Okay, he isn't a celebrity - not in the strictest sense of the word. Unless you are something of synthaholic (and I am), you probably would have never heard of him, nor the company he founded in the late 1960's, naming it after a Hawaiian city he remembered fondly -
Paia (pronounced pie'-uh). But for people like me, who grew up during the golden age of DIY synthesizers, Paia was a household word. Their catalogues came to my mailbox at regular intervals - not because I bought anything from them, but because I liked to look through them and dream.
The products produced by Paia came from the mind of John Simonton for the most part, although he also produced kits to help budding musical electronics heads build the ingenious designs of Craig Anderton which frequently appeared in electronics and musician's magazines during the same period. John ran his basically one man business out of his homeland, Oklahoma, for 35 years, until his recent passing from cancer.
John did for synthesizers what Heathkit did for radios - he made them accessible to people with much more time than money, and who didn't mind learning a new, patient skill to get what they desired out of the deal. Few could afford even Moog or ARP's most reasonably-priced gear unless they were working musicians (or at least musical hobbyists with decent jobs), but almost anyone could afford to piece together a small, fully-featured modular synth from John's wide variety of component kits, and, in the process, learn not only about the mechanics and principles of electronic construction, but also the theory and practice of sound synthesis. Because of Paia, Joe Sixpack (usually, Little Joey Sixpack, actually) could procure components over time and end up as a budget Keith Emerson in the comfort of their own home.
Although the onslaught of digital synthesis and MIDI took a huge bite out of John's livelihood, he never stopped serving those who needed what he did. Indeed, tales abound of his generosity with his time as his old designs were rediscovered and restored by those who once again wanted a cheap inroad to the newly reborn interest in analogue synths. And John did not sit idle, dreaming of the old glory days during the slow years. John saw the resurgence of analogue early on, and developed an incredibly affordable mini-synth kit, the Paia Fatman, to serve the new generation of technoids and electronica performers. Indeed, Simonton's touch has reached as far as The Cellar, where only a few weeks back someone was mentioning their desire to purchase Paia's Theremax theremin kit and build it for their own amusement.
Celebrities are celebrities only because we *make* them so in our own minds. Therefore, in my oscillator-afflicted brain, John Simonton was quite the celebrity indeed. RIP, John. Here's to the hope that someone can carry your banner into this new milennia.