Al Torre feels music was more than part of his life, it was the driving force behind it, like love and passion. He played drums at an early age and was a key part of the careers of jazz ...
Denver Spence joined the music industry in 1968 after having been involved with his school marching bands and school band programs since he was in elementary school. He worked as a schoo...
Chris Pelonis is a well-known studio designer, engineer, producer, speaker builder, studio and live guitar player and band leader/guitarist for the likes of the Jeff Bridges band. His en...
Diane Magagna has been a pioneering woman in many ways within the music industry, including international sales of guitars. She has worked with many of the top luthiers and manufacturers...
Tom Yeager’s father opened the Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, California in 1959, which not only became the location of many family memories but his first job sweeping up. After a ...
Dolores Yeager was the CEO of the Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, California, which her late husband, Bob, opened in 1959. Bob teamed with Chuck Molinari to establish a store that w...
Eugene Wright can be heard playing bass on the classic jazz song “Take Five” as a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, but what most people may not know is that Eugene fronted his own band...
Otis Taylor can remember saving long and hard to purchase his first banjo from a small store in Denver, Colorado as a child. The instrument led him on a career path of playing blues and ...
Lee Ritenour was exposed to jazz music in Los Angeles as a youth thanks to his parents. He developed a great knowledge of guitar techniques having watched and or worked with many of his ...
Stan Keyawa has grown up in the Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, California. He and his two brothers run the store that his step-father, Bob Yeager, opened in 1959. What makes the s...
Jerry Keyawa loves to tell stories about the many amazing customers who have shopped at the Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, California. He and his two brothers run the store that hi...
Alan Kay has always had a love for music and in fact often found himself thinking in terms of a musician when he was designing computers and computer code. Alan is a computer science pio...
Les Harrison is the president of Hollywood Sound Systems in Hollywood, California. The company provides sound system and designs both to purchase and to rent and has been an innovator in...
Sylvia Cunliffe was working for the City of Los Angeles when she created and produced a series of large public events that brought music to millions over the years. The Los Angeles Stree...
Connie Czerwinski was the president of Cerwin-Vega, the company her father established in 1954 and worked with her father and the team he assembled, which provided many innovations in pro...
Gary Chen is the owner of Stein On Vine, the historic horn and string shop in Hollywood, California whose customer list reads like a who's who of jazz and film music. Gary was hired by t...
Stephen Shorney grew up in the music publishing business that his great-grandfather established with a partner--Hope Publishing, which focused on church music. The family has continued t...
Carter Schuld's father purchased an accordion for him when he was just four years old. Thanks to church, Carter took a liking to the organ, which his father noticed and purchased a home ...
John Pollard first walked into Swords Music in Fort Worth, Texas as a customer. In fact he took music lessons in the store before he was told of a position to work in the store. The sto...
Rick Walters made a lasting impact on the world of classical and vocal music publishing during his remarkable career at Hal Leonard. Starting out transcribing popular sheet music, he quic...
Nancy Ubick is quick to point out that her mentor in business has been Mary Vandenberg, the pioneering Business Affairs executive for Hal Leonard. In fact it was Nancy who succeeded Mary...
Mary Vandenberg started at Hal Leonard as the sole licensing administrator in the Milwaukee office and eventually became the Vice President of Business Affairs. In that role she dealt wi...
Brad Smith is the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager for Hal Leonard. During his career as a writer and industry historian, he worked for MIX Magazine before joining the Hal Leonard team...
Jimi Schutte first played drums as a teenager and went on to perform and record with a host of blues legends such as Luther Allison, Jimmy Dawkins and Lonnie Brooks. He toured with The So...
Michael Sweeney has been heavily involved in all aspects of music education over his career in the music industry. Originally a public school band director, he’s been a full-time employe...
Jeff Schroedl wrote and published a guitar book in his late teens, which led to being asked to join his publisher, Hal Leonard, to be involved with future projects centered around guitar ...
Jim Paulsen's father opened a small music store in Kenosha to focus on his instrument of choice, the accordion. When young Jim encouraged his father to expand into guitars, they started ...
Tom Merritt is the general manager for The Music Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the right hand man for the company's president, Jim Paulsen. The two have worked side by side for severa...
Doug Lady is one of those guys who will give you the shirt off his back. As the Senior Vice President of Sales for Hal Leonard, he has created a team that echoes his strong and sincere f...
David Jahnke's smile can be spotted at nearly every NAMM Show and RPMDA convention! The man loves what he does and often goes out of his way to help those he wants to serve. His many cu...
