Diabetes.co.uk recently teamed up with some promoters to put on a tribute night for Frankie Knuckles, the house DJ credited as a major influence in the house movement in 1980s Chicago and inspiring generations of house music fans. Frankie unfortunately passed away earlier this month, following years of battling Type 2 Diabetes.
We headed down to Brixton, a part of London that really is truly up and coming. A 2 minute walk from the station, the Prince of Wales occupies an old art deco building carefully tucked around the corner just opposite the Ritzy cinema. Though it doesn’t look much from the outside, the venue covers 3 floors, including a large roof terrace.
Upon first arriving, nobody in the downstairs bar really had any idea when the promoter would turn up so we decided to have a walk around and soak in the Brixton atmosphere. Just across the road, there was a night market full of great food stalls selling all kinds of food from Caribbean or Mexican, and even Indian. Brixton was certainly full of characters, and everyone was out enjoying the unusually pleasant weather seasoned with a dash of reggae playing over the market’s PA system.
We headed to the larger function room on the second floor, which I’ll admit I was a little dubious about as it seemed fairly small (smaller than I had expected for the numbers the promoter had estimated).
The night took a while to get started, but by midnight the room had really started to fill out and the music was in full swing. The DJs had stepped up to the decks and the music was booming. A quick scan around the room showed many faces, both young and old. It was a really fitting tribute to such an influential figure in music which really filled me with joy to see.
The lineup was comprised of many DJs from the Phonix record label as well as Nicky Holloway, who many may remember from the emerging UK house scene in the late 80s & early 90s.
Fairly early into the evening, we received the great news that the costs of the event had been fully covered and all the proceeds from then were being donated to charity. We’re waiting on an exact figure, but hopefully it’s a decent figure! Overall, the night was a blast and was a really great way of raising money for a cause that really doesn’t get the awareness it deserves.
To help support the cause further, text DCUK14 £5 to 70070 to donate £5 to JDRF – you can change the £5 to donate between £1-£10.
With that, I’ll leave you with my personal favourite of Frankie’s remixes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpFynggv19g
