Deceased
Dee Hoyt played professionally since he was a teenager including in local clubs and played for the National Guard as well as for dances. His band, the Tornados, recorded and performed rock and roll in the early 1960s. While playing at night, Dee got a job at Hayes Music as a salesman by day. He...
Paul Jameson was a pioneer in audio wholesaling as the founder of Custom Products, located in Magnolia, Arkansas. His company was among the first to sell microphones, PA systems and speakers to music stores. Over the years the company expanded their product line to include amps, mixers and...
Harvey Vogel was having a difficult time finding and purchasing quality percussion instruments and accessories for his daughter Lauren while she was in high school. He decided to do something about it and Lone Star Percussion – a name that Lauren came up with instead of the "Harvey Vogel Percussion...
Dolores Crooks remembered her husband working in the garage at all hours of the night on a new sound he was after. He tooled his own guitar amplifier and took it down to country dances to show it off to the musicians. Before long performers such as Chet Atkins and Speedy West were not only buying...
Lamont Dozier was one of the most successful songwriters in popular music history. From 1962-1967 he teamed with Brian and Eddy Holland to write a string of impressive hit records for Motown Records, 25 of which hit number one on the Billboard Record Charts! Their list of hits includes “Baby Love...
Mike Lang was a well-respected keyboardist who can be heard on over 2,000 movie scores and countless studio recordings over his long and successful career. He worked with composers such as John Williams, Henry Mancini and Jerry Goldsmith to jazz and pop performers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Frank...
Howard Durbin was hired by RCA following World War II and worked within the engineering department on improving the phonograph record. He was assigned to the team that addressed unbreakable 78s and later on the team that developed the 45 record and still later the Red Seal LP. He attended the...
Richie Pidanick was the Vice President of Culture and Values at Guitar Center. It was Richie’s job to train the company’s employees on the philosophy of what is most important to the corporate culture, namely customer service. Richie knew the culture and Guitar Center’s values as he lived them...
Bob Rissi was the founder of Risson Amplifier Company, which produces Made-in-America products based on Bob’s own designs. He began designing amplifiers in 1960 when he was hired by Leo Fender himself. He later worked at Rickenbacker before forming his own company in 1971. In addition to his...
Jack Shallat was a professional violin player who landed several gigs with traveling bands in the 1930s and 40s. During that time he met Buddy Rogers and both men opened separate music stores in and around Cincinnati in the early 1950s. In 1967 they decided to merge their businesses and work...