Wally Evans grew up in Wales with music all around him. He played piano and sang in church. He later learned to play the guitar and worked in several bands at night and worked in a power ...
Linda Emmet enjoyed talking about the often over-looked business side of her father’s remarkable career in music publishing. Her father was Irving Berlin! Mrs. Emmett and her older sister...
Richard Elkin ran the England-based music publishing company his grandfather formed. Richard’s father, William, was a well liked publisher who brought English products to America. Elkin’s...
John F. Edmunds began arranging music as a high school student, when he found that commercially available arrangements were not suitable for his band of non-standard instrumentation. Afte...
Barry Draisen recalls the stories he was told about his grandfather who started a store that his uncle would later expand to include school band instruments. The store is now in Anderson...
David Cox was a software engineer who decided to create a computer solution for music retailers’ accounting and rental management. David created Tri-Technical Systems, Inc in 1984 and foc...
Michael Compernass is the president of the Hoyer Guitar Company in Germany. Michael focuses on the history of the company’s innovative products, particularly those created by Arthur Hoyer...
Graham Butterworth has spent a few decades in the British music industry. He has worked with both retailers and suppliers alike and has witnessed first hand changes to the industry that h...
Jack Bullock has always enjoyed bringing music to young players. His long and well-respected career as a composer of works for bands and his method book established him as one of the lead...
Roger Bucknall is an instrument maker who formed Fylde Guitars, which is located in Penrith, England, not so far from the Scottish border. Roger’s long and well regarded career as a guita...
Theo Boylan hailing from a quaint town 80 miles from Chicago, cultivated her musical prowess from an early age, immersing herself in the exciting realms of piano and oboe performance. Her...
Graham Blyth began playing music at the age of 4 and studied electrical engineering in college, which led to his final paper on the topic of electronic organs. While writing the paper, Gr...
Andy Bereza was on the team that created the now famous Portastudio products for TASCAM. In fact, Andy is credited with the mixer’s first blue prints as well as coming up with its clever ...
Mary Ellin Barrett was the oldest of Irving Berlin’s three daughters and the author of the 1994 book, Irving Berlin: A Daughters Memoir. During her NAMM interview she and her sister Linda...
Don Banks was a band director who felt he could have more of an impact on music makers by providing them with quality instruments. In 1967 he opened Don Banks Music in Tampa, Florida to s...
Rod Argent had an idea for a new sound, a new band in a new era of music. After creating a group and writing songs to perform and record, Rod’s dream of a new style of rock was born (with...
Grace Altieri has a background in law but was willing to put that career on hold when her husband decided to open a drum shop in Tampa. AJ was working for a local music store and was real...
AJ Altieri began working in the music retail business in the mid 1970s after a childhood filled with music. He played in bands as a student along with being a Drum Major, before performin...
Frank Alkyer has asked a lot of questions. As a writer and editor of Music Inc., he has interviewed music retailers and suppliers alike. In addition as a writer and editor for DownBeat Ma...
John Musselman enjoyed a long and successful career in the music industry with Selmer, Leblanc and American Way. His zeal for the industry and understanding of international markets prove...
Whitney Brown Grisaffi proudly serves as the president of Ted Brown Music, a revered Tacoma, Washington-based retail establishment founded by her grandfather. Her unwavering dedication an...
Lee Anderton’s grandfather started a small music store that Lee now runs, Anderton Music in Guildford, England. During Lee’s early years in the business, he worked to make the Internet an...
Bruce Perrin is the Managing Director for Barnes & Mullins, located in Oswestry, England. The company was formed in 1895 and published the famous banjo magazine called “The Jo.” The c...
Gary Stewart Hurst is known around the industry as “Gary the Fuzzman” for being the inventor of the Tone Bender fuzz pedal, which he began producing in the 1960s. Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page...
Ronnie Drumm had a full and fulfilling life in music! As a child he picked up the trumpet, which he played during his time as a big band leader, musical director and educator. Ronnie work...
Abbott Buegeleisen and his late brother ran the music wholesaling business that his father formed in New York City. Abbott’s father and a friend, who soon after passed away, combined thei...
Russell Beacock is president of Beacock Music, a Vancouver, Washington-based retail store that was established by his parents, Dale and Susan, back in 1976. Proudly representing the secon...
Theo Dollmann was the sales representative for Schott Music, the famed music publisher located in Mainz Germany. He joined the company in 1939 and continued to work for the company past h...
Big George Webley was a beloved voice over the BBC for many years who often included many of his own incredible musical experiences in his late night radio program. As a session bassist,...
Ron Escheté grew up in and around Houma, Louisiana and, during his NAMM Oral History interview, said, “I was never taught the blues, it was just something all around all the time. Playing...
