Oral History - all
Jon Andersen has enjoyed playing music nearly his entire life. A jazz saxophonist, Jon played in a number of small and large bands over the years and found work with several noted musicians in and around his neighborhood, Santa Barbara. When he was approached by his longtime friend Nick Rail, to... more
Jim DePriest has been teaching for 28 years, He has taught students at Stuart-Menlo Community Schools, West Burlington Independent Schools, Notre Dame Catholic Schools, and Mt. Pleasant Community School Districts. He joined the Mt. Pleasant District in 1992 where he has been the high school band... more
Cliff Unruh has a background in marketing and was pursuing such a career when he was given the opportunity to sell Hammond Organs –and he jumped at the chance. He fell in love with the instrument as well as the history of the product. He enjoys bringing music and the sound of the Hammond into... more
Scott Russ grew up in the music business, crawling around the floor. His parents opened a music retail store in 1947, before Scott was born. Growing up, Scott fell in love with the Hammond Organ and the daughter of Bob Seidman, the founder of the wholesaler Seidman Sales. Both loves followed him... more
John O’Reilly is the composer and editor whose musical career spanned educational and textbook materials to movie scores and classical works. He was published by Shawnee Press and G. Schirmer before working with Alfred Publishing full time. He became Editor-in-Chief and had a hand in many of the... more
Bill Wallin is the instrument repair technician at Chafin Musiccenter in Lake Worth, Florida. Bill began working for the company alongside the store's founder, Paul Chafin. While Paul's son was out tuning pianos, Bill learned the trade of band instrument repairs. The service element of the store... more
Birth Date: June 3, 1921
Deceased Date: August 7, 2014
Henry Stone wanted to record musical artists that were not able to sign deals with the large record labels of the late 1940s. As a result, Henry found a string of artists and provided the setting to be recorded. This list includes Ray Charles and James Brown. As his own company grew, both as a... more
Danny Marquez began playing drums in his father's church from the age of four! One day as a teenager he walked into Chafin Musiccenter in Lake Worth, Florida for a set of sticks. While holding the sticks he worked up the nerve to ask if there were any job openings in the store. He began working... more
Richard Boynton has many fond memories of the music industry. His grandfather was once the owner of CG Conn Musical Instruments in Elkhart, Indiana. In fact, Mr. Greenleaf purchased the company from Col. Conn in 1915 and developed many of the practices that allowed the company to endure the Great... more
Birth Date: May 16, 1945
Deceased Date: November 3, 2019
Robert Birmingham teamed with his brother to purchase Steinway & Sons from CBS Musical Instruments in the early 1980s. The Birmingham brothers were committed to restoring the high quality the piano maker had earned its reputation on, while focusing on serving its dealer base around the world. ... more
Gail Hopkins Kolehma has been a passionate member of music publishing ever since first joining the industry. Her enthusiasm and knowledge make for the perfect combination in sharing her career highlights as well as her views on how the publishing world has changed and developed over the years. ... more
John Riley grew up playing music and earned a business degree in Boston. He applied for a job at the Wurlitzer retail store and was hired by a man named Bob Fletcher. When Bob moved to Florida to open a Lowrey Organ retail store, John joined him. Bob later established the Fletcher Music Center... more
Bill Reim is the Founder of Reim, Graham & Associates. He was also the CEO of Hoshino USA, based in Pennsylvania. He can remember watching the Beatles on TV when he was in the second grade and later formed a rock band with some of his classmates while in high school. After studying graphic... more
Birth Date: November 30, 1960
Deceased Date: November 8, 2021
Cecil Ramirez started in the music industry in retail, at the Music Box in Lodi, California. He created a keyboard studio feel within the store in1983, which was an exciting time of technological advances in electronic instrumentation. Cecil remembered the early days of MIDI and the synthesizer... more
Kevin Maher has countless stories about the music industry, about jazz and about his father and grandfather who ran Down Beat Magazine and the early days at Music Inc. Even more, Kevin can outline the trends and the great innovations that have changed our industry over the years because his... more
Birth Date: May 6, 1936
Deceased Date: March 10, 2020
David Magagna had an incredible career selling guitars for some of the biggest names in the industry. He worked for the government out of high school and attended college in Georgetown before coming into the music industry by way of the C.F. Martin & Company. The year was 1962. David became... more
Art Laboe admired radio broadcasters from the first moment he heard voices coming out of a box his aunt had sent to Art's family when he was eight. He went on to have a successful and innovative broadcasting career that not only included pioneering DJ programming and remote request programs but... more
Dale Kroke has been a passionate music maker since he was a kid. He studied music in college and earned a teaching degree before pursuing an advance degree in composition. His first job in the music industry was with Kaman Music in 1990, working with overseas distributors within the company's... more
Robby Krieger is the guitarist and songwriter best known for being a founding member of the rock band, The Doors. The incredible influence the band had on generations of music makers and songwriters can never be overstated. Robby co-wrote several of the bands big hit recordings including “Light... more
Greg Koch is well known in guitar circles for his series of method books that have encouraged thousands to play or to improve their playing abilities! Among his most noted books are “Blues Guitar,” “Guitar Licks, and the three-book set of “Guitar Method”,all published by Hal Leonard. As a... more