Larry Ramirez had a fascinating career in music! As a trumpet player he landed his dream job designing instruments for many of his childhood heroes! While working for Leblanc, Larry was a...
Ramon Portal moved from Cuba to the United States in 1962 and heard of an inventory job at Guild Guitar and, as he often has said, his American dream came true. Ramon worked his way up w...
Brian Nunney was born in Cheltenham, England, and served in the Royal Air Force for four years before he was hired by the Littlewoods Department store. The company purchased a small musi...
Robert Neu grew up in the Cincinnati area and went to work for Baldwin Piano Company on August 2, 1946, right after World War II. In fact, Bob started out as a time keeper to keep track o...
Maudie Moore was hired by Gibson Guitars in 1962 to do small piece work and soon branched out to engraving, which became a specialty for her over the next several decades. In fact, she o...
Clyde Moore is the son of the founder of Crown International, an innovative sound system and pro audio company in Elkhart, Indiana for which Clyde once served as president. Over the year...
John Meyer founded Meyer Sound Laboratory back in 1979 and soon became an important pioneer and innovator in sound reinforcement. He worked to establish a balance in the sound created by...
Bill Mathews is the Executive Director of the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT). In that role Bill has expanded the organization’s meaning...
Mari Mach spent nearly 40 years in the music industry in and around Elkhart, Indiana. She began her career in the sales department working for C. G. Conn for four years before being offer...
Denny Lawson began learning and playing instrumental music while in college. He soon found he had a great interest in playing music and switched his major to music education. While he w...
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...
Don Johnston has become a well-respected sales manager for the Fender Musical Instruments Corp. He was hired just after CBS Musical purchased the famed electric guitar company in May 196...
David Horine opened a small piano store in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1980s. David became a piano technician and gathered a nice reputation for tuning and repairs before he decided to ...
Dan Herbert played trumpet as a kid and later switched to drums to form a rock band in the days following the Beatle’s popularity in the early 1960s. During the summers, he would work pa...
Takashi “Hagi” Hagiwara has been called the “godfather of Yamaha drums” as the unofficial ambassador of the company’s percussive products around the world. His father was a silversmith i...
Bob Hackett worked for Ampeg on the company’s amplifiers. As a professional bass player, Bob was able to provide vital feedback in the design and sound of the bass amps for Ampeg. Durin...
Richard Gore’s father was a band director who expanded the school’s bookstore into a music store in Denton, Texas. As the store grew, Richard’s passion for music grew, as did his interes...
Robert Fleming has been a long time member of NAPBIRT, missing only a few annual meetings during his long career as a repairman. He worked with Pete Valentino on how plastics could be us...
Peter De Luke Sr. taught music in the public school system in New York for over 25 years. His zest for encouraging young students to make music has been a strong focus of Pete’s even aft...
Kevin Cranley grew up in the music industry and has a passion for all elements of the music business as if it were in his blood. As a young man, he completed odd jobs around the Willis M...
Steve Bosse served as president of the Artley Flute Company in the years after his father, Richard, led the company. Richard and Steve worked together to expand the company and relocate ...
George Benson played trombone during school and studied piano during college. It was during that time that he began working for a local music store. He worked for Hoover Music in Jackso...
John Edmondson and Anne McGinty worked together at Charles Hansen Publishing, where they met. Together they freelanced as composers and arrangers until they decided to form their own fir...
Jeanne Dukoff married the swing saxophonist and mouthpiece maker Bobby Dukoff. Bobby suffered a stroke just before his scheduled NAMM Oral History interview and in true “Bobby Dukoff Spi...
Lee Donais may be the only industry member who played piano (as part of the Navy Band) for three United States Presidents: Johnson, Nixon and Ford. After his career with the Navy Band, L...
Johnny Davis had several key roles within the music products industry, which made his Oral History interview particularly meaningful for the NAMM collection as we seek to preserve our ind...
Chuck Dadisman grew up on a farm and went to school to become a school music teacher, which he did for five years before moving to Omaha, NE, where he worked in piano and organ retail. I...
Pete Ceo grew up in a musical home, thanks in large part to his band-directing father. When Pete was a child his parents owned a small music store in Wheeling, West Virginia. Pete grew ...
Craig Anderson is the General Manager for Allied Supply in Elkhorn, WI. Allied is the largest supplier of parts, tools and cases to the band instrument repair business and has been a corn...
Bob Scheiwiller taught music for three years before landing a job at a music store; the very first store he would later purchase. Bob bought and opened several music stores over the years...
