Will Ackerman: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Videos
• Photos
• Groups/Boards
• Fan Sites

• Wind Machine
• Scott Moulton
• Acoustic Alchemy
• Kit Walker
• Andrew White
• Eric Tingstad
• John Fahey

• Michael Hedges
• Chet Atkins

• Tim Story

• Steven Miller
• Jerry Carrigan
• Michael Manring
• Henry Strzelecki
• Harold Bradley
• George Winston
• David Briggs

Born:

Nov 1, 1949 in Germany

Genres:

New Age Music, Instrumental New Age Music

Decades Active:

1970's|1980's|1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

High

Cultural Impact

High

Popularity

High

Ratings Guide

William Ackerman has gained prominence both as a musician and a businessman, and at least one of those occupations seems to have been unintentional. Though Ackerman has played guitar since the age of 12, when he dropped out of college it was to become a carpenter, and his first company was called Windham Hill Builders. But Ackerman composed guitar music for Stanford University theater productions, and the encouragement of friends led him to record an album of his tunes, The Search for the Turtle's Navel, in 1976. The album was surprisingly successful, and Ackerman found himself in the music business.

Since then, Ackerman has continued to record his own albums, to produce Windham Hill albums for such other artists as George Winston, Alex de Grassi, and Liz Story, and to serve in various capacities in the record company. (He stepped down as CEO in 1986; his function now primarily concerns AR, the liaison between a record company and its artists.) Though Ackerman has long since sickened of the newage tag, threatening physical violence against anyone categorizing Windham Hill's music with the term, he has had more to do with the rise of acousticbased instrumental music as a popular form in the '70s and '80s than anyone else.

- William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide