Organs
Bob Snyder enjoyed his 40 plus years in the music industry, driven by his passion for music. His father was a professor of music and instruments of all kinds seemed to be everywhere in his home growing up. His sales career started at a Hammond Organ dealership where he would perform on the organ to...
Tom Mathis spent over 50 years in the piano business! Just think of how many instruments he must have sold and all the music currently being made thanks to him! He developed his sales style while working for two legendary stores (Wooten Music and Smith-Holden) before opening his own store in 1979,...
Dan Slick grew up in Johnstown, PA playing the family’s upright piano but soon switched his focus to the organ. He began his career in the music industry working at Fulton Piano and Organ and has since worked with several other companies over the years including Baldwin and Technics. In 1984 he and...
Benmont Tench was drawn to music at an early age playing piano and being interested in composing and songwriting. He would frequent local music stores and check out all the new instruments. During one of his music store visits he encountered a group of older cool kids, who worked there, one of them...
David Rushworth started in the family business, Rushworth's Music House, in 1966 when he was in his early twenties after leaving University. David quickly moved up through the ranks from junior salesman to manager, selling transistor radios and pianos. Eventually, he became director of the company...
Antoni Punti and Gabriel teamed up with Keith Mardak in 1972 to form Hal Leonard Spain. The company’s success was fueled by the home organ boom, which was an important milestone of growth for the music industry in Spain. Years before, Antoni was the first person to establish Hammond Organ Studios...
Drew Schlesinger started playing organ after seeing The Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show. While in college, Drew purchased his first Moog synthesizer and attended the Boston School of Electronic Music to learn synthesis with ARP 2600's and modular synths. Drew knew he wanted to be involved with...
Roger Smith began playing the piano and singing in church at an early age, quickly falling in love with the way people reacted to the music he performed. He was introduced to the Hammond organ thanks to a friend from school whose uncle was the legendary Jimmy McGriff. Jimmy shared his love of the...
Jim Cliff remembers taking the bus into Minneapolis when he was eight years old to take accordion lessons. It was the beginning of his life-long love of making music. Among his career highlights was writing and arranging instructional music books, which were published by Hal Leonard and provided...
Jason Stanfield has always enjoyed finding new and funny sounds, which means he really enjoyed the synthesizer developments of the 1990s! He worked for Mississippi Music in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the early 1990s where he fell in love with music retail. Jason later worked for Sam Ash in Florida...