Black LGBTQ Music History Makers: Frankie Knuckles, the Godfather of House Music
Watch the episode above, then read on for the full story.
Today, we spotlight Frankie Knuckles, the legendary Black gay DJ, producer, and cultural icon known worldwide as the “Godfather of House Music.”
Every time a house track fills a dance floor anywhere in the world, it carries a little bit of Frankie Knuckles with it.
From the Bronx to the booth
Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. was born on January 18, 1955, in the Bronx, New York City. As a teenager he met Larry Levan, another future legend, and the two started DJing together. In the 1970s, Knuckles became the resident DJ at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York.
The Warehouse and the birth of house
In 1977, Knuckles moved to Chicago to become the resident DJ at a new club called The Warehouse. Its crowd was mostly Black, Latino, and gay, and it was there, mixing disco, soul, and early drum machines, that a new sound took shape. People started calling it “house” music, after the club's name.
In late 1982 he opened his own club, The Power Plant. And in 1987 he helped release “Your Love” with Jamie Principle, a track he had been playing for about a year that became a house classic.
★ Key Moments
1977: Becomes resident DJ at The Warehouse in Chicago
1982: Opens The Power Plant
1991: Releases “The Whistle Song”
1997: Wins the Grammy for Remixer of the Year
2004: Chicago declares August 25 Frankie Knuckles Day
Honors and legacy
His 1991 album Beyond the Mix included “The Whistle Song.” In 1997 he won the Grammy for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Chicago named a stretch of Jefferson Street after him and declared August 25, 2004, Frankie Knuckles Day. He was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Frankie Knuckles died in Chicago on March 31, 2014. He was 59.
Why Frankie Knuckles matters to us
House music was built by Black and queer people in rooms where they could finally be free. Frankie Knuckles was at the center of that. Today's dance music, from Kaytranada to Beyoncé's Renaissance, still moves to the heartbeat he helped create.
More History Makers
Kaytranada: the producer who made the world dance
Big Freedia: the Queen of Bounce
Cakes Da Killa: rewriting who belongs in hip hop
Doechii: making Grammy history
Sources: Wikipedia
AmpliPhy | LGBTQ Voices, Black and Out Loud.
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