Music like ernie ball

Ernie Ball (born Roland Sherwood Ball; August 30, 1930 – September 9, 2004) was an American entrepreneur and musician, best known in the development of guitar-related products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories that would eventually gross US$40 million a year. "Ernie Ball" is also the eponymous corporation Ball started to market guitar accessories.

Ball was born Roland Sherwood Ball in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in a musical family, the son of Frances (née Shankland) and Roland Adelbert Ball. His paternal grandfather, Ernest Ball, wrote the standard "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and his father was a car salesman who taught Hawaiian steel guitar on the side. Although Ball initially picked up the steel at age nine to please his father, he became bored and gave it up. In his early teens he began to take a renewed interest in the instrument, practicing as many as three hours a day. Within a year he was a member of the Musicians Union.