Steven Kinchen dreamed of playing music ever since he was a small child. When he had a chance to work in the music industry following his music degree in college, Steven jumped at the ch...
Dan Hall was the founder of Hall Piano Company, located on David Drive in Metairie, Louisiana. The store was opened in 1958 just after Dan had moved from Beaumont, Texas, where he began ...
Dwight Clements was working at Sears while playing music at night and on the weekends. While visiting a local store in New Orleans, Mitchell’s Music, Dwight asked the owner if there were...
Bill Causey had a long history of music in his family. His father was a band director and both his father’s brother and sister were fine musicians. Bill had great memories of the family...
Terence Blanchard remembers with pride the special way Lionel Hampton coached and encouraged him. It was his first professional gig and Hamp took the time to share with young Terence, an...
Freddie Washington is proud of the connections he has made in the music world as a bass player and that his passion for music has led to so many opportunities to make music with other pas...
Jeanne Stiernberg teams with her husband, John, to run the Stiernberg Consulting Firm. Since the fourth grade, when she began piano lessons, Jeanne has always been active in music. Whil...
Mark Sampson and his friend, Rick Perrotta, formed Matchless Amplifiers in Mark’s kitchen back in 1989. Two years later they pulled all of their resources to exhibit at the NAMM Show in ...
Enrico Monaci loved to hear the stories of his uncle, who started the ORLA Company to make parts for accordions. The company expanded over the years and Enrico grew up helping in every e...
Keisuke Kobayashi is the Director and Chief Marketing Officer for Audio-Technica in Japan. His long and very interesting career in the music products industry started when he began worki...
Frank DeVille Greenfield's journey began in New Jersey, where his childhood was filled with visits to musical instrument stores — fueling his dreams of becoming a renowned musician. As he...
Peter Sprague smiled as the audience at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California continued their applause. It was one of many performances that month in mid-2...
Bob Smakula built his first dulcimer when he was 14 years old. Having grown up all around the roots music of West Virginia, Bob loved all aspects of musical instruments. Along with play...
Jasbeer Siingh enjoys the people in the music industry. He lists working with the passionate people of the industry as one of the key factors in his own satisfaction in his job.
Mike Remenyi represents the fourth generation of family members running the Remenyi House of Music located in Toronto, Canada. It was his great-grandfather Mihály who opened a small viol...
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...
