Oral History - all
Dave Dunwoodie is the founder of Graph Tech Guitar Labs in Canada and has pioneered several products during his career in the music industry. With the popularity of tremolo guitars, the need for pencil lead in the nut slots was growing. Dave experimented with a variety of composite guitar nuts... more
Lew DiTommaso was a key member in Daddy’s Junky Music for many years and built a reputation on honest and passion driven hard work. That passion for Lew started when he first heard the Beatles, several months before their famous American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. After playing in... more
Earl Bryant has enjoyed a long career in the music business with a good many years related to artists within the Motown family. As a concert manager, Earl has worked with Smokey Robinson for many years and has many fond memories of working with the legendary singer and songwriter performing all... more
William Baumzweiger’s father was the product engineer for the Shure company, who famously invented the Unidyne microphone. Benjamin Baumzweiger is credited with being the driving force behind the creation of the first Unidyne. Benjamin (who later changed his last name to Bauer), began developing... more
George Azuma remembered growing up in Tokyo and having many opportunities to play rock and roll along with his brother and several childhood friends. After high school, George attended college in the United States where he continued to play music. He returned to Japan where he continued to play... more
Thomas Austin was a key part of the Sherman Clay team for over 40 years! The store chain focused on pianos; however, Thomas recalls the home organ boom in the 1970s as the company was a Hammond Organ dealer. The company was formed in San Francisco in 1870 and grew to be the biggest (for a time)... more
Mike Huckabee served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007. He was a candidate for the 2008 presidential primaries and currently hosts a program on Fox News. He is also a musician and strong supporter of music education. He has made music advocacy a main topic in many of his roles over... more
Vic Flick is perhaps best known for a little lick he recorded on guitar for the movie James Bond! His fascinating career as a musician, which dates back to the late 1950s, was captured beautifully in his book Vic Flick Guitarman: From James Bond to The Beatles and Beyond, which was published in... more
Phil Dudderidge, a veteran live-sound engineer, co-founded Soundcraft in the 1973, one of the most innovative pro audio companies in the industry at the time. He later purchased the Focusrite company in 1989. The business began out of a request from Sir George Martin for Rupert Neve to design a... more
Bernie Capicchiano was coached from the Accounting world to manage a new music retail store for the Brash Group in Australia in 1973.His long career in the industry includes a strong relationship with the Hammond-Suzuki Company as well as Johannus Organs, Schimmel, Hailun and Bernstein Pianos.... more
Alfredo Campanelli is a strong supporter of the Internet, and has used it as a tool to connect and expand his customer base. Beginning as a retailer, Alfredo expanded to wholesaling and exporting musical products. In recent years, he has developed musical schools to not only grow the industry but... more
Ernie Isley was born into a very musical family and grew up with his older brothers forming a group and singing gospel. When Ernie was 14 years old he played drums as a member of the famed Isley Brothers and by 1968 taught himself to play guitar. He arranged several of the groups cover songs and... more
Honoring Jim Funada 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 Jim helped us gather over the years. Thanks Jim!
John Waltrip began being involved in music as a small child and in fact, became the main pianist for his church as a teenager. He played in the school bands and studied music in college. He taught music after college before being drafted. Even in the army, John sang in the choir group, which... more
Todd Rundgren was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program the same day he was presented with inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame. His visit to the NAMM show was his first in many years, however back in the 1970s and 80s Todd was often seen as a product endorser for string and guitar... more
Jesus "Jet" Fernando opened a small music retail store with his wife, Elizabeth, in their native Philippines. Elizabeth grew up in her parents store across town and knew the business side of the store while Jet offered the technical knowhow that was needed in providing customer service such as... more
Elizabeth Fernando grew up in her parent’s retail music store. By the age of ten she ordered special strings customers were asking for that her parents did not carry and sold them within the store as her side business. This clever approach to customer service was the beginning of her successful... more
Birth Date: August 17, 1938
Deceased Date: May 11, 2022
Mark Dronge was the President of DR Strings and a veteran of the music products industry, having been involved since he was four years old in his father’s retail store! Mark recalled the accordion boom of the 1940s in his father’s store, which was sold in 1948. The money his father made in... more
Wes Dooley is the founder of Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) and the inventor of the company’s product line of ribbon microphones. As product engineer, Wes brought his experiences in radio and as a recording engineer to focus on the needs of the market as well as what microphones work and what... more
John Anning is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Independent Music Merchants (AIMM). He began his career as a sales rep for the pro audio industry after growing up as a musician and falling in love with music. His career as a rep expanded over the years and he came to understand the inner... more