Pianos
Dick Papalia witnessed a need for organ and piano owners in his neighborhood to have their instruments serviced in the early years of the home organ boom of the 1960s. As a result, in 1968, with the help of the Baldwin Piano Company, Dick established his music store. The store was originally called...
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...
Yeegn Lougn Hoe, known as YL, grew up in a music filled home. His grandfather, Hoe Toh Hui, was born in China and moved to Malaysia in the 1940s and setup a piano store in a small mining town known as Ipoh. His son, Willy Hoe, used to help his father at their family's piano store. As Willy grew up...
Wendy Hutchings, along with her sister, Amanda, and daughter, Jody Whyte, are the owners of Hutchings Piano. The store was established by her father back in 1955 when he started selling pianos to his students. He took Wendy along to visit factories in China in the early 1970s, where he made...
Jody Whyte recalls fondly sitting in the family store as a child watching her grandfather repair pianos and then he would make banana pancakes for her. Those memories took on extra meaning after his passing and when her mother, Wendy Hutchings, asked if Jody would join her in the business and apply...
Mark Morris and his brother formed Morris Music in Brisbane, Australia in 2001. The tradition of his family's involvement in the music industry goes back to 1967 when his father, John Morris, formed Academy Music. John also was a strong music advocate who created the Queensland School Band Festival...
Sandra Lindsay is the Managing Director of Muso's Corner, a music store located in Newcastle, New South Whales, Australia. She purchased a small piano store and repair shop in 1967 and later renamed it Muso's Corner and expanded to a larger location in 1994. With a focus on lessons and music...
Palmi Snorrasen grew up in Iceland and was formally trained on the trombone, vibraphones, and accordion as a teenager. By his eighteenth birthday, Palmi was playing professionally and he later moved to Australia in 1961 and by the end of the decade was working in music retail. He purchased and...
John Blanch grew up learning all about solid customer service from his father, who owned a grocery store north of Sydney, Australia. Those lessons helped John during his career in the music industry, which began in retail and expanded into wholesaling. His fun stories about selling pianos in the...
Colin Steel is the founder of Keyboard Corner and KC's Rock Shop, both located in Melbourne, Australia. Colin began his career in music retail at Brash's Music in 1968 during the great home organ boom. Having talked his parents into purchasing a Wurlitzer organ when Colin was 14, he knew all...