An inside look at the music born, bred, and perfected in Chicago.

Chicago house music originated in the citys Black, gay underground in the late seventies and became one of the most popular musical genres in the world by the end of the century. InChicago House Music: Culture and Community, Marguerite Harrold tells the story of the genres rise and the prolific creators who have sustained it for decades.Youll learn about house musics early innovators, like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, who transformed the social and political turmoil around them into a revolution in dance music. Youll also hear remembrances from contemporary figures in the house community, like DJ Lady D, Avery R. Young, Czboogie and Edgar Artek Sinio, who have forged new paths as the genre has evolved. Its a story about much more than musicits about a community struggling for acceptance, love, liberation, and freedom, and about the creative pioneers whose resilience helped turn house music into a worldwide phenomenon.

Full of interviews and first-hand accounts from the people who stood behind the turntables, carried crates of records, or danced until dawn,Chicago House Musicis the history of an art form that continues to be a force for social interaction, spiritual liberation, and community today.