St. Louis Music
Wayne Thompson has always felt lucky that he had a musical mentor in high school and attributes that leadership and inspiration for his long career in the music industry. Dee Wiggins was the band director at Jefferson High school in Oregon where Wayne played in the band. Mr. Wiggins instilled...
Ted Kornblum has a long legacy in the music industry. His grandfather started St. Louis Street Music and his father started Crate amplifiers and Alvarez guitars. Not content to rest on his laurels, Ted gained experience working both inside and outside his family’s music business before starting on...
Tracy Dean is a well-known and well-regarded independent rep based in the St. Louis area. He began his career in the industry at St. Louis Music where he began as a telephone salesman. After that, he was given a road rep position, the first such inside employee to go on the road. His many...
Phil Jost had a very interesting career in music as a musician before joining the sales team at St. Louis Music in 1974 and thus entering the music products industry. In his early days, being classically trained on the piano, Phil played keyboards and early synthesizers for dances, concerts and...
Ken Fuente is among the music industry’s top sales reps! He has established himself as an innovative and creative salesman who has befriended his competition to learn all he could about the business and share his thoughts whenever possible. He has won several awards during his career including...
Stan Morgan became the president of St. Louis Music after Mark Ragin purchased the company from LOUD Technologies in 2008. The new St. Louis Music retained its strong combo products for its dealers as in the past, along with band and orchestra products thanks to Mr. Ragin's own U. S. Band and...
Jerry Proctor worked for the Alvarez Guitar brand, owned by St. Louis Music, almost from the very beginning of that product. St. Louis Music owner, Gene Kornblum, was looking to create a new acoustic guitar line for his company to supply its dealers when he decided to create his own. After...
Mark Ragin jumped from working at the retail level of a music store into wholesale when he realized there was a real need for a band instrument and accessory distributor geared toward the specific needs of music stores that calls on band directors. Mark established U. S. Band and Orchestra...
Jim Eaton became a professional cellist and played often with his brother. He played in several orchestras and symphonies as well as small groups. Jim’s passion and knowledge of string instruments made him the perfect buyer for St. Louis Music. His role within the company expanded over the years,...
Donald Johnson was known throughout the industry as DJ. He began working in music retail in 1958 in the San Jose, California, area before joining Coast Wholesale in 1961. It was an interesting and historic time to begin calling on retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. The folk music boom was...