Benny Turner grew up in a music family and after his brother, Freddie King, took him to a session with Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon, he was hooked. While Benny played guitar with the Kin...
Al Maniscalco is a musician at heart. Prior to joining what was then Buffet Crampon USA in 2006, Al Maniscalco maintained a successful 20 year career as a performing musician and educator...
Tim Jones brings both passion and a dedication to the customers he serves in Texas. Starting his first store in Midland in 2003, Tim expanded to the communities of Odessa and Abilene. Tim...
Jody Espina had a long history as both a musician and educator before deciding to launch his own line of saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces. Jody honed his playing at a young age before m...
Doug Davis has been involved in the music industry for most of his life. Getting the bug to play while playing in the Honor band in school, Doug went on to get a degree in music education...
Charles Conrad comes from a very long line of music retailers. Charles’ grandfather started the store in 1890 and it has been in the same location since. Having seen years of change in th...
Abe Thomas has shown remarkable insight and made great strides forward in the music therapy arena. Able to identify a unique instrument, the OmniChord, and immediately see its value to no...
Bill Putnam Jr essentially grew up in the music business. Bill’s father, Bill Putnam Sr., started Universal Audio in 1958 and was basically the inventor of the modern day recording consol...
Ray Parker Jr may best be known for writing the soundtrack to Gostbusters, but his legacy goes back much further. Starting in Detroit as a teenager, Ray got the opportunity to work and to...
Loren Zimmerman owned Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois during the 1970s and 80s and is credited for being among the first music retailers to have locations in shopping malls. When he pur...
Randy Wood is the president of The Music Shoppe in Normal, Illinois. The store specializes in band instrument repairs and strong customer service. The store goes back to the days when a ...
Carl Thacker was a teenager when he began repairing band instruments. In fact he was a Charter Member of NAPBIRT and attended the first annual convention before he was 20 years old. Aft...
Craig Schertz worked for Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois and saw an opportunity to purchased two of the company’s ten locations when his boss and the current owner, Loren Zimmerman, was ...
Andrew Schertz runs Schertz MusiCenteR in Bloomington, Illinois, with this father Randy. Andrew's uncle, Craig, once owned Byerly Music, which had locations throughout Centeral Illinois....
Julie Jurgenson is among the pioneering women in the band instrument repair side of the music industry. She was trained at Red Wing and worked for a couple of shops before opening her ow...
Joe Butkevicius became a flute specialist as an instrument repairman. Over the years Joe worked in music retail, for Pearl Flutes and now is employed by KHS. Joe has also been very activ...
Deacon John Moore has been a noted studio musician in New Orleans for decades. His performance and recordings have not only represented the New Orleans Sound over the years, he has helpe...
Dale Krevens has been involved with Tech 21 since before its inception. In fact, Dale was instrumental in urging Andrew Barta to start his own business (when he was originally only lookin...
Tony Levin is one of the most prolific bassists in history having recorded as a session player with numerous groups including Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and Yes, regular gigs with groups in...
Peter Stroud is probably best known for his work as guitarist with Sheryl Crow. While that gig may have helped Peter come to greater recognition, he first developed his love of gear while...
Nancy Vernon and her husband, Gene Monnig, own and operate Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nancy is very active with the music teachers in and around the area and works hard to bui...
Gene Monnig is the owner of Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. The store is an important place for music teachers in and around the Twin Cities as Cadenza keeps close tabs on the meth...
Francois Kloc earned a degree in oboe and bassoon performance at the Beauvais Music Conservatory, which became a foundation for his deep and passionate exploration of these musical instru...
Philip Leader is a freelance content programmer for electronic musical instruments, with a background in piano, organ and keyboard sales, following in the footsteps of his dad Alec Leader...
Bruce Johnson began his career in the music industry working in the accounting department for Wurlitzer in DeKalb, Illinois. While on the job he began outlining a computer program that c...
Sue Collier-Lewis played piano as a young girl and loved singing, a passion that has continued with her all throughout her career as a music teacher and music advocate. After earning her...
Yoko Leader learned to play as a student of the Yamaha Electone school, but later graduated university with her major in Mathematics. When Yoko was picked up from graduation by Matsushita...
Jerome Perrod was appointed the CEO of the Buffet Group in 2014, an opportunity he was both honored and excited about. Given his background and interest in management and developing proce...
Giorgio Giannini proudly recalled the beginning of his family’s involvement in the music industry as part of his interview for the NAMM Oral History collection. Mr. Tranquillo Giannini w...
Joe Carducci remembers with a smile sitting in front of his parents black and white television set on a Sunday evening in February when he watched the Beatles storm America on the Ed Sull...