Ron Hardy

Ron Hardy is the only man who can test Frankie Knuckles' status as the godfather of Chicago house music. Though he never recorded under his own name and left little evidence of his life, Hardy was the major name for Chicago dance music from the late '70s to the mid-'80s. By 1974, he had already effected a continuous music mix -- with reel-to-reel machines plus a dual-turntable setup -- at the club Den One. Several years later, Hardy played with Knuckles at a club called the Warehouse and though he spent several years in Los Angeles, he later returned to Chicago to open his own...