Michael Aguilar played instruments both in and out of his school music programs growing up, which proved to be a wonderful background later in his career. After nearly five years in the r...
Dave Amels is a huge fan of the Hammond B-3 organ, which he’s played on records and with garage rock bands including Husky Team and The Reigning Sound. In the late ’80s he co-founded Voce...
Rick Anderson was in a MBA program that required he write a research paper about a local business. This was his introduction to the Rodgers Instrument Corporation located in Hillsboro, Or...
Scott Anderson was among the renowned sales representatives at Wurlitzer during the iconic company’s heyday. When Wurlitzer “meant music to millions” (to use their famous slogan) Scott ...
Charlotte Atkinson was an organist extraordinaire! Showing an aptitude for music early on, Charlotte continued with formal education earning Bachelor and Masters degrees in music. At San ...
Thomas Austin was a key part of the Sherman Clay team for over 40 years! The store chain focused on pianos; however, Thomas recalls the home organ boom in the 1970s as the company was a ...
Dennis Awe is passionate about the organ! As a recording artist he has performed on many products, endorsing the Lowrey Organ for many decades. As a keen salesman, Dennis has written book...
Percy Bady grew up surrounded by gospel, thanks largely to the fact his father was a minister. Since he was six years old, Percy expressed his feelings through music, especially in churc...
Rosemary Bailey was ten years old when Hammond hired her as a concert artist. Over the years, she took part in the growth of the organ market in the 1970s and had first-hand experiences b...
Bruce Bannister is the current president of Samuel Music in Effingham, Illinois. The store was formed in the 1940s by Lowell Samuel, the band director turned music industry pioneer. Bruce...
Kyle Barker's journey in the piano retail industry began in 1969, when the esteemed Sherman & Clay Piano Company in Northern California welcomed him aboard. Steeped in a rich musical ...
Mike Bates is the senior member of the Institutional Solutions Group in the Keyboard Division of Yamaha Corporation of America. Over the last 28 years with the company, Mike’s career has ...
Marty Baxter entertained the troops during World War II as a member of a singing quartet. While with bands, such as Frankie Master’s Orchestra, she not only sang but arranged the four pa...
Carma Lou Beck was an active musician and teacher when she began working in music retail in Iowa in the 1960s. She opened her own store in Cedar Rapids in 1967, after working for a few ot...
Keith Beckingham recalls watching his father, a church organist, playing the piano at home and then sitting down and copying the music he heard. He grew up fascinated by the piano and org...
John Benedeck sat down at the keyboard during his NAMM interview to demonstrate the riffs and clever tunes he plays as an organist for the Chicago Cubs baseball team! He is proud to have ...
Richard Bennett served many roles during his long career in music, perhaps most notably as the sales rep for Wurlitzer towards the end of the 1960s. His involvement in retail and his phil...
Zeb Billings opened Billings Pianos in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1956 beginning a long and celebrated career in the music industry. With great success as a retailer, Zeb branched out into ...
Lyle Bird grew up in a musical family with his mother playing the piano daily. As a teenager he played trumpet in several swing bands during the big band era including with such leaders a...
Don Bird founded Conn Organs of Fresno in 1973 in Fresno, CA. He started his career in music, working for Sherman Clay, Co. in 1967 as a general manager of a single store, working complet...
Ed Blasco was one of the best known organ salesmen in Kansas City during the 1970s. He worked for Sherman Clay, Jenkins Music and even ran his own store, Ed Blasco’s Conn Organ Center in ...
Crane Bodine’s father, Elmer, was a piano man who formed a retail store in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1933. When Crane was 17 years old, he began working in the store. In 1962, he took ove...
Richard Bridgeman was the Director of Product Management of Hammond beginning in the mid 1960s. Dick came to the company as the original B-3 organ production was coming to an end. He over...
David Brown grew up in the music industry working with his grandfather at his store, Critchett’s Music in Des Moines, Iowa. Dave started at a young age, first washing windows in the back ...
Fred Buch has always been interested in combining electronic technology with pipe organs. When he entered the pipe organ business in the 1957, electronic organs were not sufficiently adv...
Louisa Buchanan, hailing from Queensland, Australia, was immersed in music from a young age, mastering the organ at 6 and piano by 12. Alongside her musical journey, she honed her skills ...
Christoph Bull is the organ professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His deep passion for music stems from his grandmother’s piano and his early days playing organ i...
O’Lyn Callahan has played the piano since she was eight years old and started on organ at age twelve after receiving a Hammond B3 from her father. She came in third place at a Yamaha orga...
Paul Calvin feels that his experience as a music retailer, including several years with Schmitt Music in Minnesota, has been helpful in his role as Vice President and General Manager of t...
Bernie Capicchiano was coached from the Accounting world to manage a new music retail store for the Brash Group in Australia in 1973.His long career in the industry includes a strong rela...
Claudio Capponi is a musical instrument technician with a passion for the Farfisa Organ, after all he worked for the company for many years. His interest and dedication to the instrument ...
Bob Carbone is the co-founder of the Piano & Organ Center in Syracuse, New York. The store has a reputation for their quality products as well as creative lesson programs, which are o...
