Frankie Knuckles died Monday at the age of 59, as confirmed by his longtime business partner, Frederick Dunson. Knuckles was born in the Bronx but earned the title of “The Godfather of House Music” in Chicago when he became a key figure in the underground club The Warehouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s. House combined splashy drum beats, elementary synthesizer flourishes, primitive digital effects and vocals that whisper, drone and roar with the spiritual release usually associated with gospel music but designed for total physical liberation.
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