OH Taxonomy
Vern Crews grew up surrounded by music. His uncle, Pee Wee Marquette, who was the master of ceremonies for the famed Birdland jazz club, gave young Vern a Hammond Organ when he was a kid. That organ inspired him to learn all he could about electronic musical instruments. During the MIDI boom of the...
Lynn Fuston was a junior in high school when he started recording the school choir. He had been singing his whole life but recognized the need to make better recordings. Following his passion, he journeyed to Nashville and started working in recording studios such as Sound Stage and the legendary...
Johnny Grabowski was just four years old when he began playing his father’s piano by ear. He took lessons a few years later and in middle school joined the choir. Music has always been a strong part of Johnny’s life, so it didn't surprise anyone when he studied electronic music in college while...
Don Carr has fond memories of his father, an electronics enthusiast, recording him sing as a young kid. He played a number of instruments in school as his parents were always supportive of his musical interests. He was playing a regular club gig at the age of 15. After college at Belmont in...
Jim Hauer has many fond memories of his grandfather, Michael Hauer, a noted big band leader who opened their family’s music store in 1937. Jim recalls his grandfather providing music lessons when he was in his 90s and enjoying every minute of it. Those same feelings and passion for music were...
Jerry Hauer grew up in a very musical home. His father was a big band leader with a noted radio show, Michael Hauer and His Band of the Hour! When Michael was off the road with his band, he provided music lessons in the Dayton, Ohio area, where he established Hauer Music in 1937. Jerry joined the...
Jim Kincaid has fond memories of his father singing and playing his guitar. Jim’s father was the folk singer and publisher, Bradley Kincaid, who helped pioneer folk music on the radio in the 1920s and 30s, throughout the Midwest and the New England area. His father retired from his music career at...
Ray Stacy began working for the O.S. Kelly Company in 1978 and has a true sense of pride in the work they do in creating piano plates. Located in Springfield, Ohio, the foundry was established by Oliver Kelly in 1852 to make steam traction engines and farm equipment. They soon began making the sand...
Linda (Wert) Young asked her parents, when she was twenty, to assist her in the upstart of a music store after realizing her passion for helping children identify their interest and abilities in playing music. Her dad mortgaged the family farm, which lead to the opening of Wert Music in 1973. With...
Dan Del Fiorentino is the Music Historian for NAMM who heads the industry's Oral History program. Dan began this special project in March 2000, after having served as the first curator of the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. Since that time, the collection of video interviews has grown to...