Sonny Wittkopp studied business in college and landed a job as a bookkeeper for a local music store in Washington state. This experience generated a great passion for the music industry w...
Don Wilson was a founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures! He formed the band with his friend Bob Bogle. Shortly after their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” Nokie Edwards,...
Ken Hyams was a key franchise owner of Altec Lansing in the early days of consumer electronics. He worked for a Los Angeles retailer for audio, consumer-electronic, products in the late 1...
Normalu Cooper was inspired by her piano teachers as a young girl so she eventually began providing lessons in her father’s piano store when she was a teenager. Like her father, Normalu w...
Morris Diamond sat down with us for his NAMM Oral History interview at the age of 97 and recalled his career in music which started when he was 15 years old. He was hired to be the “band ...
Betty Bennett was inspired to pursue a career in music when she was brought along to gigs by her mother and was allowed to sing with her. After Betty’s first paying gig, making 50 cents f...
Bonnie Guitar produced a series of hit recordings for her label, Dolton, in the 1950s and 60s. Among the labels most popular acts were the Fleetwoods and the Ventures. Bonnie even recorde...
Moze Mossay was given a guitar as a gift from his father when he was a kid and he fell in love with the instrument. Moze sought to understand all elements of the guitar and soon found him...
Trevor Rabin was raised in a musical household, with a father who was a musician and he encouraged Trevor to play the piano at an early age. Later, his father gave him a guitar as a gift ...
Mike Ortigara runs the piano repair and restoration branch of the store his father Ben opened in 1947. Ben opened an accordion store in Chicago which expanded overtime to include pianos, ...
Mary Ortigara has always had a deep passion for education and was an English major at Xavier College. After graduating in the late 1950s, she began working in her brother’s music store gi...
Mario Ortigara joined his brother’s music store just two years after it opened. Since 1949, Mario worked alongside his brother Ben who started the store to teach and sell accordions. By 1...
Bob Olsen often said because he did not play a musical instrument yet had a successful career in the music products industry that he was “a vegetarian in the business of prime meat.” The ...
Clay Barclay was associated with Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for more than 40 years. As a kid, he took radios apart to see how they worked and has been fascinated with audio h...
Jim Wordinger was hired by the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore, in 1972. While he started as a technician, Jim’s career developed over the years and expanded to engineer an...
Tom Szerencse worked his way up to an Engineering Group Manager overseeing Crown International’s design prototyping efforts. In the mid 80’s his team worked with the Marketing department ...
Jim Marks always enjoyed ham radio and often sought opportunities to learn more about audio equipment. He was working as a radio station engineer for Progressive Broadcasting when he hear...
Don Peterson wore many hats during the 21 years he worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana. He began on the factory floor in QA Factory Services before working in the Engineeri...
Ken Woodcox was an early adopter of computer technology when he proudly joined Crown International in the 1970s. Bringing his skill set to Crown and having the company embrace computers r...
Brenda Mortimer worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for 36 wonderful years. Her mother and aunt both worked in the factory, so Brenda grew up understanding and appreciating...
Larry Shank joined Crown International in 1985 with a computer background. He had the goal of bringing computer technology to the product line. With the help of Dick Hyser, the inventor o...
Steve Mills was a music student in Seattle when he landed a job at Crown International in 1979. He began working on the bench on circuit boards, and after earning his electrical engineeri...
Mary Miller interviewed for a factory job with the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore. Mary recalled that day in 1966 as the interview was long, but it gave her a chance to un...
Mark Darnell, as a musician, often wondered about the inner workings of the microphones he used, so he set out to learn more and in 1992 was asked to join the Crown International team in ...
Dave Stuber was just out of high school in 1968 when he was hired to work as a technician in the tape recorder production of Crown International. The Elkhart, Indiana based audio company ...
Steve Peer has a very interesting take on the 1971 fire that destroyed the Crown International factory in Elkhart, Indiana. Steve just joined the company a few months before the Thanksgiv...
Verne Searer began working part-time for Crown International in 1963. He left to earn his engineering degree at Purdue and returned to Crown in 1970. He stayed nearly twenty more years wi...
Jim Beattie went to his local audio dealer in Columbus, Ohio in 1971 seeking high-end gear. The dealer invited Jim to tour the Crown International factory with him following week in Elkha...
Don Eger earned his degree in electric engineering and began working for Crown International in 1964. A few years later he became a draftsman in the Engineering Department and by 1977 he ...
