With the electronic dance music scene still popular (reaching a $7+ billion dollar valuation) and countless music festivals (some with an average attendance of 200,000+) still growing to this day, it's hard to not come across House Music. As popular as it is, not many people know where and who started it.
This genre all started here in Chicago in the early 80's at a club called the Warehouse and the man who helped start it all was the late Frankie Knuckles. The Warehouse would help create the House Music movement that would later reach the entire world. The genre became so popular that a long list of sub genres would be created as a result. Even Daft Punk, arguably the greatest EDM artists in music history, would later reveal that Frankie's music was not only an inspiration, but helped influence their sound.
Knowing all of this, I decided to create a t-shirt design as a tribute to Chicago being the birthplace of House Music and I wanted Frankie Knuckles to see it and have one. I reached out to Frankie through Twitter and to my surprise he not only responded, but loved my design! We had arrangements for me to meet with him and discuss work for his production company. Unfortunately, before that could happen, he passed of complications of Type II diabetes.
After his passing, a new documentary film on House Music was planned by actor & entrepreneur Billy Dec. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to the private launch party at The Underground nightclub. I got to meet Billy as well as people who knew Frankie.