Frankie Knuckles

The black artist that is today's subject was known as "The Godfather of House Music." The man who carries such an important title was also gay. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay And Lesbian Hall Of Fame in 1996. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Frankie Knuckles.

Francis Nicholls, better known by his stage name Frankie Knuckles, was born in the Bronx, NYC, in 1955. As a youth, he became involved in Harlem's ball culture as a dress designer, where he first met fellow designer and lifelong best friend Larry Levan (also a gay man). The two became infatuated with an idea of making the "music that would never stop" when they met hippie DJ David Mancuso, the owner of members-only dance club The Loft, a minimally decorated space where "punch, fruit and candy" were served in lieu of alcohol and music was processed by a state-of-the-art sound system. Mancuso introduced Knuckles and Levan to Manhattan's burgeoning underground downtown dance culture.

As an acquaintance of Levan and Knuckles said, "You could only get into the Loft by private invitation. This was not because Mancuso wanted to create an elitist environment. He intentionally wanted to bring together diverse groups of gays who wouldn't ordinarily party together to create a democratic, integrated venue. David was powerfully attracted to black music and culture as well as men, so this Loft party was instrumental in bringing together wealthy, white gay men, many of them music executives, with this black musical dance culture he adored."

Knuckles and Levan got their start in DJing at the Continental Baths in NYC, as a replacement for the DJ from The Gallery, Nicky Siano, who briefly employed both men as decorators at The Gallery and taught them his pioneering three turntable technique.

In the late 1970s, Knuckles moved from New York City to Chicago, where Robert Williams, an old friend, was opening what became the Warehouse club. When the Warehouse opened in 1977, he was invited to play on a regular basis, which enabled him to hone his skills and style. This style was a mixture of disco classics, unusual indie-label soul, the occasional rock track, European synth-disco and all manner of rarities, which would all eventually codify as "House Music." The style of music now known as house was of course named after a shortened version of the Warehouse.

He continued DJing at the Warehouse until November 1982, when he started his own club in Chicago, The Power Plant. Around 1983, Knuckles bought his first drum machine. The combination of bare, insistent drum machine pulses and an overlay of cult disco classics defined the sound of early Chicago house music. A sound which many local producers began to mimic in the studios by 1985.

Meanwhile, he also started recording music. You Can't Hide was a Gamble-Huff song that he released in 1986.

Your Love, a Jamie Principle song, was a big club hit in 1987.

At around the same time, another Jamie Principle song, Baby Wants To Ride also made waves.

When the Power Plant closed in 1987, Knuckles played for four months at Delirium in the United Kingdom. Chicago house artists were in high demand and having major success in the UK with this new genre of music. In 1988, he co-produced the Pet Shop Boys' song I Want A Dog.

In 1989 Frankie mixed Kevin Irving's Children Of The Night.

Also in 1989, Knuckles presented Satoshi Tomiie's Tears.

The Whistle Song (1991) was a big hit of his (#1 US Dance). It would be considered his seminal work.

His big song for 1992 was Satoshi Tomiie's Rain Falls and it featured Lisa Michaels, who also co-wrote the lyrics.

In 1995 he collaborated with Adeva. Here's Too Many Fish.

At this time, Frankie Knuckles had become a go-to remixer. Here are some of the songs that he successfully remixed:

Here's fabulous Lisa Stansfield with Change:

Here's the Knuckles remix of Turn it Out by legendary Patti Labelle. The song was on the soundtrack of gay cult film, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.

Here's recent GayCultureLand subject Luther Vandross with Power of Love/Love Power:

Here's another collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, Left to My Own Devices:

Here the tigress from Scotland, Lulu and Let Me Wake Up In Your Arms (a Bee Gees composition):

Here's the great voice of Chaka Khan with the mega-classic Ain't Nobody. It was a #1 US Dance hit in 1989:

Here's Frankie's mix of Love Hangover, Diana Ross' disco classic:

Here's a mix of the huge hit Un-Unbreak My Heart by Toni Braxton:

Here's Blind by Hercules & Love Affair, remixed by Knuckles:

Knuckles didn't neglect all the mega-divas of his era. Here he is, remixing Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone:

Here's sister Janet Jackson's Because of Love:

And here's Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston:

In the mid-2000s, Knuckles developed type II diabetes. On March 31, 2014, he died of complications from the disease in Chicago at age 59. In April 2015, a year after his death, a retrospective compilation was released, the tracklist for which had been selected by Knuckles before his death. Also, the same month, as a tribute to Knuckles, a version of his song "Baby Wants to Ride" was released by Underworld and Heller & Farley to mark the year anniversary of his passing. It went straight to number one on the UK's first ever Official Vinyl Singles Chart. All proceeds went to the Frankie Knuckles Trust / Elton John AIDS Foundation.