Rik Emmett And David Pack Join Yamaha Handcrafted Acoustic Guitar Ad Campaign

-Virtuosos Eager to Share Their Appreciation of Yamaha Guitars-

Two respected artists from both sides of the border have signed on to represent Yamaha Handcrafted Acoustic Guitars. Rik Emmett, one of Canada's premier musicians, and David Pack, veteran singer-songwriter and Grammy® Award-winning producer, will be featured in Yamaha's new ad campaign promoting the guitars' superior look, feel and tone.

"We are excited about our aggressive new ad campaign for acoustic guitars," stated David Bergstrom, Yamaha's director of marketing for the Combo Group, Pro Audio & Combo Division. "Yamaha has long been known as an extremely good value, but not many are aware of the professionals who play and endorse our handcrafted acoustic instruments. We intend to change that with an endorsee campaign featuring our long and loyal roster of professional artists."

Pack has been a fixture on the American music scene since he came to prominence in the 1970s with the California rock band Ambrosia. He has established himself as one of the industry's key composers and producers, heading projects for Disney, DreamWorks, Kenny Loggins, Linda Ronstadt, Michael McDonald and others. Pack won Grammy® and Dove awards in 1997 for producing Tribute: Songs of Andrae Crouch, produced and arranged a 1996 tribute album of Leonard Bernstein's songs from West Side Story and served as musical director for both of President Clinton's inaugurations. Though Ambrosia's last album was released in 1982, the group still tours, and has produced a greatest hits album with three new tracks which Pack wrote and produced.

Emmett has just released Raw Quartet, the final installment in a trilogy of albums that began with 1997's Ten Invitations from the Mistress of Mr. E and continued with 1998's Swing Shift. Like David Pack, his earliest widespread success came as a band member in the 1970s, first with glam-rock group Justin Paige and later with Triumph. Since leaving that band in 1988 he has produced six solo albums, contributed regularly to Guitar Player magazine, drawn cartoons for Hit Parader magazine and written a four-volume set of guitar instruction books entitled For the Love of the Guitar.

Emmett serves on the Board of Directors of the Songwriters Association of Canada, and is chairman of the Advisory Board for Humber College's music program. Emmett has been playing a variety of Yamaha guitars, including Pacifica solid-bodies, AEX arch-tops and even high-end classical guitars, for the past fifteen years.

The Yamaha acoustic guitar ads featuring Emmett and Pack will appear beginning in June in major guitar magazines in the USA and around the world. For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Guitar Products, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9011, e-mail info@yamaha.com or visit http://www.yamaha.com on the Web.

Yamaha Corporation of America manufactures a complete line of professional audio products for sound reinforcement, project studio, commercial studio, post-production, and broadcast applications.