Pianos
Zeb Billings opened Billings Pianos in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1956 beginning a long and celebrated career in the music industry. With great success as a retailer, Zeb branched out into publishing when he saw the need to include packets of sheet music in the bench of every piano sold. The idea...
C. Darby Fulton’s father opened a music store, which seemed the perfect place for Darby growing up. He enjoyed the business and worked with his father as the company grew into 26 locations during the boom of the home organ craze in the 1960s. Having been a music retailer for years Darby became a...
George Lukas recalled, in great detail, when he was aboard a navy ship at the end of World War II and sitting down to play a blue-painted Steinway upright piano (also known as the Steinway GI). Two sailors stood on either side of the piano with rope and knots to ensure George was able to play as...
Victor Tibaldeo Sr. loved to talk about the accordion boom of the 1950s, an element that helped establish his music store. The Miami-based store also was one of the country’s most successful organ retailers when that instrument hit its boom in the 1970s. Victor always said it helps to be in...
Donn Trenner was one of the most successful pianists in the big band and Bebop jazz eras. He began his career with the popular Ted Fio Rito Orchestra beginning in 1943. He later played with bands led by Buddy Morrow, Charlie Barnet and Jerry Gray. As the Bop era developed, Donn played alongside...
Terry Bingley was a leader in the Canadian Music Products Industry for several decades. He began his career when he formed a music retail store before working with Yamaha and, later, serving as the Managing Director of Kawai. He helped to establish Kawai Canada. In 1984, Terry formed a music...
Vern Schafer joined the family business of moving pianos as a teenager, but had the dream of running his own piano store. While still running the Schafer Piano Movers Company, Vern set out to learn all he could about the ins and outs of the piano retail business. Soon after opening Colton Pianos,...
Frank Huffman was the quintessential traveling music salesman! With charm and always a few good jokes, Frank has made his way across the United States, first for Wurlitzer and then for Baldwin. Standing next to Frank in a smoke-filled bar, one could meet all the other travelers who knew him by name...
Webb Phillips formed the Allied Piano Company outside of Philadelphia with the goal of filling a need. As a piano technician it was hard to find reliable products that you can trust, so Webb sought to gather the best the industry had to offer and supply the products to his fellow tuners. Over the...
John McDermott could sure sell pianos! His knowledge of the products and his strong relationship with music retailers made him an ideal and successful sales rep. John worked for the Gulbransen Piano Company during the company’s innovative era of the mid 1960s through the 1970s. After his retirement...