Nancy Kewin Smith is a pioneering senior executive who served the music products industry in an era in which she was among a small number of women in high-ranking positions. After earning...
Tabor Stamper was a band director before joining the manufacturing side of the industry for which he has a true passion. During his NAMM Oral History interview, conducted in March 2011, T...
Clint Strait was born in Austin, TX and is the 3rd generation to work for the Strait Music Company. Clint is carrying on his family’s tradition of great customer service and selection to ...
Robert Street grew up in the piano business. In 1914, Robert’s grandfather, Claude P. Street, opened his first music store in Nashville, Tennessee. Claude was certain that a successful bu...
Scott Summerhays was the President of the company his parents established in Salt Lake City back in 1936. Scott and his brother Briant worked together to grow the family business and even...
Briant Summerhays has been a part of the music industry his entire life. His mother and father opened a music store in Utah in the days following World War II. Earlier, his father, Hy, ha...
Tom Sumner grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where he not only played guitar in local bands but also worked in area music stores. While attending college Tom worked in music retail as...
Lori Supinie was an active music maker since she was a child. Throughout her life she provided music and music lessons to others as well as being a strong leader within the music products...
Chuck Surack is the founder and president of Sweetwater Sound, one of the landmark companies within the music products industry. He formed the company in 1979 and worked hard to gather t...
Martin Szpiro's mother was the office manger and one of the first employees of JAM Industries, a Canadian wholesaler started by Marty Golden and Eddy Shenker in the early 70's. As the com...
John Tarpley likes to echo the message his great-grandmother lived by when she established the family business over 100 years ago: the customer is most important. Since taking over the bu...
David Teeple’s first job in the music industry was working for the large Grinnell Brothers chain in the 1960s, based in Michigan. When he was asked to teach guitar, he had to first learn ...
Fred Theriault recalls the first time he set foot in Long & McQuade’s Music Store. He was still a teen and bought a snare drum from Jack McQuade; ironically Fred later was hired and h...
Larry Thomas is the current CEO of Fender Musical Instrument Company. He also served as CEO of Guitar Center during the company’s early growth period. He worked closely with music educat...
Johnny Thompson had the distinction of being the very first music student of a young steel guitar player named Ernie ball. Back in the early 1950s, before he established a string company,...
Eddie Toporek began as an innovative musical wholesaler when he set out to create a new type of distribution business, with a heavy influence on the latest technology. As a result Eddie c...
Jim Trimper, Sr. was the president of Denton, Cottier & Daniels, a chain of piano and organ stores in the upstate New York area. The company was formed in 1827 and thus has a long his...
Chris Tso is a perfect example of the benefits the music products industry receives when a musician enters it's world. Chris grew up blocks away from the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Clu...
Pete Valentino noticed that band instrument repairmen often had a difficult task in replacing worn pads on flutes and saxophones. He had burned his hands on many occasions and thought tha...
Ray van Straten began his love of music when his parents bought him a kids piano when he was four years old. He went on to study classical piano performance, as well as jazz arranging wit...
Nelson Varon is the founder of the Nelson Varon Piano and Organ Studios who has enjoyed a long career in the music products industry. During his career in the retail business, which focus...
