OH Taxonomy
William Kent, along with his brother Ed, formed the Kent Drum Company in 1947 with a focus to create student-level kits to encourage music making at all economic levels. The company offered professional-level drums as well as other products such as the tambourine. William was always proud that a...
Booker T. Jones grew up in Memphis and began recording as a session player while still in high school at the age of 17. While waiting for a session to begin, Booker and the other musicians in the studio began playing a song Booker wrote, which was later given a name when the engineer encouraged...
Jack Pinney grew up in San Diego, California, where he developed a love of music and began playing drums in the early 1960s. When some friends wanted to form a band, Jack was eager to join them, after all he had noticed the screaming girls following The Beatles and thought it looked fun. The...
Ruth Kadison enjoyed her role as a NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music volunteer, and applied many of her talents and skills to the organization over the years. Her love of music goes back to her grandfather who printed sheet music in New York City during the golden era of Tin Pan Alley and...
Greg Walker was inspired by musical masters and song stylists such as Nat "King" Cole, Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, and Sam Cooke, and started singing at the age of nine. These legendary musicians made an indelible impression on Greg's artistry and style, setting high performance standards in...
Bob Riskin started working for McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica just a few years after it opened in 1958. Before long the shop was abuzz with the folk music boom and later played an equally important role in the folk-rock craze that expanded the shop to include electric guitars for the first...
Michael Boddicker grew up in a music store, one his parents formed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and where his love for music began! His amazing musical career has covered many areas, although in Hollywood he is known for his film scores and composing. In the music industry he is well known as a pioneer...
DJ Tony G pioneered many scratches and tricks as a DJ in the early days of Hip Hop on the West Coast. The art of turntablelism began in New York, but before long the sound and the style made its way to California. Out in East LA Tony G spun the platters, scratched and MC’ed as well as hosted a...
Larry Dunn played a key role in the success of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire! As the keyboardist for the group he added new sounds in the innovative era of electronic musical instruments. As Musical Director for the group he set high standards of creative and musical performances...
Alan Bergman and his wife Marilyn are among the most celebrated songwriting team of their time (and anyone else’s). They began writing together in the early 1950s and wrote the lyrics for such hits as “Nice ‘n’ Easy” for Frank Sinatra, “Yellow Bird” which has been recorded by hundreds of artists...