Gina Bergmann was introduced to music at a young age, and attended a music school while growing up in Chicago, Illinois. When a Sam Ash music store opened up in her neighborhood, Gina got...
Adriana Flores proudly represents the third generation in her family to run Alamo Music in San Antonio, Texas. The store was established by her grandfather Alfredo Flores Sr. (1908-2014) ...
John Carpanini worked side by side with Robert Wilson at Sound Technology for just over 18 years. Perhaps considered a baptism of fire? The job was John’s introduction to the industry and...
Ron Losby was classically trained on the piano and began his love of the music industry by providing free lessons at Sherman Clay’s retail chain. He later worked within the Wurlitzer musi...
Karl Winkler began playing the viola in the fourth grade and got accepted into the local youth orchestra two years later. His first job in the music industry was working for Howard Beaver...
Ralph-Joerg Wezorke became active in the pro lighting industry in 1975. He is the founder of pro-lighting company Lightpower. The company was formed in 1978 in Paderborn, Germany and soon...
Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter ...
Tommy Morgan played a significant role in elevating the importance and reputation of the harmonica in television, recordings, and motion pictures. Over his 63 year career, Tommy contribut...
Kevin Mitchell wrote the MMR cover story in 2009 dedicated to the NAMM Oral History program and has been a strong advocate and supporter ever since! His background in music (he played the...
Billy J. Kramer took part in the British Invasion, coming to America and performing a number of his hit songs on the Ed Sullivan Show, just like four of his friends from Liverpool did a f...
Daniel Ho happily participated in the ukulele boom of the early 2000s. He grew up playing Hawaiian music and studied composition at the Grove School of Music. When given the change to hel...
Barry "Foz" Fasman wrote over 30 songs for the NBC television series FAME, which resulted in the sale of over 4 million records and opened the doors to several other successful projects. ...
Santa Davis began playing drums as a child in Kingston, where he witnessed the growth and development of Reggae in Jamaica playing alongside Bob Marley. His playing career began when Ska ...
Juan Croucier toured the world as a rock and roll star as an original member of Ratt! He began performing bass in Hollywood in 1973, which lead to friendships that would later become the ...
Steve Churchyard grew up reading the liner notes of album covers and studying the names of the engineers and studios, which somehow fascinated him just as much as the recording artist. Wi...
Eric Burdon participated in the British Invasion of the 1960s as an original member of The Animals. It was an exciting time in music that brought popularity to rock bands from England to ...
Bruce Botnick was the recording engineer for The Doors’ last album with Jim Morrison, LA Woman, which followed earlier studio works with Arthur Lee and Love as well as The Ventures. In 19...
Kenny Aronoff gained a worldwide fan base as the drummer for John Cougar Mellencamp from 1980 until 1996. He conducted countless clinics in music stores from coast to coast and enjoyed lo...
Robbie Robertson was a member of the rock group The Band, which backed Bob Dylan and went on to record a string of hit songs, many of which Robbie wrote. During his NAMM Oral History inte...
Phyllis Webb and her husband, Dale, formed The Magic Fluke Company in 1999. The company began making ukuleles in the basement of their home in New Hartford, Connecticut. They were inspir...
Dale Webb wanted to create a new design for the ukulele with the hope that it would inspire more people to play a musical instrument. His Fluke did exactly that! The instrument was intr...
Mitzi Meyer-Phelan grew up in the music store her parents formed. She realized as a teen that the music industry was in her blood and she recalls, with a smile, working with customers to ...
Tom Meyer and his brother and sister represent the second generation of Meyer Music owners. Their parents, Betty and Ted, opened the first store in 1966. Since then they have expanded to ...
Mike Meyer manages one of the three stores in the Meyer Music chain, which his parents first established in the mid-1960s. At the core of the store is the passion for music making which s...
Bernie Williams is the former professional baseball player whose passion for music making led him to a role as a music advocate. Being a musician since he was a kid, Bernie perused a succ...
Jack Douglas was among the early and most successful recording engineers at the Record Plant. He worked with founders Chris Stone and Gary Kellgren to create a modern and innovative studi...
Honoring Craig Smith for his invaluable service in assisting the NAMM Resource Center in obtaining fantastic interview contributions to the NAMM Oral History Program. This video contains ...
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2016 and early 2017. This Tribute was shown for the first time at t...
Kal David helped bring the Firebird to the blues! The famed electric guitar was not widely used for the blues until Kal began playing it in bands in and around Chicago. He was a founding ...
Steve Madaio played trumpet on most of Stevie Wonders recordings during the innovative and creative period between 1971 and 1976. Stevie was experimenting with electric keyboards and syn...
