Pianos
George Nellas started his career in the music industry at Byerly Music in the 1970s selling home organs in the store's mall locations. After moving to Los Angeles, George worked for Sherman Clay for over a decade as well as Fields Piano. While working retail in California, some industry colleagues...
Darren Speir often reflects back on the Texas music store his uncle and his father opened. His father was a piano technician and helped build the store's customer list based on his attention to detail and the care he put into each piano tuning and repair. After working in his father's piano store...
Basilios Strmec grew up in Vienna and was exposed to piano music at an early age. While learning many different languages, he studied business in college and went to work for Xerox. After a few years, when a friend suggested to him to apply for an opening with a piano company, Basilios jumped at...
Kevin Prosser took over the piano and organ store his parents established in the mid-1980s. His brother later came into the business, which had several locations throughout Washington State. In the late 1990s, Kevin opened a store in Palm Springs and ran it for several years. During that same time...
Chick Corea loved being a music maker! Nominated over 60 times for a Grammy, Chick was among the most high profile musicians we have been blessed to interview for the NAMM Oral History program, and yet he was also one of the most down to earth men we have ever met. Around the time of his two NAMM...
Don Bird founded Conn Organs of Fresno in 1973 in Fresno, CA. He started his career in music, working for Sherman Clay, Co. in 1967 as a general manager of a single store, working completely by himself. He was offered a promotion – move to Philadelphia and general manage 3 Sherman Clay stores – and...
Steve Nathan is among the top studio musicians in Nashville. Although his recording career began in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Nashville studios have been requesting his musicianship non-stop for years. Each year, Music Row Magazine charts all of the hit records and which performer is on each hit. ...
Tim Hinkley has been an active studio musician in both Los Angeles and Nashville for most of his career. As first-call keyboardist, Tim has recorded with George Harrison, Pete Townshend, The Who and the Rolling Stones. Tim also recorded with the Memphis Horns, a group founded by Wayne Jackson,...
Scott Nelson would often think that “if you can sell an organ, you can sell anything,” and it got him far in his career. He started selling organs and pianos at a young age in music retail and worked his way up to regional sales manager for the Baldwin Piano Company. Later in life, he rerouted his...
Petra Woodfull-Harris recalls taking lessons on the recorder at the age of six, followed by the piano three years later. She enjoyed the idea of improving her skills and of expressing herself through music, which is a driving force in her passion today. As the sales and marketing manager for...