Music Retail
Gordon McNelly is the Manager for Fields Piano in Santa Ana, California. Fields Piano is the local authorized Steinway dealer, which is a perfect home for Gordon who has been involved with Steinway for most of his professional career. After operating his own piano service/sales business in New...
Jerry Goldman's father, Harry, opened a wholesale piano business inside Marshall Field's Department store in Chicago with his brother back in 1947. Just over a decade later, Harry and his wife, Rita, moved out to California to open their own piano store while kept his roots from the department...
Kostas Prelorentzos, along with his brother, Joseph, were the first to be interviewed for the NAMM Oral History Program from Greece. It is an honor to include their story within our collection because their family-owned music store was opened in 1977. As a result, both brothers were able to cover...
Cindy Cook married long-time music retailer, Rand Cook, in 1998. Ten years later, the couple had the opportunity to purchase the very store Rand had worked in for nearly 20 years. Together, the couple transformed the store into a welcoming music hub and education center serving people from all...
Rodrigo Garcia recalls the day his father bought him his first bass. It changed his life. He later went on the road to play professionally and toured with Alexander Silver throughout Chile. Rodrigo can be seen and heard playing on the 2005 Alejandro Silva Live DVD, which was recorded on one of...
Rand Cook recalls his mother taking him into the Candyman Strings & Things music store when he was three years old. He was quickly disappointed at that young age that the store when he realized they did not have any candy. With his parents support and playing the clarinet in school band, Rand...
Joseph Prelorentzos sat next to his brother, Kostas, as they became the first people to be interviewed from Greece for the NAMM Oral History Program. The interview took place in Anaheim at the 2018 NAMM Show and covered the history of their music store, from its beginnings to today. Joseph pointed...
Joyce Harkey took regular piano lessons as a child and remembers the day when she was a teenager and her love for music just clicked. She focused on what she could do to use music to help others and with her mom’s background in nursing, Joyce studied music therapy. After getting married, she...
Tim Paul may have been destined for a career in the piano business. Growing up, his mother was a piano teacher and his father a piano technician. One of his earliest jobs was as a ballpark organist for the Midwest League baseball teams, the Quad City Cubs and the Clinton Dodgers. After studying...
Steve Harkey and his father, Don, formed Accent Music in Wilmington, Delaware in 1988. He was joined in the store by his wife, Joyce, after she raised their five children. The couple met in college, where Joyce studied music therapy and Steve focused on music merchandising. He later worked for Art’...