Franke Knuckles was taken from us earlier this month, but the Chicago house DJ’s influence reached all the way around the planet — including to the Leader of the Free World. In 2004, a then-U.S. senator from Illinois named Barack Obama declared August 24 as “Frankie Knuckles Day.” Now, Knuckles’ former recording partner David Morales has shared a condolence letter from the president and First Lady Michelle Obama themselves. The Obamas salute Knuckles as “a trailblazer in his field,” writing that “his legacy lives on in the city of Chicago and on dance floors across the globe.” Read their full letter below, celebrate Frankie Knuckles’ life with his Warehouse top 50 records, and revisit SPIN’s 1986 feature on the Chicago club scene.
