We just want to say at Quite Great how sad it is to hear the death of a true dance music innovator and the man who many agree created house music, Frankie Knuckles. As a young record company executive in the late eighties and early nineties it was, I believe the sound of Frankie Knuckles that created the sound of the nineties and influenced so many artists of today.

You only have to listen to his huge hit The Whistle Song to understand how he changed the way we listen to music. When working with the likes of Adrian Sykes, Eddie Gordon , Simon Gavin truly great dance label executives, his name was always first on the list for key production and remix work. Whilst at MCA and Universal I only ever managed to work a couple of projects as far as I can recall that utilised Frankie Knuckles talents when I was lucky enough to be involved in Chante Moore’s debut via louil Silas’ MCA imprint. Then when I set the company up we were lucky enough to land a huge hit which Frankie Knuckles mixed called ‘Closer than Close’ by Rosie Gaines. You were surrounded by his style throughout the nineties so it was impossible not to be influenced.

You only have to check some of the huge cross over hits he played a part in from The Pet Shop Boys to Michael Jackson, from Diana Ross to Depeche Mode, his production style transcended house music and revolutionised popular music. I think the final track that highlighted that pop, dance innovation was his Million Dollar bill mix for Whitney Houston a truly special track.

Thanks to Frankie Knuckles for turning a generation onto dance music, he will never be forgotten.