Tony Yarbrough’s love of music led to buying a music store in Memphis that was closing and renaming it Yarbrough Music, which soon became a hub for musicians in and around town. He took ...
Craig Yarbrough worked alongside his brother Tony and sister Phyllis (his younger sister joined them later) in running the music store they established in Memphis to serve the working mus...
Karl Schulze’s grandfather worked in the piano business during his career, so it certainly was not out of place when young Karl began learning the craft of piano building. Karl worked fo...
Bob Riskin started working for McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica just a few years after it opened in 1958. Before long the shop was abuzz with the folk music boom and later played an ...
Yoshi Kobayashi began working for Yamaha Corporation of America in 1958. In the early days of his career he was tasked with supervising the import and export of the motorcycle division. ...
Clifton “Fou Fou” Eddie began his career as a big band and jazz drummer but soon discovered he has the skills for the blues and pop music. He has played with the likes of The Dells, Patt...
Larry Dunn played a key role in the success of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire! As the keyboardist for the group he added new sounds in the innovative era of electronic musica...
DJ Tony G pioneered many scratches and tricks as a DJ in the early days of Hip Hop on the West Coast. The art of turntablelism began in New York, but before long the sound and the style ...
Eddie DeGarmo grew up across the street from Graceland (he has a great Trick or Treat story from 1960) and somehow always knew he wanted to have a career in music. As a member of a Chris...
Ray Brooks grew up playing the blues in juke joints and small clubs all across the United States even before he was of age to drink. He toured with Freddie King and Gene Alison (among ot...
Michael Boddicker grew up in a music store, one his parents formed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and where his love for music began! His amazing musical career has covered many areas, although i...
Marilyn Bergman grew up very close to her future husband in Brooklyn, New York. This may provide some insight into their magical partnership both as a couple and as one of the most celeb...
Alan Bergman and his wife Marilyn are among the most celebrated songwriting team of their time (and anyone else’s). They began writing together in the early 1950s and wrote the lyrics fo...
Cliff Lange has been a dedicated volunteer for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music since his retirement from the Carlsbad Library. His long and interesting background in library...
Wolf Marshall has an awful lot of insight into the styles and gear of rock and blues guitarists. It helps that Wolf is an amazing player –and teacher. It also helps that he is a fan of ...
Edgar Winter grew up in a musical family, his older brother being the blues legend Johnny Winter. Edgar played in several of his brother’s bands before forming his own bands, always with...
David Shearer is the youngest son of Andy and Rowena, the founders of the family business, Shearers Music. The first store opened in 1963 in downtown Hamilton, New Zealand. Since that ti...
Andy Shearer along with this dear wife Rowena, opened Shearers Music store in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1963. The couple began with a modest inventory but grew to include top brands of mu...
Tim Pratt is the president and one of the three owners of Dietz Music located in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1927, Mr. Dietz established a small music store to help provide musical instruments a...
Jeff Millar-Sax began his association with the music products industry as a consultant while developing a family of friends and companies he has proudly worked with over the years. One o...
Lee Hargrove grew up in a musical home, one that not only produced Lee and his life long career in music, but also his sister, Linda Hargrove, who became a successful songwriter in Nashvi...
Ted Eschliman is the Director of Marketing and Forecast for Dietze Music located in Omaha, Nebraska. He was educated in college as a band director, which was a bonus in his hiring at Die...
Bryan Eagle developed a love for the blues at an early age, which ran as a thread throughout his life, first as a kid listening to early R&B records to college working for a concert p...
Peter Dods was an investment banker on Wall Street on September 11, 2001, which in his words, “uprooted my life and caused me to rethink what I wanted to do.” Having been a music maker h...
Jason D Williams grew up with music all around him so it was no surprise that he devoted his life to playing. With a strong influence from boogie woogie and rockabilly, Jason D began per...
Wendel Stoltz was only a year old when his father, a big band musician, opened a music store in Memphis. The year was 1949. Wendel’s father, Colie, continued to perform at night for man...
Jack Pearson grew up listening to the Allman Brothers not knowing that one day he would join the band and tour the world playing the songs he loved. His talents on the guitar developed a...
Buzz Cason began his musical career as a singer in the late 1950s and early 60s. He formed The Casuals in Nashville and later sang with The Statues for Liberty. As he continued to sing, B...
Skip Buss played trumpet for several big bands on the road and in local hotel ballrooms during the great Swing Era of the 1940s. He decided to leave the road when his son was born at whi...
Ron Bienstock was playing gigs by night and the editor for the International Musicians & Recording World when he was hired by Hoshino to serve as their General Counsel. It was at th...
