His first job in clubland was at New York disco club, The Gallery. What was his role? Not manning the booth just yet, Frankie was in charge of blowing up balloons and... arranging fruit. 

Frankie's celebrated residency at Chicago's Warehouse nightclub is widely accepted as where the term 'house music' originated - music you would hear at Warehouse. This is why to this day Frankie is regarded as 'The Godfather of House Music'. However, in a real sliding doors moment, events could have taken a much different path if the Warehouse team had have gotten their first choice of resident - Larry Levan. When Levan turned down the gig, he recommended his friend Frankie and the rest is history.

Now recognised as one of the greatest remixes of all time, much of Frankie's early dabbles in production came as part of a team up with his friend Erasmo. The two of them created a bootleg edit of "Let No Man Put Asunder" that was so popular on the dancefloor that the record label commissioned an official remix. While the official release became a huge hit, their original effort remained a secret weapon of Frankie's DJ Sets.

"Erasmo and I re-edited "Let No Man Put Asunder," which had already long been a staple on the dance floor at The Warehouse. Our re-edit breathed new life into this tune that was a long-forgotten B-side album cut. Word got back to Salsoul Records in New York, and they wanted the edit. Then they decided they wanted me to completely remix the record. Our original edit never saw the light of day because I kept it for myself." - Frankie Knuckles

In the late 90s, as hard house, trance and techno began to overshadow house music, Frankie began to get disillusioned with the scene and he eventually stopped creating new music. It wasn't until Hercules & Love Affaird dogged him to remix one of their tracks that he eventually started producing again.

"The further I got away from production, though, the more my health spiralled out of control. And, at that moment, Hercules & Love Affair asked me to remix "Blind." They wanted "that classic Frankie Knuckles/DefMix" sound. I thought they must be kidding. No one was really playing anything remotely DefMix sounding. I passed on the remix, but they remained diligent. "I had to mix it" according to them. Then I took ill and thought, "OK, here's a way out." But the group said they'd wait until I was well. I didn't know how long that would be.

As soon as I got better and was ready to return to the road, they asked me again if I would remix it. At this point, they had waited six months, I had to do it. Long story short, I have Hercules & The Love Affair to thank for getting me back to my first love. Correction, not my first love, my real love." - Frankie Knuckles

On 25th August 2004, South Jefferson Street in Chicago - the former site of the Warehouse - was renamed Frankie Knuckles Way. The campaign to honour Frankie largely succeeded due to the backing of Barack Obama who was a Senator (and Frankie Knuckles fan) at the time.