Music Advocacy
Verdine White has become a close friend to the NAMM family thanks to his dedication to music education and music advocacy programs around the world. He has supported the efforts to keep music in public schools and has performed countless events to raise money for such causes. As the bassist for...
Bonnie Fitch has always considered herself a music teacher. After her time in the classroom, she formed her own music store in Las Vegas and tried to make every customer experience a learning opportunity. With passion and energy abounding, Bonnie has worked long and hard to serve not only her...
Richard Riley served as Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton and was a two term Governor of South Carolina. His love of music goes back to his parents and his piano lessons as a boy. While he followed the avenue of public service, his musical passion was always a deep part of his life. As...
Wolf Marshall has an awful lot of insight into the styles and gear of rock and blues guitarists. It helps that Wolf is an amazing player –and teacher. It also helps that he is a fan of the music and can speak on the developments of styles and even the quintessential licks such as those made...
Cliff Lange has been a dedicated volunteer for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music since his retirement from the Carlsbad Library. His long and interesting background in library science has served the museum well as has Cliff’s personal love of music and the arts. Cliff has been a...
Claudio Formisano grew up in Naples in a musical family where at a young age his three brothers convinced Claudio to play drums to complete their Beatle-like band! When he was 12 years old he formed his own band, which he called Beautiful! Claudio likes to say his life has been music and he...
Donald Hodges is a music educator who has taken on the research role to map the brain's responses to music. His research has shown that music is not just a nice, but unnecessary element of the human life, but rather something that is necessary and very much a core part of the human experience. As...
Khristian Dentley is the baritone for the singing group Take 6. The group was formed in 1980 and Khristian joined the group in 2011. During their career the group has sold millions of recordings and has won countless awards including ten Grammy Awards. The group has been active in music advocacy...
Claude McKnight formed an a cappella quartet on the campus of Oakwood College in 1980. The group signed with Warner Brothers Records seven years later and has since sold millions of recordings and won countless awards including ten Grammy Awards. The group has been active in music advocacy...
Victor Wooten has become an active music advocate and spokesperson for the importance of music education in public schools. As a result, Victor has become a regular NAMM Show attendee. He created an initiative for 10 "natural" training camps around the country including one called "Wooten Woods...