OH Taxonomy
Norman Whitfield Jr grew up surrounded by music. His father was the noted songwriter, Norman Whitfield, who penned such classic hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Just My Imagination”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, and the disco era hit “Car Wash”. Norman Whitfield Jr followed in his father...
Bill Sapsis has been rigging for theater and live events since the early 1970s. He was a welder and helped with set designs in both Philadelphia and New York and in 1981, he formed Sapsis Rigging to provide specialized support for opera and musical productions. He realized the need for safety...
Rand Cook recalls his mother taking him into the Candyman Strings & Things music store when he was three years old. He was quickly disappointed at that young age that the store when he realized they did not have any candy. With his parents support and playing the clarinet in school band, Rand...
Joseph Prelorentzos sat next to his brother, Kostas, as they became the first people to be interviewed from Greece for the NAMM Oral History Program. The interview took place in Anaheim at the 2018 NAMM Show and covered the history of their music store, from its beginnings to today. Joseph pointed...
Rodrigo Garcia recalls the day his father bought him his first bass. It changed his life. He later went on the road to play professionally and toured with Alexander Silver throughout Chile. Rodrigo can be seen and heard playing on the 2005 Alejandro Silva Live DVD, which was recorded on one of...
Mohini Dey is the noted bass player who has been playing professionally since she was ten years old. The world nearly lost the chance to hear her beautiful music as Mohini’s first career choice was to be a fashion designer. Her father, Sujoy Dey, is also a bass player and often performs with his ...
Kostas Prelorentzos, along with his brother, Joseph, were the first to be interviewed for the NAMM Oral History Program from Greece. It is an honor to include their story within our collection because their family-owned music store was opened in 1977. As a result, both brothers were able to cover...
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...
Bob Ulius began working in the music industry when San Francisco retailer, Stu Goldberg, hired Bob at Marina Music in 1969. It was the beginning of a long career that included gigs at Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland, California, and with Sound Genesis. Bruce Hatch formed Sound Genesis, which was located...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out sick. This was the beginning of a 70 plus year career as a Latin percussionist! He worked with some of the...