Rodrigo Garcia recalls the day his father bought him his first bass. It changed his life. He later went on the road to play professionally and toured with Alexander Silver throughout Chil...
Bill Sapsis has been rigging for theater and live events since the early 1970s. He was a welder and helped with set designs in both Philadelphia and New York and in 1981, he formed Sapsis...
Tony Andrews is one of the world’s most influential loudspeaker designers as well as a founding figure of the modern pro audio industry. His childhood devotion to audio led to the creatio...
Kostas Prelorentzos, along with his brother, Joseph, were the first to be interviewed for the NAMM Oral History Program from Greece. It is an honor to include their story within our colle...
Joseph Prelorentzos sat next to his brother, Kostas, as they became the first people to be interviewed from Greece for the NAMM Oral History Program. The interview took place in Anaheim a...
Norman Whitfield Jr grew up surrounded by music. His father was the noted songwriter, Norman Whitfield, who penned such classic hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Just My Imagin...
Don Menza is the noted jazz saxophonist who worked with some of the giants of jazz during his long and storied career. Don sat in the Maynard Ferguson’s Orchestra for a few years beginnin...
Kevin Brandon is the studio bass player known as "Brandino". While he was born in Southern California, his musical roots go back to New Orleans. When he was four, he met Louis Armstrong, ...
Seah Kok Hwa was born in Malaysia and wanted to make music when he first heard the Beatles. His uncle gave young Seah a guitar and he learned to play some of his favorite songs. After wor...
Tim Paul may have been destined for a career in the piano business. Growing up, his mother was a piano teacher and his father a piano technician. One of his earliest jobs was as a ballpar...
Howard Paul is the president of Benedetto Guitars and has had a passion for the instrument since he was a kid. In fact, Howard was playing professionally when he was thirteen. Over the ye...
Anthony Resta is a gold and multi-platinum awarded producer-composer/multi-instrumentalist. His past clients include Duran Duran, Elton John, Collective Soul, Perry Ferrell, Guster, Needt...
Stephen Olsen grew up with a passion for business, so when he had an opportunity to join the family music store, he jumped! Blues Angel was established in 1997 by his step father Jim and...
Jun-Ichi Miki joined the Roland Corporation in 1977 right after graduating from university. After working in research of sound synthesis and analysis for electronic musical instruments, i...
Denny Tedesco archived his father’s career as a noted studio musician in Los Angeles in the award winning documentary, The Wrecking Crew. Tommy Tedesco, along with other top rated studio ...
Charlie Butten, audio engineer, teamed up with Bob Cohen in the mid-60’s to create an intercom system for crew communication in live productions. By 1968, they developed the industry’s fi...
Bob Ulius began working in the music industry when San Francisco retailer, Stu Goldberg, hired Bob at Marina Music in 1969. It was the beginning of a long career that included gigs at Leo...
Steve Dillon has a great appreciation and knowledge of vintage band and orchestra instruments. The first musician in the Dillon family can be documented back to the 1700s, thus the store’...
Jim Fahey adds a unique twist to many of the tours he provides as a docent for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. Growing up in the 1960s, Jim understands the impact music has ...
Sandy Radom is a volunteer at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California and can often be found enjoying one of the many concerts presented at the museum. Sandy...
Philip Burn is currently the managing director of Hal Leonard Australia. He first commenced work for iconic Australian distributor, Rose Music, in 1976 (which in 1986 became Yamaha Music ...
Merv Cargill was the owner of Cargill Custom Guitars. After completing an apprenticeship in violin making he learned the finer details of building wooden instruments and became a qualifie...
Vera May was the matriarch figure of the iconic Australian acoustic instrument maker Maton Guitars. Wife of the founder, Bill May, Vera worked in the business from 1954 until her retireme...
Ray Fransen was born in New Orleans and began playing drums at an early age. He played professionally full-time for years and taught drum lessons until the birth of his first child. At th...
Frank D'Arcangelo grew up in a house that always had music playing. He has memories of his parents record collection and large stereo system that seemed to always be playing. He took to t...
James Singleton was born in Chicago and took to playing bass at an early age. After performing in the Chicago area and briefly attending the University of North Texas, James was called to...
Robert Strait is proud of the music retail traditions that his father developed when their family owned store was first established back in 1967. Since that time, his father, Dan, along w...
David Strait is one of two sons of original Strait Music Company owner and founder, Dan Strait. During his interview David talked about growing up working with their father in a true fami...
Tommy Robertson was born in Austin, Texas, a feat he calls “as rare as a unicorn these days.” Tommy played drums throughout his teen years before he decided to open his first drum shop. T...
Steve Fulton was born in California but quickly made his way to Austin to perform in bands all over town. Although he was originally a drummer, he was struck by the aura of the guitar and...