Slingerland Legacy

While the full story spans decades, several key contributions stand out:

• Gene Krupa was instrumental in elevating the drum set from a background timekeeping role to a featured solo voice—most notably in the landmark 1937 recording of “Sing, Sing, Sing” with Benny Goodman.

• In close collaboration with Slingerland, Gene played a central role in the development of double-headed, tunable tom-toms—an innovation that helped establish the modern drum set. Prior to this, drum configurations were largely limited to bass drum, snare, and auxiliary “trap” instruments, restricting both tonal range and musical expression. Gene insisted that toms be built with both batter and resonant heads, along with metal hoops, lugs, and tension rods, allowing the drums to be tuned to specific pitches to function more melodically within the set.

• Gene also helped establish drum sizes that became industry standards, including the 9x13" rack tom and 16x16" floor tom, later adding a second floor tom—often 20x20"—for his famous Sing, Sing, Sing feature. These innovations, paired with Slingerland’s solid shell snare drums, became defining features of the company’s Radio King series.

• Gene remained a lifelong Slingerland artist, appearing on catalog covers through 1967 and continuing his endorsement through the end of his career until his passing in 1973.

• He was closely associated with Slingerland’s solid-shell Radio King snare drums, most commonly in 5.5x14" and 6.5x14" configurations.

• His influence as a performer continues to resonate across generations of legendary drummers, shaping players such as John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Hal Blaine, and even Buddy Rich.

His legacy is undeniable. Gene Krupa didn’t just influence the role of the drummer, he helped define it. And throughout his entire career, he did so with Slingerland.