Frankie Knuckles

It's lazy journalistic shorthand to describe a DJ or producer as the 'godfather' of a particular genre of music, but in Frankie Knuckles' case it's probably true. A Bronx native and childhood friend of Larry Levan, in 1977 Knuckles landed a regular DJ slot at Chicago's freshly opened The Warehouse club, and the name of the venue would come to be associated with the new style of dance music that he played there: house. Knuckles was a constant presence throughout the following decades: he bought his first drum machine from Derrick May (yeah, that Derrick May) in 1983 and became a Grammy-winning producer and remixer, though he's kept his feet in the DJ world too, earning a place in the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005 for his turntable antics. The original Godfather of House makes his first visit to Tokyo in a couple of years this weekend, and he'll be giving fans their money's worth when he plays for a full six hours at Liquidroom.