Deceased
Bucky Pizzarelli was a jazz guitarist who helped bring the sounds of the electric guitar into jazz and into popular music, beginning in the 1940s. As a stage performer and later a studio musician, Bucky's guitar can be heard on countless recordings both by other artists as well as on his own. He...
Pete Seeger was the American folk icon who made it a personal goal to bring peace to the world by getting people to sing! His role in the folk music movement, beginning in the 1930's, forever changed the role music played in protest, celebration and sorrow. Within the music products industry,...
Charles Traeger had an impressive reputation in the world of bass making and bass restoration. His long career began when he was a musician in the big band era looking for someone who could help with his own instrument. He learned all he could and noticed there was a real need for literature for...
Andy Shearer along with this dear wife Rowena, opened Shearers Music store in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1963. The couple began with a modest inventory but grew to include top brands of musical instruments, a well-respected sheet music department and in the early days, stereo systems and records. ...
Viola Smith Viola played drums in a number of big bands and small combos during her career in music. She joined Phil Spitalny's all-female orchestra as the drummer and later appeared in such films as 1945's "Here Come the Co-Eds" featuring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. In the 1960s she joined the...
Leon Russell was the noted musician and songwriter who contributed greatly to popular and rock music during his long career. As a studio musician, Leon was active in the development of the Linn Drum Machine having provided Roger Linn with several ideas to create new sounds, such as the hand clap...
DW Caffey was very young when he found himself enamored with the piano. In 1940, when he was just fifteen years old, DW taught himself how to tune pianos. He read a book and asked an old time tuner a few questions and was soon hired by a music store. He worked for several piano stores in...
Ace Cannon grew up in Mississippi singing with his father on street corners and in church, and he knew even as a small child that he wanted to have a life in music. When he was ten years old his father drove him to Amro Music in Memphis and let him pick out an alto saxophone by CG Conn. Right...
John Kuziel was a long time factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He worked as a final inspector for the guitar line and later was in the spray room. He returned to the final inspection department where he gained a great reputation within the...
Mary Lou Hoogenboom was a factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was hired in 1951 and began working in the sanding department, but found that she worked in every department before she retired in 1985. Her retirement occurred the same year the...