Kaki King first heard the Ovation Guitar being played by her father. It was one of his prized instruments and young Kaki was not allowed to play with it without him. He later gave that in...
Cornelia Kinzelmann is CEO of ESM which produces mouthpieces for clarinets and saxophones. Cornelia remembers her grandfather, Wenzel Schreiber, from the time when she was a child. Wenzel...
Lorna Kirchner has worked for Selmer, now Conn-Selmer, in Elkhart for over 40 years. She recalls the days before the CNC machines came into the factory, when all of the work was done by ...
Mildred Kirschner was simply known as Millie around the NAMM headquarters office where she was hired in 1946. The Chicago based association was being run by Mr. Mills when a heart conditi...
Linda Kitchen is the daughter of Bill May, the founder of Maton Guitars. Bill established the guitar company in 1946, which has since become an important producer of acoustic and electric...
Kris Kjeldgaard finished her degree with a music major and a minor in business and went job seeking. She was not sure what the direction of her career would take and in fact, looking back...
Sherry Klein grew up outside of New York City during the height of the folk scene. She loved to go to Greenwich Village and has amazing stories of meeting Joni Mitchell and going to Woods...
Betty Kline was getting a little tired of running to town for band accessories when her husband, a music director, needed something for his students. What started out being a large box o...
Penny Kline grew up in the music business as her mother was the founder of Kline Music in Sacramento, California and her father was a band director in area schools. When her father neede...
Lauri Knapton is the founder of Knapton Musik Knotes in Janesville, Wisconsin. The store, which was established in 2000, provides musical instruments, lessons, and a long list of communit...
Susan Kniepkamp fondly recalls the job opportunity she eagerly pursued at Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI), perhaps mostly because it eventually led to meeting her future husband, Albert...
Kim Koch has fond memories of driving to the family’s music store with her father, Bob Saied, and learning from him about the business side of the company. That inspiration stayed with he...
Debra Kolacny began playing the organ at the age of eight, not knowing a life of music was ahead of her. She joined her junior high school band as a percussionist and in high school focus...
Irena Komatar was the founder and president of the Lastra Company, located in the country of Slovenia. What started out as a small music retail store quickly grew into both retailing and ...
Gabriela König is the CEO of König & Meyer, a music manufacturing company for which her grandfather started in the 1930s. He was a tool maker who saw the need for well structured musi...
Angela Koregelos grew up playing the flute and taking lessons from her father, George Koregelos. George owned his own retail store and Angela has fond memories of working alongside her fa...
Kay Koster was a pioneering woman retail owner, who not only successfully ran a business on her own beginning in 1940, she also personally repaired guitars and amps of all makes and model...
Gayle Kowalchyk loves teaching piano! She studied piano in college, taught at the university level, and then established a piano studio in her home with her husband, E. L.
Masako Koyama worked closely with the Japan Music Trades Magazine founder, Mr. Hiyama. The magazine was launched in 1962 with the goal of sharing stories about the instruments and people ...
Joan Kramer was just out of high school when she was hired to do some office work at the NAMM headquarters building in Chicago. The year was 1947, a very important time in the industry’s ...
Amy Kreider has been passionate about music from a young age. She played piano, viola, and flute and later studied music business and marketing in college. These passions came together wh...
Gladys Krenek was married to the world-renowned composer Ernst Krenek from 1950 until his passing in 1991. Like many women married to noted artists of that era, Gladys’ own remarkable lif...
Kathi Kretzer is the founder of Kretzer Piano in Jupiter, Florida. She established the store in 1985 and has since been an active member of the music industry as well as her local commun...
Dale Krevens has been involved with Tech 21 since before its inception. In fact, Dale was instrumental in urging Andrew Barta to start his own business (when he was originally only lookin...
June Kuramoto was born in Japan but raised in Southern California, where her passion for traditional Japanese instruments melded with American soul music.
Helene La Faro has been asked countless times to recount the short but extremely influential musical career of her brother, jazz bassist Scott La Faro. In fact, she began collecting the n...
Barbara La Mair is the niece of the late industry icon Louis La Mair. During her interview, she provided warm and insightful background into the personal life of this one-time NAMM Presid...
Peggy Lamb began working at the record division of the Acuff-Rose Company before transferring over to the publishing division in the early 1980s. She worked with Mr. Wesley Rose, the fath...
Paula Lang’s father, Andreas Prüller, owned a company in Schönbach producing purflings for violins, cellos and guitars. After World War II, the Czech government started nationalizing prod...
Lisa Lang is the 5th and 6th Grade Band Director and Assistant High School Band Director in Independence, Iowa. Ms. Lang has taught for 25 years in both Iowa and Delaware and received her...
Jennifer Lantz lights up with joy when reflecting on the early days of Bandwagon Music, the store she co-founded with her husband in 2016 in Nashville. Initially established as a repair s...
Katinka Lathrop was married for over 60 years to a guitar player with a passion. After he retired from the ceramics industry, the couple moved to Modesto, California, where they opened a ...
