Music Wholesale-Distribution
Mirek Jaromir Strizka opened a musical wholesale business in the early 1960s and named it European Craft. The company began as the young Czech immigrant established a business in Los Angeles, California, selling one instrument, the harmonica. He wore out his car traveling the country and...
Rudy Schlacher has become of the great businessmen of the music products industry, which is incredible considering his humble beginnings. With an idea of detail, customer service and the budget, Rudy took his small music retail store called the Sound Post in Chicago and expanded the business. He...
Gabe Ireland joined the Coast Wholesale Company while in high school. After college he continued to work for the company as the rock and roll boom began and the entire industry began to change. He stayed with the company after it was purchased by Kaman Music and worked his way up the corporate...
Paul Damiano has played a critical role in the growth and development of Kaman Music ever since first joining the company in the early 1980s. With a great understanding and passion for marketing and manufacturing, he was able to design processes that increased the company’s success especially in...
Tom Beckmen opened a music store with his band director while still in college in 1958. The relationships he created in the store lead to a road salesman job with C. Bruno. He traveled the country for nearly a decade before establishing his own distribution company, Beckmen Musical. He later began...
Larry Peyser spent most of his career in the music wholesale business. Larry’s sister married Abbott Buegelesien after World War II and over the years Larry did not just work for the company, he learned much of its early history. Abbott’s father, Sam, formed the historic music wholesaler,...
Bonnie G. Rowe did not seem to mind much when people thought he was a woman because his given name was Bonnie. For 87 years he corrected people and never gave much thought to using his middle name of Gordon. “Mother and father wanted me to be known as Bonnie, so that is it” he once said. “All I...
Ernie Briefel played a tremendous role in the wholesaling of musical instruments in New York City, beginning in the 1950s. His understanding of the business and close partnerships resulted in creative innovations, the establishment of brands, the growth of markets and accessibility to in-demand...
David Leed was born in 1937 in the United Kingdom and spent the war years and most of his childhood in Australia. His love of music started when he was a young boy learning to play the cornet in his local Salvation Army. After returning to London and finishing school David played the cornet in...
Louise Leed met her future husband while performing as a singer in her native South Africa. After having their four children, her British husband, David, suggested the family move back to Europe where David soon got a job with a piano company and then with the world-famous wholesaler Chicago...