FRANKIE KNUCKLES
Few figures in contemporary music have influenced their respective fields the way Frankie Knuckles has revolutionized dance music. As one of the most renown DJ in the world, Frankie Knuckles has been slammin' dance floors with his unique style for the past twenty years. Nicknamed "The Godfather of House" by legions of admirers, he has played a central role in the creation of "house" music.
Frankie Knuckles was born in the South Bronx of New York City on 18 January 1955. He got into DJing after being offered a job by Tee Scott, whom he sees as one of the legendary DJs. Thanks to him, Knuckles became resident on Mondays and Tuesdays at Better Days. He was further prompted into it by Larry Levan when they used to work together back in 1972/73 at a New York club called The Gallery, which was owned by Nicky Siano. Eventually Frankie received an offer from Chicago and moved there.
Frankie himself tells the story of his first steps as a DJ: "I think more than anything it was built up around me. A lot of what I play, and a lot of what I do now, is what I’ve been doing for the past twenty-one years I’ve been playing records. When I first started working with people like Nicky Siano, Larry Levan and Tee Scott, we were playing records at a time when there was no such thing as a BPM system. We had to play records as they were, and actually cultivate mixing one record to the next, whereas most of the DJs were putting on one record after another."
In Chicago he started experimenting with new formulas and rhythms by combining beats of the German techno sound by Krafwerk mixed with samples of the disco era. Chicago house was thus born and in a very short time it would rule the world!
The reason why Frankie Knuckles started to create his own music is simple: "Most of the music that was coming out was very soulful and very downtempo because disco had died and there was a very big lull in the music industry at the time. Everyone was looking for something new and different, but when everybody began to recognize what was going on with the house sound coming out of Chicago - and the same thing in New York - there was a lot of people that were dead set against it…" What he was actually doing was remixing and recreating tracks with different drum patterns just to give it a fresher sound and make them work for the dancefloor.
The Warehouse was the club where this major change in music took place, as Frankie remembers: "At the height of the night, I would switch all the lights out. The windows of the Warehouse were painted black, the crowd would be high on the music and on drugs. I'd pump up the bass, then play this record, which was the soundtrack of an express train. People would scream--it was a mixture of ecstasy and fear--it sounded like a train was racing through the club."
Frankie Knuckles played at countless clubs besides Better Days (the place where Robert Clivilles and the late David Cole met), The Warehouse (where many say house got it's name from), he also worked at the Paradise Garage and the Sound Factory Bar.
The house scene as we know it came about in 1984/1985. There is no doubt that Frankie Knuckles is viewed by many as the DJ. Any person who has been a resident DJ at The Sound Factory and The Paradise Garage while also managing to produce 'Tears', one of House music's timeless classics, certainly deserves the accolades he receives.
Frankie has enjoyed the success of two Virgin Records releases, "Beyond the Mix" and "Welcome to the Real World." He has also produced and remixed songs for artists such as Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Toni Braxton, Michael Bolton, Michael Jackson, New Edition, Janet Jackson and Quincy Jones.
As Frankie continues to perform around the world, he donates much of his time providing entertainment for various AIDS charities. Frankie is also a member of the Board of Governors, New York, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.