Lauren Vogel Weiss was playing in the high school band but struggling to find the accessories she needed. This program gave her and her father, Harvey, an idea. Together they formed Lon...
Cordelia von Gymnich was born in Frankfurt, which is ironic considering that for so many members of the music product industry, she is Frankfurt! Her love of music began at an early age,...
Julie Wagnitz manages the school road reps for Heid Music in Wisconsin, supporting the team that interacts most with the local band directors. Her passion for music developed in large par...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Bea Wain was a singer with the big bands during the great s...
Robin Walenta attended the University of Northern Iowa and Middle Tennessee State University before joining West Music in 1982. She was named president/CEO of the company in 2007. Robin w...
Paula Walker began working in the music industry right out of high school for the Gemeinhart flute company in Elkhart, Indiana. In the early years she worked primarily on student instrum...
Morgan Walker worked in the marketing side of the sports industry before being hired by Korg USA, in 2014, to focus on public relations and managing special events. She grew in her positi...
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...
June Wang is very proud of her company, Pearl River. She is an outstanding spokesperson for the China-based piano manufacturer. In fact, it was Ms. Wang who assisted the NAMM Oral Histo...
Elizabeth Ward and her husband, Dale Probst, brought their love of pianos and their backgrounds as tuner and technicians together to form Ward & Probst Piano & Organ Service in Wi...
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...
Virginia Waring began her musical career as a concert pianist. In fact, it was while performing a duet piano performance on the Fred Waring Radio Program that she first met her future hus...
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...
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...
Phyllis Webb and her husband, Dale, formed The Magic Fluke Company in 1999. The company began making ukuleles in the basement of their home in New Hartford, Connecticut. They were inspir...
Jennifer Weiss listened closely to the stories her aunt and mother would tell about working in the CF Martin Guitar factory as she grew up. She followed in their footsteps first in the st...
Kitty Wells has been crowned the First Lady of Country Music for her pioneering style and impressive string of hit recordings beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the mid 1960s. For...
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...
Rose Wernes Drake traveled with her husband, Ivor, when he became the second salesperson hired for the Winter Piano Company following World War II. He often said the company got two for t...
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...
Kelly Wheeler and her husband Dorsey run a music retail business in Idaho with several locations. Dorsey Music was established in 1969 and just three years later Kelly walked through the ...
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...
Diana White is like so many factory workers within the music industry because most of her friends and many members of her own family have worked in the same plant over the years. Diana i...
Lynn White may downplay the role she has played within their family’s music store business, but for all those who have been to White House of Music, her spark and passion for music are ve...
Ellen White did not work in the music store her husband Jerry operated for many years and yet her supportive role helped that little retail business grow into the White House of Music cha...
Joan White began her career with Muncie Music Center in 1944, just three years after the store opened. She remained with the store until her retirement in 2016. Although she started by o...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Margaret Whiting was a popular singer who had a number of h...
Eleanor Whitmore is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and one-half of the duo, The Mastersons, alongside Chris Masterson. Beyond her work with The Mastersons, Eleanor is also a ...
Laura Whitmore’s passion for music began at a young age, learning to play guitar and writing songs as a teenager. She attended Hofstra University where she earned a B.S. in Music Merchand...
Jody Whyte recalls fondly sitting in the family store as a child watching her grandfather repair pianos and then he would make banana pancakes for her. Those memories took on extra meanin...
Barbara Wight smiled when she recalled being crowned the accordion princess of the Western States as a child. While she later had a long career as an executive in the agricultural industr...
Carol Wilbur worked closely with Richard Rejino during her career in the print music side of the music industry. She worked at Brook Mays Print Music before being hired by Richard Gore at...
