Michael Remenyi has been the proud third generation of the company his grandfather founded in Hungary in 1890 to build and repair violins and other string instruments. After World War II...
Ryo Okumoto began his professional musical career as a keyboardist during the height of the electronic musical instrument boom of the 1970s. The synthesizer was growing nearly every mont...
Ira Nepus is the type of musician who is always looking to expand his knowledge in order to be as useful a player as possible for each of his gigs. The philosophy has become a trade mark...
Peter Hix loves the ukulele. Well, he loves every instrument but does have an extra fondness and appreciation for the ukulele. He was exposed to music from the very beginning, growing u...
Lita Ford asked her father to use his old reel to reel tape machine as an amp for her newly purchased electric guitar. With a little soldering, she transformed the tape machine and set o...
Adrian Belew had the NAMM attendees on their feet when he joined the All Star Guitar Night in Nashville 2003. Perhaps the feelings were more than just an appreciation for his music as man...
Florence Wilfer was born in France and was working for a musical distribution company when she met HP Wilfer, her future husband. The two have been working together at HP's Warwick Compa...
Dave Starkey is the engineer who served on the teams that brought us such innovative instruments as the Lowrey MX1 in 1979. For that special project, which included sixty circuit boards,...
Dave Gantz watched the Beatles on television and instantly he knew that he wanted to play bass. Dave had many interesting adventures in music throughout the 1960s, including attending Woo...
Marcus Spangler cut his teeth in the furniture business, working with his hands, seeing products to completion and adding his own ideas to the design and function of each piece. When he ...
Sheldon Sazant began working for Steve's Music in Canada in 1978. What he recalls as his first impression of the store was the very tall, big, red-bearded owner, Steve. Steve was bigger...
Mary Faith Rhoads Lewis grew up on a farm outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where her mother played the piano and encouraged her children to play an instrument. Mary Faith began playin...
Marilyn Puccio and her husband run a true mom and pop music store in Corning, New York. The store was established as Kelly's Music and young Marilyn took piano lessons in the very store ...
Dick Puccio opened a music store with his wife after working in both general retailing and the banking industry. The couple took over a small store in Corning, New York to make it their ...
Daniel Puccio grew up in the music store his mom and dad ran in Corning, New York. As you might guess, the passion for music was passed along to Daniel at a young age. He played and lat...
Scott May knew since he was five years old that he wanted to play the organ! He fell in love with the endless possibilities of the instrument as he grew and discovered that the Hammond w...
Phil Upchurch was a teenager when he joined the solid studio musicians for Chess Records in Chicago. The old veterans took Phil under their wings and showed him the ropes and welcomed hi...
Mike Olsen has worked in the very shop his grandfather established right after World War II to make parts for band instrument makers in and around his hometown of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. At ...
Muriel Long began teaching piano in 1959 and since that time two things have been very clear to those who know her, she is a passionate music maker and a heck of a salesperson! She grew u...
Lenny Lanteigne has been a passionate musician as long as he can remember. When he had a chance to work in the music industry, he was thrilled. Beginning in the early 1980s, Lenny worke...
Michael Kirman was on hand for the 50 Year Milestone Awards during the 2015 NAMM Show. The award went to Steve's Music, a chain of stores in Canada, which were established by Michael's f...
Peter Janis played in school orchestra and rock bands growing up as his mother played piano in the home and encouraged him to pursue music. His first job in the industry was working at S...
Ella Jenkins earned the title The First Lady of Children's Folk Songs and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to bringing music to children. She began collecting and w...
Larry Seaver spent decades designing, engineering and producing parts, instruments and tools for band and orchestras. The key to his success was simple, Larry was an engineer’s engineer! ...
David Gold created a special formula that became the key factor in the echo chamber of his Hollywood recording studio called Gold Star. The studio was filled with furniture and electroni...
Marty Baxter entertained the troops during World War II as a member of a singing quartet. While with bands, such as Frankie Master’s Orchestra, she not only sang but arranged the four pa...
EZ Wajcman was fascinated by the need for specialized sounding guitar pickups. Together with Bill Lawrence, EZ opened their pickup company in 1965 and produced a well-respected product t...
Jackie Bertone knows firsthand about the power of music. As a percussionist for countless recording dates and live performances, Jackie has added the sounds, the feel and the color that ...
Wally Pikal may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show! Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964. Up to that time he ...
Lester Abrams is the songwriter who teamed up with Michael McDonald to pen the Doobie Brothers hit "Minute by Minute." As a teenager and playing drums, Lester's first band was the El Dor...