Canadian Music Industry
Les Lillo grew up in the music industry; his parents founded Lillo's Music in 1963. Les recalls growing up and working in the family business, playing drums in the family band and performing in and around his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He recollects aspects of the music industry in...
Brian Schmidt opened up a small piano and organ retail store in Calgary, Canada, in 1973 with a strong focus on the Baldwin Products. He was just 21 years old at the time and benefited greatly from a number of mentors who helped him, several of whom were Baldwin employees. After Baldwin was sold...
Glenn MacRae had an exciting musical career as the saxophonist and singer in a Canadian formed rock band that lived and recorded in England for two years in the mid 1960s. That exciting time led to a job in a music store in Winnipeg that would later be purchased by Jack Long, the founder of Long...
George Douglas's grandfather opened a small music shop in Canada, which his father managed following his military service during World War II. The small store chugged along over the years and served as a training ground for George as a salesman. As a teen he often stood on the show floor selling to...
Andy Zildjian is the president of the cymbal company his parents established in 1981, Sabian. With a long family tradition of cymbal making, Andy is proud to continue developing the company. Andy has worked to continue the core set of values established by his parents regarding customer and...
Ted Sambell was born in London, England and made his living as a piano technician in London, and Ontario, Canada. With poor eyesight Ted was often told he was limited in his career choices, but has said many times that being a piano technician was the ideal job for him and one he has enjoyed for...
Ron Larcombe formed a rock band with his friends while in high school and fell in love with music. He toured the United States and Canada with several tribute bands before deciding he wanted to try selling drums and other musical products. Ron worked in music retail at The Drum Shop in 1984,...
Marty Golden is the founder of the Canadian music distribution company JAM Industries. Marty began his career in retail, first working for his father in a pawnshop and later a music store. He began making his own line of guitar amplifiers he named JAM (which is comprised of the first letter of his...
David McAllister grew up in Eastern Canada as a child of the 60s and 70s and a big fan of the music of the era. He studied sales and marketing, getting a job in one of the country’s largest food companies before meeting Bob Zildjian in 1984. Bob had just formed SABIAN and was looking for a sales...
Robert Godin grew up in love with woods and handcraftsmanship. He worked along side a luthier long enough to understand he had found his passion. Robert designed and perfected a style of building that produced a unique sounding guitar, special in many ways. He took extra care in selecting the woods...