Frankie Knuckles was born in South Bronx, New York, in January 18, 1955. He grew up listening to the Jazz music his sister used to play. In school he studied costume design and commercial art but this was not what his future career would be...
No, instead of working with design and art, he got into the art of DJ'ing. But it wasn't really something that he had planned to do, it actually more or less happened. It all started in 1971 when he was offered a job by (the late) legendary DJ Tee Scott who was the resident DJ at Better Days in New York. Every Monday and Tuesday night Frankie got to rule the dancefloor from the DJ booth.
But I [Discoguy] had to ask Frankie: Have you ever been working with something else?
"Other than play records?"
Yeah?!
"Yes. I've done illustrations. I've worked in the garment district of New York City, I've worked in retail."

Frankie clearly told me how he didn't want to waste either his or my time answering questions he had been asked hundreds of times before and he said: "You might not believe that it's true, but believe me, it's been written, it's been documented - it is true!"
So I tried to stick to "new" questions for Frankie to answer, and believe me that's very hard when you're talking to a guy who has been in the music business for the last 30 (!!!) years.
How would you describe yourself - Who is Frankie Knuckles?
"Ah. I wouldn't know, haha, how to describe myself. I've never been asked that question before."
No?
"No. I don't see myself the same way that other people do." [As some kind of star]
But when talking to you, we need to get into Larry Levan, since you and he were close friends.
"OK!"
How did you and Larry meet?
"We met when we were children."
Did you live in the same neighborhood or something?
"No. He was visiting someone in my neighborhood, that's how we met."
Have you got some best memory of you late friend Larry?
"I have lots of them."
Yes, I can imagine that. Some you can share?
"Well, I don't know if I really wanna do that. They are too personal."
OK! I fully respect that. But is there any chance you can describe him as a person?
"Well, that's asking me the same question again, haha, in a different way though. There's a lot of things I can say about him... He was a lot of fun, you know. He was very inspirational. He was a, I don't know, a... It's a little bit difficult to talk about him."
Paradise Garage logo Yes, OK. I understand. I wonder also, both you and Larry became legends and pioneers. You at the Warehouse in Chicago creating the House sound and Larry at the Paradise Garage creating the Garage sound. How come both of you became so influential in dance music?
"In my opinion I think it really had a lot to do with the media. I think it had a lot to do with the press. A club like the Garage as big as it was and influential as it was within the music industry. It played a really big role, I mean, it was no other club in history that had that much of an impact on the music industry.
You hear a lot of talk and you've read a lot of different things about Studio 54, but Studio 54 didn't have an impact on the music industry. It had an impact on the entertainment industry, but that's two completely different things. And some times you hear people say that, you know, Studio 54 was a real big influence for Disco in the seventies. I'd say that's not necessarily true, it had a big influence I think on the entertainment industry by large, because of all the celebrities and everyone that used to go there and hang out. And granted it was a big Discotheque but I don't think it had any kind of influence on the music industry. And that's pretty much what the Garage was.
I mean, the Garage were probably the premium place, you know, for anyone in the music industry that was trying to make a name for themselves or even if they already had a name for themselves to introduce themselves to an arena that they might not necessarily been familiar in. All people would, you know, would very rarely see them in a place like the Garage and the Warehouse in Chicago was pretty much the same thing. You know, they were underground clubs, as big as they were, they were underground clubs. And underground clubs for the most parts never really got any recognition at all in those days."
Were there some "competition" between you and Larry and the clubs?
"No! Not at all!"

As Frankie just told us, there were no competition between the two friends and have never been. No, they have always been best of friends and back in 1972-73 they were working together in Nicky Siano's legendary club the Gallery in Soho, Manhattan - New York.
It was Frankie who first became friends with Robin [Nicky's girlfriend], she introduced Frankie to Nicky and he got a job in the club. Frankie introduced Nicky to a "wild, but very talented" friend of his, Larry Levan. Larry got hired as well and they all became friends...
In the club the three friends started to work with BPM [Beats Per Minute] and beat mixing, in other words - they started to segue songs together using the beats to keep the same tempo - as we expect a DJ to do today. But back in the early 70's, a DJ usually just played one song after another.
Another innovation at the Gallery was that Nicky had installed three turntables instead of the usual two, this gave them the chance to play sound effects and other sounds during the actual mix. Within six months, every club in New York were using three turntables.
When we talked about the Gallery, Frankie told me something surprising... I stated: Both you and Larry were playing at Nicky Siano's - the Gallery.
Frankie Knuckles "We weren't playing there."
What? Because that was what Nicky said you were...
"No, we were working with him, but were not playing. I think it was some misunderstanding of what he said. I know he didn't say that we played there, 'cause he was the ONLY person who played there."

Larry Levan later left the Gallery to play at a club located at 73rd & Broadway called the Continental Baths. Frankie played some other clubs for finally ending up working with Larry again at the Continental Baths. After a while Larry left to start his own club, the Soho Place, but Frankie worked at "the Baths" until its closure [bankruptcy] in 1976. The club then became the swingers club Plato's Retreat, which Joe Thomas sang about in his 1978 hit with the same name.
Larry later became the resident DJ of THE underground club of New York - the Paradise Garage. A club that would actually give name to a whole music genre - GARAGE.
Levan was just involved in setting up "the Garage" when he was approached by some investors to become the resident DJ of a new club they were opening up in Chicago. Larry didn't want to leave "the Garage" and suggested his friend Frankie instead. Since "the Baths" were closed down, Frankie took the job and moved to Chicago. In March 1977 he played the opening night and he was the resident DJ of the Warehouse and soon his club had given name to the Chicago type of Dance music - HOUSE. That's also how Frankie became known as the Godfather of House.
Frankie worked at The Warehouse from day one until late 1982 when he left and opened up his own club - the Power Plant. He was running the Power Plant until 1986 when it was closed down and Frankie moved on to COD's, followed by the Power House. But in 1987 he decided to move back home to New York again.
Much has been told about "the Warehouse" and one of the more unbelievable things is that Frankie actually also lived in the club. But just as Frankie said in the beginning of my interview - "Believe me, - it is true!". In other interviews he has explained it like this; "It wasn't like living in a nightclub. It was just like living in my home. You can not compare it to living in the Ministry of Sound because the Warehouse wasn't like a nightclub. It was a house party that grew into a nightclub as we know it today."
People came to the Warehouse to dance. The club didn't serve any alcohol, they just had juice bar so people didn't go there just to drink, like they do in many other clubs. Soon after Frankie left the Warehouse the club was renamed to Music Box and another influential House DJ started playing there - the late Ron Hardy.