Multiple Interviews
James Saied, the founder of the Saied Music Store chain in Oklahoma loved the marches of John Phillip Sousa! In fact, he liked them so much that he teamed with then NAMM President Ziggy Coyle to create the bill Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1983 making the “Stars and Strips Forever” the national...
Eugene Kornblum’s father formed the famed St. Louis Music Company, which played a legendary role in the music products industry during most of the 1900s. As President beginning in the 1960s, Gene expanded the company with a number of important product lines including Ampeg basses and amplifiers....
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...
Clora Bryant was billed as the female Louie Armstrong in the era of the Ed Sullivan variety show. Her raspy-voiced imitations were a big favorite among viewers but the gimmick often over- shadowed her incredible talents as a trumpeter. Most music lovers don’t like to think about how Clora had to...
Don Lewis was trained as an electronic engineer and, because of his love for music, he created one of the very early integrated-sound controllers, a precursor to MIDI. In the early 1970s when many electronic musical instruments such as synthesizers were being introduced, performers such as Don...
Hal Blaine was perhaps the most recorded drummer from the California recording studios of the 1950s-'70s. His influential style can be heard on more than 170 number one hit songs and 450 tunes that made the top 40 on the charts during those decades. His beat can be heard on hundreds of albums by...
Lee Oskar played the famed harmonica lick in the classic 1970s hit “Low Rider” as a member of the band WARS. The success of this song led to name recognition within the music industry that resulted in the idea of designing and marketing Lee’s own line of harmonicas. Lee Oskar’s has been noted for...
Seymour Duncan may very well be the most innovative rock and roll guitarist around. As a teen he formed a rock band but noticed the pick-ups in his guitar were not creating the sounds he thought the instrument could produce, so he sought to make hand-wound pick-ups. In fact as founder of Seymour...
Rocky Giglio has been a strong leader in the development and marketing of the jj Babbitt mouthpieces product line. For years. Rocky has listened to customers and professional musicians for ways to improve the line, all the while keeping a focus on the traditions and quality so closely associated...
Larry Thomas is the current CEO of Fender Musical Instrument Company. He also served as CEO of Guitar Center during the company’s early growth period. He worked closely with music educational programs throughout his career and in fact created the Guitar Center Foundation and the Fender Music...