House Music Icon Jesse Saunders Needs Help As He Recovers From Stroke – Block Club Chicago

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WOODLAWN — Loved ones of pioneering house musician Jesse Saunders are making an “urgent” plea to global house heads in hopes of raising $150,000 to help the DJ avoid eviction at the end of the month.
Saunders, whose 1984 track “On and On” is considered the first house track pressed to wax, had a “major stroke” in late 2022. Saunders is a founding member of the Chosen Few DJs, a collective which established Chicago as the birthplace of house music alongside fellow icons like Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy.
Saunders has “been trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy” since his stroke, and he has navigated hospital stays and rehab treatments, the Chosen Few DJs said this week.
But Saunders has faced setbacks in his recovery, and he recently collapsed at the care facility where he’s been receiving treatment, group members said.
“He is not in a good place,” the Chosen Few wrote on Instagram. “He cannot afford the care he needs in the rehab facility and is at risk to be released without further help. This is an urgent matter, as he will be evicted from the care facility by the end of this month if we cannot get him the funds to maintain his care.”
Supporters aim to raise $150,000 to keep Saunders in the care facility. Kirkland “Kirk” Townsend — a renowned house music promoter and party organizer, according to the Chicago Black Social Culture Map — is organizing the fundraiser.
To donate to the GoFundMe, click here. Donors had given about $14,000 as of Wednesday morning.
Spokespeople for the Chosen Few DJs could not immediately be reached for comment.
A post shared by The Chosen Few™ DJs (@chosenfewdjs)
Saunders created “On and On” with his friend and frequent songwriting partner, Vince Lawrence, out of Saunders’ bedroom at 7234 S. King Drive, he said on Medium in 2015.
The 1984 track remakes a disco mashup by Mach — also titled “On and On” — which created “a frenzy on the dance floor” when Saunders first played it at the Playground on Michigan Avenue, he said. He recreated the track after his copy was stolen from his DJ booth, he said.
“We wanted to properly evoke the feelings of unadulterated euphoria, the release associated with dancing and jacking your body in the club,” Saunders said.
“House music, as we would come to know it, was a lot like my DJ sets had always been: defined by the drive to make people dance.”
Saunders, a Kenwood Academy graduate, is also known for tracks like 1984’s “Funk-U-Up” and 1985’s “Real Love” — the latter of which is credited to his group, Jesse’s Gang.
“Love Can’t Turn Around,” Saunders’ collaboration with famed Playground DJ Farley “Jackmaster” Funk and singer Darryl Pandy, helped make house music an international phenomenon. The track, which flips Isaac Hayes’ “I Can’t Turn Around,” peaked at No. 10 on the United Kingdom’s singles charts in 1986.
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