DeDe Guth joined the customer service team at Yamaha’s band instrument factory in Michigan in 1980. There she learned first hand the company’s philosophy and attention to customer satisfa...
Don Getzen sure knew the history of the band instruments made in the mid-west! Don’s father was the plant manager for the Holton Company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, his oldest uncle was the pl...
Tim Cunningham worked for a trade show design company in the late 1960s for which NAMM was a client. William Gard, NAMM’s CEO at the time, offered Tim a full time job to oversee the show'...
Carol Buschmann grew up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin where she joined the all female singing group the Chordettes just a year after it was formed in 1947. She stayed with the group until they ...
Avery Burdette, the product manager for Yamaha Corporation of America, began his long love of music pushing down the pedals of his mother's organ as a small child while his mother played....
Lewis Brown joined the CG Conn Company in 1941 working in the band instrument assembly department. Less than two years later he was drafted to serve the United States during World War II....
Ed Boyer began working for Yamaha Corporation of America in 1983 with a focus on the band and orchestral products. With a strong background in retail, Ed developed long-lasting partnershi...
Ron Whitaker is a rock drummer who found himself an endorser of several cutting-edge percussive products over the years. As he proudly points out, he never endorsed a product he did not b...
Brian Vincik was in the right place at the right time. As a synthesizer enthusiast and engineer, Brian graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1979 and moved to the San Francisco Bay A...
Lori Supinie was an active music maker since she was a child. Throughout her life she provided music and music lessons to others as well as being a strong leader within the music products...
Tom Sumner grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where he not only played guitar in local bands but also worked in area music stores. While attending college Tom worked in music retail as...
Kevin Smith opened the Violin Shop in San Diego after extensive training as a violin luthier and appraiser. His knowledge of the craftsmanship of violin making was on display during his N...
Dave Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits and inventor of the polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 5. Dave was also the designer and pioneer of MIDI (musical instrument digital int...
Hisatake Shibuya took great pride in developing music education opportunities for students wishing to bring music into their lives. By forming music schools in Japan and later opening the...
Patrick Selmer is proud of his family’s long and important history as instrument makers in France. The company produces many of the finest band and orchestra instruments in the world and ...
Ed Rizzuto was surrounded by music his entire life. As a young boy he started playing trombone, which he continued throughout high school and into his military service in the early 1950s....
Sylvia Perry and her late husband, Mack, teamed up in 1945 to establish Peripole, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Perry taught music and worked to innovate and manufacture instruments for the growth an...
Russell Palmer’s father was the first employee for Capital Records, working as a record salesman. As a result Russell grew up in a home full of the latest hit songs. Russell followed in h...
Richard O’Donnell was vice president of Yamaha Corporation of America at a very historic time in the company’s growth and development, the 1970s. Richard worked on several projects includ...
Bernhard Mueller has been the manager of International sales for Schott’s Music since 2004, after more than 20 years as the company’s distribution manager. His knowledge and love for musi...
Dominic Milano played an important role in the history of the music products industry as editor of Keyboard magazine beginning in the 1970s and into the 1980s. It was Dominic’s article of...
Frank Mazurco spent 33 years working in the Steinway & Sons piano business, the last stretch as executive vice president. Frank helped lead the company during a time of growth within ...
Bill Mays can balance composing, arranging and piano performance with the best of them. As a young musician in San Diego, he cut his teeth on jazz and went on to become a pioneer in the ...
Bob Malone is one of the leading experts in band and orchestra instruments in the United States. He works as Director of the Ateliers in Los Angeles for Yamaha Corporation of America. Bob...
Becky Lightfoot was one of the first people to earn a degree in music business from the University of Illinois, which she put to good use immediately. Becky began working in the sheet mus...
Gladys Krenek was married to the world-renowned composer Ernst Krenek from 1950 until his passing in 1991. Like many women married to noted artists of that era, Gladys’ own remarkable lif...
Henry Heller recalled with detail his father’s idea of moving the Aeolian Piano Company’s manufacturing plant from New York to Memphis. During the months of the move in the early 1950s, h...
Cynthia Hoover has devoted her career to the history of musical instrument making in America as curator at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Her love of the subject has resul...
Don Minaglia was working as school music administer in Chicago in the early 1970s when budget cuts threatened the music programs. Heading the team, Don enlisted the help of several music ...
Yasuharu Mano’s grandfather opened a toy business in 1902 in Japan and by 1917 expanded to include a small line of harmonicas. Soon, the harmonica became in high demand and the company ch...
