Composer/Songwriter
Al Bell was in the Stax recording studio in Memphis at the very moment Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed just a few blocks away. Ironically, the recording Al was producing at that time was a song he wrote encouraging Dr. King, whom he had known for years, to be cautious carrying...
Allee Willis wrote a number of successful songs that have become part of the fabric of pop music. Allee either wrote or co-wrote songs such as “September” by Earth Wind & Fire, the theme for the sitcom Friends entitled “I’ll Be there for You,” the Broadway musical The Color Purple, and "Neutron...
Don Wilson was a founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures! He formed the band with his friend Bob Bogle. Shortly after their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” Nokie Edwards, who was also interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program, joined the band. The band then went on to record...
Trevor Rabin was raised in a musical household, with a father who was a musician and he encouraged Trevor to play the piano at an early age. Later, his father gave him a guitar as a gift which started Trevor off on a side musical experience as a session player in his hometown of Johannesburg, South...
Kamau Kenyatta grew up surrounded by a family that had a deep running passion for music, and as a result Kamau was able to get his first clarinet when his grandfather, an electrician by trade, bartered with one of his customers to support young Kamau’s growing passion for music. Later he decided to...
Matthew Nelson always knew he wanted to be a musician and follow in the footsteps of his famous father and grandparents. Ozzie and Harriet were a famous television couple; however, they first came to fame in the 1930s with a big band. His father, Ricky Nelson, was an early rock and roll recording...
Gunnar Nelson and his twin brother, Matthew, formed a rock band in the 1980s that followed the musical traditions of their father, Ricky Nelson, and their grandparents, Ozzie and Harriet. The Nelson twins wrote and recorded “I Can’t Live Without Your Love and Affection” and in the era of MTV,...
Brent Mason can often be found at the NAMM show as he has developed some long-lasting relationships with musical instrument companies during his long career as a studio musician. He grew up in a very musical family, in fact his parents and siblings formed the Mason Family musical group, which...
John Conlee was not even a teenager when he joined a barbershop quartet in Versailles, Kentucky where his father ran a tobacco farm. He was often heard singing and playing his guitar and decided to try his hand as a musician in Nashville. He moved to the music city in 1971 to work in radio and...
Joe Chambers worked for music publishers in Nashville and became a successful songwriter. Joe wrote tunes recorded by Johnny Paycheck and Ricky Van Shelton, and was encouraged along the way by the likes of Conway Twitty and Billy Sherrill. Joe also recognized that the session players in the studio...