Oral History - all
Santa Davis began playing drums as a child in Kingston, where he witnessed the growth and development of Reggae in Jamaica playing alongside Bob Marley. His playing career began when Ska was popular. Santa and his contemporary musicians defined Rocksteady, which became the foundation for Reggae,... more
Juan Croucier toured the world as a rock and roll star as an original member of Ratt! He began performing bass in Hollywood in 1973, which lead to friendships that would later become the foundation for Ratt. He wrote several hits for the band including "Lack of Communication" and "You're in Love."... more
Steve Churchyard grew up reading the liner notes of album covers and studying the names of the engineers and studios, which somehow fascinated him just as much as the recording artist. With the help of a guidance counselor, Steve slowly made his way into the recording studio world. He worked at Air... more
Eric Burdon participated in the British Invasion of the 1960s as an original member of The Animals. It was an exciting time in music that brought popularity to rock bands from England to America such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Eric was greatly influenced by jazz and the blues, which... more
Bruce Botnick was the recording engineer for The Doors’ last album with Jim Morrison, LA Woman, which followed earlier studio works with Arthur Lee and Love as well as The Ventures. In 1979, his career expanded into film when he mixed for the Star Trek movie. It was on that project where Bruce met... more
Kenny Aronoff gained a worldwide fan base as the drummer for John Cougar Mellencamp from 1980 until 1996. He conducted countless clinics in music stores from coast to coast and enjoyed long lasting relationships with suppliers such as Tama Drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth drum sticks, Evans... more
Robbie Robertson was a member of the rock group The Band, which backed Bob Dylan and went on to record a string of hit songs, many of which Robbie wrote. During his NAMM Oral History interview, Robbie talked about the music stores he visited as a kid and his delight in going to Manny's Music in... more
Phyllis Webb and her husband, Dale, formed The Magic Fluke Company in 1999. The company began making ukuleles in the basement of their home in New Hartford, Connecticut. They were inspired and encouraged by Phyllis’s brother, Jim Beloff, an accomplished musician and guitarist who discovered the... more
Dale Webb wanted to create a new design for the ukulele with the hope that it would inspire more people to play a musical instrument. His Fluke did exactly that! The instrument was introduced at the NAMM Show at the perfect time as a new wave of popularity for the ukulele swept the world! Since... more
Mitzi Meyer-Phelan grew up in the music store her parents formed. She realized as a teen that the music industry was in her blood and she recalls, with a smile, working with customers to bring music into their lives. Her parents opened three stores, which are now each run by one of their three... more
Tom Meyer and his brother and sister represent the second generation of Meyer Music owners. Their parents, Betty and Ted, opened the first store in 1966. Since then they have expanded to three stores, each being run by one of their children. Tom runs the main store and works alongside his parents... more
Mike Meyer manages one of the three stores in the Meyer Music chain, which his parents first established in the mid-1960s. At the core of the store is the passion for music making which seems to be in Mike's blood. In addition to the lesson, rental, and retail element of the business, Mike also... more
Bernie Williams is the former professional baseball player whose passion for music making led him to a role as a music advocate. Being a musician since he was a kid, Bernie perused a successful career as a baseball player for 16 years before gaining his degree in music at the Manhattan School of... more
Jack Douglas was among the early and most successful recording engineers at the Record Plant. He worked with founders Chris Stone and Gary Kellgren to create a modern and innovative studio that focused on making the artists feel relaxed in order to record the best performances possible. Over his... more
Honoring Craig Smith for his invaluable service in assisting the NAMM Resource Center in obtaining fantastic interview contributions to the NAMM Oral History Program. This video contains some of the highlight interviews that Craig helped us gather over the years. Thank you Craig!
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2016 and early 2017. This Tribute was shown for the first time at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in January 2017. All moving images within this video, indicate those who... more
Kal David helped bring the Firebird to the blues! The famed electric guitar was not widely used for the blues until Kal began playing it in bands in and around Chicago. He was a founding member of the band The Exceptions in 1962 and the Illinois Speed Press in 1965. He later teamed with his... more
Birth Date: July 18, 1948
Deceased Date: January 15, 2019
Steve Madaio played trumpet on most of Stevie Wonders recordings during the innovative and creative period between 1971 and 1976. Stevie was experimenting with electric keyboards and synthesizers, which Steve witnessed and took part in, including working on the classic album Songs in the Key of... more
Robert Margouleff has pioneered many technologies in making records, including the use of surround sound, tapeless recordings, and employing electronic musical instruments. He worked on several Grammy winning albums with Stevie Wonder, including those recorded with the synthesizer TONTO. TONTO,... more
Birth Date: August 20, 1931
Deceased Date: September 12, 2017
Frank Capp .always fancied himself a jazz drummer, although he successfully played many styles of music. As a session player in Los Angeles, Frank played on many hit recordings, among them, "The Beat Goes On" and "I Got You Babe" with Sonny and Cher. He led big bands and played in small groups with... more