For a typical band, the only glimmer of fame after it breaks up comes from group members' floundering solo careers or an appearance on VH1's "Where Are They Now?" But for the Hal Leonard Band, its breakup became a stepping stone to fame and fortune when its members started what would one day become the world's number one producer of sheet music with its headquarters in Milwaukee.

According to the company Web site, the Hal Leonard Company was founded in 1947 in Winona, Minn. by brothers Harold "Hal" and Everett "Leonard" Edstorm after their band, the Hal Leonard Band, broke up. Everett had just opened his own music store, while Harold and close friend and former band member Roger Busdicker were both directing and writing music for award-winning high school bands. When other schools took an interest in the songs they were writing, Harold and Busdicker teamed up with Everett to form their own publishing company, the Hal Leonard Company.

The company founders "worked really hard and had big hopes for the company," said Lori Hagopian, Hal Leonard's advertising and public relations manager.

The company continued to grow throughout the 1950s and '60s and eventually, in 1970, a new division of Hal Leonard opened in Milwaukee. Here, current company CEO Keith Mardak began to manufacture an innovative learning product: songbooks, or books with audio packets that helped teach customers how to play. The popularity of this product helped the Milwaukee division quickly outgrow the others and became the center of the Hal Leonard Company.

"They know just how to reach students and teachers," said Ruth Ann Melk, former owner of Melk Music, 8625 W. Adler St. Melk said that Hal Leonard's products are among the store's most popular items.

With offices in Winona, New York, Nashville, Tenn., Melbourne, Hong Kong and London, Hal Leonard products are now sold in more than 65 countries.

"I think they're happy to see what the company has become," Hagopian said.

In addition to sheet music, the company produces method and reference books, CD-ROMs and tutorial videos. It offers more than 97,000 products by such well-known artists as The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Matchbox 20, Disney and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"Our products really run the gamut," Hagopian said. "We have everything from Broadway to the Beatles."

It is this quality that has allowed Hal Leonard to become so popular, said Ken Kunz, manager of Beihoff Music, 11737 W. North Ave.

"They have the rights to a lot of popular music," he said.

The company also gains much of its popularity through its long-standing history of successes, said Nancy Ubick, Hal Leonard's vice president of affairs.

"The reason that we're successful is that we've worked with these customers for so long," Ubick said, adding that it's given them time to build trust.

The combination of trust and innovative ideas took Hal Leonard from a failing band to a small music store to the world's major producer of sheet music.

"I think the store founders are delighted," Hagopian said.

While the Hal Leonard Band may never have made it in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, they definitely have gotten their names onto the most popular songbooks, free of any painful solo albums or VH1 specials.