CBS Musical Instruments
Babe Simoni began working for the Fender Guitar Company in 1953. He was a teenager when George Fullerton hired him to work on the factory floor. Babe’s father had worked in the plant just the year before but had suffered a stroke and left the company. Babe worked on nearly every style of guitar the...
Dave Gupton has had a long career with a number of companies and a rather impressive list of innovators who helped pioneer our industry. Dave worked in retail with Karl Bruhn before joining Fender--before the CBS Musical Instruments buyout in the mid 1960s. As a result he was able to work with Leo...
Roger Cox began his career at Ampeg in Linden, NJ. At Ampeg he served as Vice President of Operations responsible for Quality, Manufacturing, Service, and Research and Development. During his time at Ampeg, Roger fathered the Ampeg SVT which is still in production. After two years at Altec Lansing...
Peter Perez represents a lot of musical history. A former head of CG Conn and CBS Musical Instruments, Peter went on to become the President of Steinway & Sons. His career also included the purchasing of Aeolian Pianos in Memphis and Lyon & Healy in Chicago while he was working for CBS....
Bob Bull held many positions throughout the music products industry over his long career. However, he is perhaps best known as the president of the Steinway & Sons piano company during the early 1970s. At the time, Steinway was owned by CBS Musical Instruments. Bob, as the president of Steinway...
Milton Thomas has had a long and well-respected career in the music products industry. Milt served as National Sales Manager/Director of Marketing for the Lowrey Organ Company before becoming Vice President of marketing for the keyboard musical instrument division of CBS Musical Instruments. He...
John McDermott could sure sell pianos! His knowledge of the products and his strong relationship with music retailers made him an ideal and successful sales rep. John worked for the Gulbransen Piano Company during the company’s innovative era of the mid 1960s through the 1970s. After his retirement...
Robert Campbell began his career in the music industry working for Conn Organ in 1947, the year the company gave a unit to President Harry S. Truman. Bob later worked with Don Leslie, the inventor of the famed Leslie organ speaker. Bob played an important role in the Leslie Speaker Company being...
Lloyd Meyer was the president of Renner US, the world-renowned provider of piano keyboard actions. His long and productive career began with retail experience in Minnesota at the large Dayton Company. When the Dayton chain began carrying organs and pianos, Lloyd took a great interest in the...
Henry Z. Steinway was quite articulate when speaking about the incredible history of the Steinway and Sons Piano Company. One could say that he lived all elements of being a Steinway as the former president of the Steinway Company. His love for music led to the creation of the board of the NAMM ...