OH Taxonomy
Carole Ozanian has been surrounded by music her entire life. As a four-year-old child she took piano lessons and played up to her college years, when she studied to be a choir director. After college she was hired to work for a Southern California music store and found she had a real flair and...
Peter Tork was an original member of the Monkees and enjoyed great success on TV and the top of the pop charts during the mid and late 1960s. Years later, Peter admitted that the cast members of the TV show were not playing their instruments on the first recording, however Peter and Micky Dolenz on...
Joey Lyons has been a part of Music Sales Group almost as long as anyone else, perhaps second only to the president Mr. Robert Wise. Joey has been around music his entire life, in fact his first career was on Broadway. As a dancer, he toured and performed on television. When the chance came to work...
Chip Wise served in the piano business for over fifty years and enjoyed the customers he met and the people of the music industry. During the early days of the NAMM Oral History program more interviewees suggested we interview Chip than just about anyone else. His interview took place at the NAMM...
Robert Godin grew up in love with woods and handcraftsmanship. He worked along side a luthier long enough to understand he had found his passion. Robert designed and perfected a style of building that produced a unique sounding guitar, special in many ways. He took extra care in selecting the woods...
Rob Turner’s first instrument was the drums; in fact it was the drums that brought him to establish one of the world’s best-known guitar pickup companies! While on tour in the early 1970s his drum kit was stolen, forcing him to rent a kit for the remaining tour. The experience caused him to rethink...
Andrew Barta was born in Hungary and came to the United States with a dream of working in the music industry. Having been in rock bands in Europe, Andrew formed a band in America and worked as a technician repairing instruments in New York music stores. Along the way, he began designing a project...
Dick Bell was surprised by the impact he had on the music industry, a fact that became clear to him at the NAMM Show 2009, when the Roland Corp gave him a retirement party and NAMM requested an interview for the Oral History program. He began his career in the music industry, as Dick said, “with no...
Michael Kropp loved folk music for as far back as he could remember. As he grew up and played in various bands in the 1960s and 70s he also became involved with the music industry. After owning his own music store for several years in New England, Mike became friends with Stewart Spector, Hap...
Dave Campbell grew up in a household full of music! Both of his grandmothers were piano teachers and his father was a professional piano player. With such a strong background in music it was no surprise that Dave became a professional musician and made it his career until his early 30s. Dave also...