Hyman Peller, in 1975, left a corporate job in NJ and moved to upstate, NY. Once there he found employment in a music store, a job for which he says he was unqualified. The owner set abou...
Joe Mullens has always had a strong passion for music, and made the decision one day to turn that passion into a career. He worked as a store manager for a local music shop chain until th...
Larry Dalton started playing drums at a young age after seeing The Beatles on TV. His love for music stayed with him, and he began playing in multiple bands and went on many tours in Euro...
Rick Nelson got into the music industry by parking cars at the famous Greater Boston jazz club, Lennie’s-on-the-Turnpike. This job allowed him to make great connections, and eventually go...
Don Puluse played clarinet as a young student and went on to play in the Marine Band. He soon began to study recording engineering and joined AES in 1958. Less than a decade later, Don fo...
Tony Santorella opened his own music publishing company just north of Boston after learning the trade from the iconic publisher Charles Hansen. Tony was an All State trumpet player who st...
Emilio Lyons would often have his well-known customers such as Stan Getz and Benny Carter meet him at his home whenever they needed work done on their saxophone. Emilio was the manager fo...
Tom Gauger was a regular member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over 40 years and taught percussion at Boston University for over 30 years. Over those decades, he developed several m...
Michael Doucet has become an important link to the roots of Cajun music, not only because he has written and performed the musical style since he was 6 years old, but because of the month...
Bob Stroger found himself on stage at a blues club as a teenager not sure exactly what to do. He had an electric bass in his hand and laid down the bass parts he heard on his Jimmy Reed r...
Ramsey Lewis had a monster hit record with his jazz version of "The In Crowd." The song, which is considered to be the quintessential instrumental jazz hit of the 60s, led to a series of ...
Paul Hamer has a fascinating background that includes giving guitar lessons to Bob Gand back in the late 1960s. Being surrounded by fellow guitarists and having design ideas to improve th...
Rich Covas owned Modern Music store's three locations for thirteen years beginning in 1966. The locations covered band and orchestra instruments as well as guitar, keyboards, and drums. T...
Bob Koester was the founder of the Delmark label who began recording blues and jazz in 1953 in St. Louis. He later moved to Chicago where he helped define the music scene by recording art...
Rick Nielsen is among the very few rock stars who grew up in a music store! His story and background is perfect for the NAMM Oral History program as it ties together a professional career...
Shane Fontayne grew up in England and came to the United States for the first time in 1976. He has recorded and performed with a long list of musical greats including Joe Cocker, Van Zant...
Ivor Davis was working as the foreign correspondent for the London Daily Express when he was assigned to travel with the Beatles. He joined the Fab Four during the summer of 1964 in San F...
Betty Wright was three years old when she was placed on a pile of phone books in a studio in order to reach the microphone when her family recorded gospel music. She began writing songs v...
Fred Rubin ran one of the most active and successful music stores in Miami. His father opened Ace Music in 1955 and Fred grew up in the store. When he took over the business, Fred continu...
Rob Roy was playing in a band and recording some of their songs when he met Tony Bongiovi who offered to help Rob. Tony had just moved from New York to Florida and was looking for a proje...
Tony Bongiovi opened Power Station Studios in New York in the early 1970s, which helped define a few eras of recordings. The studio, which became a mainstay in the industry, was created a...
Mark Begelman formed Mars Music after a career in retail sales of office supplies. The idea behind Mars was to create a big box retail company with locations around the country. To compet...
Lynn Sheeley Jr.'s father opened a small piano store in east Tennessee in 1908. After serving in D-Day during World War II, Lynn returned home to work in the store, which he later took ov...
Murray Grodner, along with his first wife Leah, formed Lemur Music, Inc., a catalog business that specialized in the needs of the Double Bassist. His impressive background as bassist, pro...
Frank Charles is perhaps best known for playing the organ during most hockey, baseball, and basketball games during the 1980s in Milwaukee. His riffs for the Brewers influenced many other...
Tom Paxton spoke eloquently about the role folk music played during critical events in American history, such as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s for which he was involved with. Tom...
Out in the village of Bubenreuth, Germany lays the incredible history of a group of independent luthiers who in reinventing themselves after World War II helped produce hand-crafted music...
Rob Joly was playing in a surf band in 1966 when Leo Fender hired him to work at a teenage fair. The fair attracted young students and Leo felt the event would be great to introduce his n...
Sean O'Shea began front pumping the organ during the big boom of home organs in the 1970s. His first gig was for a music store when he was just 14. He grew up in the business and worked f...
Newell Hardy had a life changing experience playing in the Youth Symphony on viola while in middle school. That opportunity led to his love of guitar and later his passion for the pedal s...
