Frankie Knuckles, house music 'godfather,' dead at 59
Source: Chicago Tribune
In Chicago, Frankie Knuckles was called the “godfather,” not because of any underworld connections, but because he helped build house – a style of Chicago dance music that revolutionized club culture in the ‘70s and ‘80s and still resonates around the world today.
Knuckles died Monday at the age of 59, as confirmed by his longtime business partner, Frederick Dunson. More details would be forthcoming Tuesday, Dunson said, who said in an email that Knuckles “died unexpectedly this afternoon at home.” In addition to developing the sound and culture of house music, Knuckles would go on to mix records by major artists such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Depeche Mode.
Knuckles learned his craft as a club DJ in New York City, then moved to Chicago in the late ‘70s and developed a reputation as one of the city’s most influential dance-music tastemakers. He arrived in Chicago just as disco was losing steam. For many, disco literally went up in flames between games of a Chicago White Sox double header at Comiskey Park, when radio deejay Steve Dahl blew up hundreds of disco albums.
"I witnessed that caper that Steve Dahl pulled at Disco Demolition Night and it didn't mean a thing to me or my crowd," Knuckles told the Tribune. “But it scared the record companies, so they stopped signing disco artists and making disco records. So we created our own thing in Chicago to fill the gap.”
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/turnitup/chi-frankie-knuckles-obit-20140331,0,565674.column
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How sad....R.I.P.! House music was the thing in Chi-town after disco (and frankly, I still miss disco) 
RIP Frankie Knuckles
on R&B stations (along obvious groups like K.C & The Sunshine Band, Hall and Oates, and later, Madonna), but the film itself was transformed by the music media into a parody of what they felt was "wrong" with disco while they continued ignoring songs from folks like Chic, Heatwave, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, and transitional disco genre songs by older R&B artists like the disco progenitor - MFSB, as well as Patty Labelle, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Roberta Flack, Barry White, James Brown, Herb Albert, and even Diana Ross.
C'est la vie... Or C'est si bon! 
mixes on Saturday during the mid-80's - I mean, there probably STILL are, but I remember his mixes were some of the very best. A musical light has been extinguished. Very sad.
I'll have to spin one up tonight in his memory. Tracks like Whistle were awesome because they worked equally well whether you were dancing in a club or just having a quiet night drinking or smoking something at home.
