A new movie about the life of legendary house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles has recently been announced.
The film, The Warehouse, named after the popular Chicago after-hours club where Knuckles came to prominence, will be produced by Bob Teitel (Barber Shop, Men of Honor), restaurateur and socialite Billy Dec (Elston Films/Rockit Ranch), Randy Crumpton (The Truth) and Chicago-based club owner Joe Shanahan (Double Door/Metro/SmartBar).
“Just from traveling all over the world and talking to people about the nightlife business that I’m in, it’s interesting to see how obsessed they are with house music and yet it blows my mind that they have zero idea of this connection that house music has to Chicago because of Frankie Knuckles,” said Dec. “Having spent decades now in this business I am just obsessed with the fact that this beautiful story about this man [and his music] has not been told.”
Known as the “Godfather of House Music,” the Grammy Award-winning Knuckles died on March 31, 2014, of complications from diabetes at the age of 59.
After The Warehouse shut down in 1983, Knuckles opened the PowerPlant nightclub to feed his growing following of “househeads.” He then moved on to New York City and continued to play a number of residences at nightclubs all over the world by popular demand. In 2004, the city of Chicago honored Knuckles with a street named in his honor, and in 2005 he was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.
The film’s producers are hosting a launch party and Frankie Knuckles Foundation benefit to kick off the film’s production at Chicago hot spot The Underground (56 W. Illinois) on March 31 at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $20 and all proceeds will benefit the Knuckles foundation.
For more information, please visit www.theundergroundchicago.com.
