Frankie Knuckles (1955 - 2014)

Sad news: Frankie Knuckles has left us.

For those who never heard of him, he's an influencial figure in the creation and evolution of house music, being dubbed "The Godfather of House".

Born in 1955 in the Bronx, New York City, he moved to Chicago during the 70's and started DJing there. Previous contact with important DJ's like Larry Levan and Ron Hardy and his partnership with other (future) seminal artists like Derrick May, David Morales and Jamie Principle contributed to the design of a new genre and all of its subgenres: House.

In the 80's he began to work as a producer and there are many albums and songs by other artists that were credited to him. He also was a proficuous remixer, giving new life to songs by artists like Lisa Stansfield, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Chaka Kahn, Cerrone and, more recently, Hercules & Love Affair, Hurts, Depeche Mode, Climbers and Duke Dumont. Even though he worked with high profile artists, he remained comfortably in the shadows of the undeground scene. Most of today's house music artists cite his name while talking about their background musical influences and in 2004 he relased a new album with original songs, almost ten years after the previous one, called 'A New Reality'.

He kept working on what he loved until the very end. On the 31st March of 2014 he was found dead at his house. His death was reportedly related to diabetes complications. He died where all of his life and career were built: Chicago.

RIP, Frankie.