In Memoriam

Ron Spagnardi

Ronald Spagnardi, founder and publisher of Modern Drummer publications, died September 22 at the age of 60, following a battle with cancer.

Ron started playing drums at age eight. In the early 1960s, he attended the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, graduating in 1963. For many years after leaving Berklee, he operated a music store and drum-teaching studio, and played around New York at the Village Vanguard, the Five Spot and other notable clubs with such jazz artists as guitarist Joe Beck and vibist Mike Mainieri.

Spagnardi launched Modern Drummer magazine in 1977 from his basement, on an initial investment of $3,500. His staff consisted of his wife, Isabel; his father, Leo; and his eight-year-old daughter, Lori. The first few issues were laid out and pasted up on a ping-pong table.

“The magazine started as a whim,” Spagnardi told The Berklee Times last year. “I thought that drummers should have a publication of their own. You’d find Guitar Player and Contemporary Keyboard magazines on the newsstands back then, but all drummers had were a few newsletters. Down Beat would do a yearly issue devoted to drummers, but it had only three or four interviews and it came out once a year. I started thinking that if there was a magazine that looked as nice as The Ludwig Drummer and had good information about all kinds of drummers and products, people would buy it.”

Modern Drummer began as a quarterly publication. Two years later it went bi-monthy, and two years after that frequency increased to nine issues per year. It became a monthly publication in 1983. Today, the magazine has over 100,000 readers.

Spagnardi gradually assembled an office staff and a collection of free-lance writers who shared his vision. In many respects he maintained the “family” atmosphere from which the publication began, and many of today’s MD writers, editors and staff have been with the magazine since the early 1980s.

One of the strengths of Modern Drummer was Spagnardi’s balance between artistic vision and business sense. He always insisted that the magazine’s first responsibility was to its readers, and that every article must provide accurate information that would help readers become better drummers though education and/or inspiration.

As an employer, Ron gave clear direction and insisted on excellence. But he always welcomed ideas and input from employees as well as free-lancers and provided those who worked for him with opportunities for personal growth. He was a true team leader who was adept at identifying individual strengths and combining them into a cohesive whole.

Spagnardi expanded MD Publications to include instructional books by well-known drummers including Joe Morello, Gary Chester, Bob Moses and Bill Bruford, and authored several books himself. He also created Drum Business, a magazine specifically for drum retailers. And he was the producer of the annual MD Festival Weekend that drew drummers from around the world to perform and mingle.

A scholarship fund will be established by Spagnardi’s family and the staff of Modern Drummer Publications. Details for contributions to that fund will be available shortly from Modern Drummer’s office, (973) 239-4140 or info@moderndrummer.com.

Rick Mattingly has written for Modern Drummer since 1978 and worked full-time for Modern Drummer Publications, first as Features Editor and then as Senior Editor, from 1981-89.