House heads celebrate genre history, DJ Terry Hunter grammy nomination – Hyde Park Herald

House music DJ Terry Hunter speaks on a panel exploring the music’s history at the Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park W, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024.

Staff writer
House music DJ Terry Hunter speaks on a panel exploring the music’s history at the Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park W, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024.
When Kirk Townsend started DJing at 14-years-old in 1974, he was paid $50 for his first gig, a party for a family friend inside Chatham’s Starlight Bowling Alley.
“It was a business at a time when nobody took it seriously, DJing was just a hobby,” Townsend reminisced. “Now, the pride that I have of the hundreds of guys that I brought into the business and influenced in the business (who) can charge $50,000 to go out and do parties. To me, that is an evolution, not just something that started.”
These stories of house’s 40-year history were kicked off a send-off celebration for Chicago DJ Terry Hunter, who was preparing to travel to Los Angeles for the 66th annual Grammy Awards this Sunday.
Hundreds of house heads and South Siders joined together at The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. W, to celebrate Hunter’s nomination for his remix of the 1993 Mariah Carey track “Workin’ Hard.” (Hunter was nominated for his first remix Grammy the previous year for Beyonce’s “Break My Soul.”)
“It means the world to me, because coming up as a young kid in Chicago being a fan of music, I never thought I’d be in this situation,” Hunter told the Herald. “To be nominated back-to-back, working with the two most iconic artists in the world, is amazing … I just wanted to do something (different) with this Grammy-send off event.”
This new event, he said, revolved around a panel on the dance music’s history with “some of the people that’s responsible for making this genre flourish like it does.”
Panelists included DJ Lady D, “Chicago’s house music queen”; Frederick Dunson, executive director of the Frankie Knuckles Foundation; Byron Stingily, a Grammy-nominated house and R&B singer; Vincent Lawrence, a producer and label owner; Joe Shanahan, Metro and SmartBar owner; Robert Williams, founder of the Warehouse; and Townsend.
“These esteemed panelists that we have here are nothing short of amazing and absolutely without them (house) wouldn’t be here,” said Hunter.
Most of the panelists said they were children or young adults when they were first exposed to house music. Several recounted stories of sneaking into the Warehouse as kids, a venue that catapulted the genre, to the amusement of Williams.
“The thing that I most enjoyed about the Warehouse was the parents coming looking for their children,” laughed Williams. recounted hiring Knuckles to head music at the Warehouse in 1977, which was designated a Chicago landmark last June.
Dunson, who founded the Frankie Knuckles Foundation after the artist’s death in 2014, softened Knuckles’ influence on the genre when asked by the moderator if he created house music.
“Frankie would never say he did,” said Dunson. “Frankie never said he was the ‘godfather of house’ … He didn’t create the genre, it was already happening.”
The conversation quickly pivoted to Lawrence’s introduction to the scene.
He got his start in music as a child, attending parties his father hosted in Chicago. His father, a Vietnam War veteran, had been hosting parties in mess halls while overseas and brought the events home with him.
“I grew up around that,” he said. “I just wanted to hang out with my dad.”
After his dad gifted him studio equipment at 16, Lawrence eventually connected with house music titan Jesse Saunders while in the club scene, a meeting that would change the course of his life.
“He was DJing and I was doing lights, and I said, ‘Jesse, you know you could become a much more popular DJ if you make your own records,’” Lawrence recounted. “We got together in his bedroom at his mom’s house and we started cranking out tunes.”
This would eventually lead to Lawrence founding Trax Records, a Chicago house label.
Stingily, a member of the music group Ten City and a former roommate of Lawrence, said that Lawrence was the reason he got into house music.
Lawrence told him they “were going to be pioneers” of sound and movement, Stingily recalled, “and I was like, ‘that interests me.’”
“So I came back home, went in the studio and started doing house records because of Vince Lawrence,” he said.
“I’m happy for the whole house community. When one of us wins, I feel like it’s a victory for all of Chicago,” Stingily told the Herald of Hunter’s nomination. “When we first started (house) people were saying it was a fad and house music wouldn’t be around … To see us on that sort of stage and platform, to me, is still a tremendous and great accomplishment.”
Stingily said that for decades, house artists felt overlooked by the awards show.
“There’s almost tens of thousands of dance records released weekly,” Stingily said. “You’re up against all of these big EDM (Electronic Dance Music) DJs who sell out football stadiums.”
Ten City received a Grammy nomination two years ago for “Best Dance/Electronic Album” for the group’s 2022 release “Judgment,” but Beyonce’s album “Renaissance” ultimately won.
Hunter, looking ahead to his trip to Los Angeles alongside J. Ivy, a Chicago poet nominated for “Best Spoken Word Poetry Album,” he reflected on the city and house’s presence at Sunday’s event.
“Never in a million years, at 50 years old, you could have told me I would be here,” Hunter said. “History was made. House music is here to stay and we are moving forward with strength in numbers.”
“It ain’t going nowhere,” he added. “We are here to stay.”
Staff writer
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Your comment has been submitted.

Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Mostly clear. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly clear. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: May 29, 2024 @ 11:13 pm
Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:

source