Drums
Marvin Maxwell opened Mom’s Music in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife Beverly in 1981. He also designed and developed a line of music themed toilet seats called “Jammin’ Johns,” which were first sold in his music store then in shops around the world. Marvin’s love of music began when he played...
Nick D’Virgilio grew up in the Los Angeles area and was exposed to music at a very young age. He was given his first drum set when he was 5 years old and was in a band by the time he was a teenager. As his career developed as a working musician, Nick played drums for several high-profile bands...
Matthias Hellinger and his brother, Andreas, own Rohema which was founded in 1888 by Eduard Robert Hellinger and produced batons, drumsticks, and percussion instruments. The company was small enough during socialist times in East Germany to remain private, but production was challenging. The...
Pete Best grew up with a strong musical influence within his mother. She encouraged the passion and desire to bring music into the lives of Pete and the kids in Liverpool, England by opening the Casbah, a music club, below his childhood home. Despite picking up a guitar as his first instrument,...
Jacques Masson was just 15 years old when he began giving drum lessons at a local music store. He has been involved with teaching music ever since. As a player, Jacques was approached by Premier Drums to serve as an endorser in 1986, which served as his introduction into the music products industry...
Ralph Angelillo grew up inspired by Joe Morello. His dad was a bassist for big dance bands in the 1940s and '50s and his four brothers all played music. In 1961, at the age of 17, Ralph purchased his first Ludwig drum set, with money earned working as a busboy in local hotels. While working in the...
Steve Held was involved in music retail beginning when he was a teenager working at the Music Corner in Waterloo, Iowa. He later worked for West Music in Iowa City for well over a decade and then had his own piano store with his business partner Jim Hall. In the early days, Steve was trained in the...
Nicko McBrain joined the heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden in 1982 and has been an active endorsee of musical products since that time. Nicko can often be seen at a NAMM booth or on the floor posing for a photograph. Over the years, he has endorsed Premier Drums, but since the early 2010’s he has...
Chico Fernandez was born in Toronto and began playing drums at the age of three! He studied piano when he was eight and later reconnected with the drums, which he played in local bands both live and in the recording studios. He later moved to Los Angeles where he opened a music teaching studio. ...
Eric Ebel is a Senior Project Manager for the Public Affairs and Government Relations department at NAMM. Working throughout the industry before taking a job at NAMM prepared Eric for a multitude of roles within the organization including in the Trade Show Sales department before finding his...