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Artist
Ron Hardy
12+ albums
HousechicagoDiscoChicago Houseclassic house
about
Ron Hardy was instrumental in the development of House Music. An innovator and originator of the genre, he is highly regarded not only for his iconic performances at the Music Box, but his pioneering edits and mixes of disco, soul, funk and early house music. He started his career in 1974 in Chicago gay club Den One. Here, with a set-up of two turntables, a mixer and a reel-to-reel tape-deck, he played long nights of underground black dance music. Around 1977, he went to work in Los Angeles. At the end of 1982, when Chicago's legendary Warehouse club closed and re-opened as the Powerplant on another location, Hardy was asked to play at the old club, now renamed "The Music Box". Hardy of course competed with Powerplant dj Frankie Knuckles, and he was very experimental in his playing style. While Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse and later the Powerplant had a very smooth style of playing, Hardy was very different. He had less regard for sound quality and would play with a manic energy, mixing everything from classic Philadelphia Disco classics, italo disco imports to new wave, mutant disco and rock tracks. Hardy also pitched records up way more than Knuckles. Techno artist Derrick May remembers hearing Stevie Wonder with the speed at +8. Ron would extend intros and breaks, teasing his dancers for ages and when the vocals finally came the floor would explode. Hardy played a lot of reel-to-reel edits and was always tweaking the soundsystem and playing with the EQ. A Ron Hardy
