The NAMM show kicked off Thursday morning, April 13, with its annual Breakfast of Champions event and a changing of the guard.
The session offered attendees breakfast, live music and was hosted by Joe Lamond, the president and CEO of NAMM, who had a message about his retirement.
“This is bittersweet for me because, as some of you may know, this is my final Breakfast of Champions as president and CEO, and I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss all of you,” Lamond said.
Lamond’s first NAMM Show was in its heyday in 1983 before assuming his leadership roles in 2001 and he assured the crowd that the new CEO John Mlynczak leaves NAMM in good hands.
Mlynczak was announced as CEO in February and will officially take the leadership mantle on May 1.
In the event’s final moments, Mlynczak and the previous CEO to Lamond, Larry Linkin, joined on stage to present a NAMM Music for Life Award to Lamond.
The morning event closed out with singer, songwriter and guitarist John Fogerty, a founder of Creedence Clearwater Revival, being honored with his own NAMM Music for Life Award.
Fogerty spoke about his time in the Army during the Vietnam War and the impact that it had on its on him and his path to music.
“There was such a sense of we’re all in this together during my generation, and the first thing we got vocal about was our displeasure of the Vietnam War,” he said. “I couldn’t help myself. I had to talk about it.”
The musician gave an anecdote about his need to organize his songwriting after leaving the Army, prompting him to buy a pocket-sized vinyl binder where he would write down titles and ideas for songs. Fogerty brought the binder with him and showed the audience that his first entry was “Proud Mary.”
When Fogerty was honorably discharged in the late 1960s, he said he happily went home and started writing lyrics that involved a river but didn’t quite know where it was going, so he opened his binder and realized the words…
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