Tim Smith grew up in a very musical family as his father and uncle both wrote and record music. In fact, his uncle, Arthur Smith, wrote two of the most famous instrumentals in modern coun...
Leslie Stirm is the owner of the Instrumental Music Center in Tucson, Arizona. Joining the store in 2001, Leslie has helped develop the store’s team, which has a strong focus on customer ...
John Stowell has been a strong supporter of the music industry as a jazz guitarist and has performed at the NAMM show over the years as well as at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making ...
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2015 and early 2016. This Tribute was shown for the first time at t...
Linda Vincent worked for a short time at the NAMM headquarters, which is where she met her husband, the late John Vincent, who at the time was Director of Trade Shows. We missed our chanc...
Rob Walker has been a leader in the global music products marketing that seemed to shift into high gear in the mid ‘90s when he was CEO of the Australian Music Association (AMA). Rob was ...
Terry West started playing in bands at an early age and continued throughout his twenties and thirties. He was always one to maintain a day job, and his many roles at an outdoor advertisi...
Katie Wheeler was an early volunteer of the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in the NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Her docent experience with the museum gave Katie th...
Deej White is a familiar face to those backstage at the NAMM show. As a long-time roadie and production manager, Deej has learned the importance of being prepared, for example he always h...
Ron Whittaker was just eleven years old when his father started a music retail store in Long Beach, California. Whittaker Music opened in 1946, just after World War II and Ron still remem...
Jim Widner was given a very special opportunity to join his grade school’s orchestra, which provided him an instrument to play. His love of music was fostered years later when he became a...
Jim Wilson incorporates his experiences as a gigging musician (he formed a duo in college and later played a Fender P-Bass in several rock bands) into the work he does as a piano technici...
Dean Zelinsky wanted to bring cool guitars to the market place and when he set out to do just that he was still in high school! The year after graduating, he opened Dean Guitars and atte...
Armin Zertor was born in Germany and moved to the United States at a young age with his family. While living in Chicago in 1975, Armin landed his first job working for a trade show in the...
