Jeff Saltzman has been involved with the violin since being introduced to the Suzuki Method when he was a child. His grandfather and father both worked as wholesalers in musical instrumen...
Larry Nitka grew up listening to the big bands as his father was a sideman during the great Swing Era. His father, Artie Nitka, became a well-regarded authority on the recorder, writing m...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Grady Tate was a prolific jazz drummer who laid the beat fo...
Clinton Muntean went back to school at Full Sail University at the age of 27 in order to get the foundational education to enter the recording engineering field. After graduating, Clinton...
Ken Dattmore is the Marketing Manager for Yamaha within the strings department, which has been his passion for his entire career. He started in the industry with the William Lewis & ...
George Mantoan got his start in music by playing in a rock and roll band. He took his knowledge of music products and ran a successful music store in downtown Chicago. He also offered cre...
Jimmy Gilmer was born in Chicago, but spent his formative years in Amarillo, Texas. As a singer and guitar player, Jimmy gravitated across state line to Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, N...
Terry Christian is a noted recording engineer whose passion for music began as a drummer. While playing in bands as a tennager, Terry took an interest in the process of how records were m...
Howard Kalisky is the president of Efkay Music Group in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. Howard's father Fred founded the company in 1957, and Howard is following in his footsteps. Howard has als...
Michael “Omar” Omartian recalled always having a fascination with music growing up and quickly got involved by taking drum, accordion, and piano lessons as a child. Omar had the opportuni...
Buddy Spicher started playing the fiddle for $10 a night at local square dances, but also played some rhythm guitar to accompany his brother at performances. During his NAMM Oral History ...
Chris Syllaba grew up in Washington D.C. and found music throughout the city during his childhood years. He soon found a position within Jordan Kitt’s Music store in 1984 and rose throug...
Angela Currier was asked to leave her day job in order to assist her her husband, Cliff, run the family music store. While at first Angela was disappointed to leave her career, she soon f...
Cathy Currier is the second generation to run Currier’s Music World, started by her father, Clifford. Currier’s Music World celebrated their 50th year in business in 2017 and Cathy and he...
Mike Martin grew up tinkering on his grandmother’s piano before and taking piano lessons throughout his school years. Hearing his first synthesizer helped provide the motivation to work t...
Harry Shearer is an actor and musician who brought both talents together several times comedically in such films as “This Is Spinal Tap” and “A Mighty Wind”. In both movies, he played a b...
Paul Shaffer served as the band leader and musical director for David Letterman's late-night television program from 1982 until David retired in 2015. Along the way, hundreds of noted mu...
Crystal Gayle had a string of hit country songs in the 1970s including her big number one crossover pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blues." The recording provided Crystal the opport...
Brian Reardon, owner of Monster Music in Levittown, New York, got his start manufacturing record racks to house albums and songbooks in record stores. One of his customers was Monster Mus...
Steve Bishir found his passion for engineering while attending Belmont University in Tennessee. Steve first had an internship at Omni Sound where he boasts his first job was cutting the w...
Dale Williams with the RapcoHorizon cable company is extremely proud of the success and continued growth of Rapco in the marketplace. With an emphasis on only hiring musicians within the ...
Lisa Williams works with The RapcoHorizon cable company with a focus on a telemarketing strategy. Starting in the late 1980s, Lisa joined Rapco after pursuing a career in purchasing. Rapc...
Jim Horn, part of the “Wrecking Crew”, started playing the saxophone as a child and eventually expanded his musical reach to include the flute, oboe, and French horn, even playing the obo...
Crystal Morris started in the music industry as a child working with her dad at his booth at the NAMM show. In 2000, Gator Cases was launched at a NAMM Show when they saw a need for cases...
Summer Pittman began taking piano and voice lessons at Contemporary Music Center when she was seven years old. After studying with many teachers, Summer also started playing guitar. She h...
Menzie Pittman is the founder and owner of Contemporary Music Center located in Virginia. Menzie was inspired to to pursue music after he saw The Beatles perform live on Ed Sullivan. Afte...
Susan Carson opened her first music store, Taylor Guitar Shop, at just 18 years old in Johnson, Tennessee. Taylor Guitar Shop became the local hangout spot for bluegrass pickers and those...
Andy Allen established the custom shop within the Maton Guitar Company in Melbourne, Australia. The company was created by Bill May back in 1946 along with the help of his brother Reg. Si...
Tommy Emmanuel played bass to his brother's lead guitar as a kid and knew playing music was his calling. Tommy has become a world renown player and songwriter who realized early on the im...
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...
