Chicago DJs The Chosen Few and the Frankie Knuckles Foundation are organising a fundraiser to commemorate DJ Ron Hardy.
The Frankie Knuckles Foundation (FKF) and Chicago’s Chosen Few DJs have announced a fundraising drive to purchase a memorial marker for pioneering DJ Ron Hardy. Hardy, who passed away in 1992 is currently at rest in an unmarked grave.
The FKF approached Chicago’s Chosen Few DJs Wayne Williams, Alan King and Terry Hunter about raising funds to properly commemorate one of house music’s early heroes.
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On Friday 8th May 2020, the FKF and Chosen Few DJs will host a ten-hour DJ marathon. The event will feature sets from Andre Hatchett, Bill Hardy (Ron Hardy’s nephew), Celeste Alexander, Craig Loftis, Gene Hunt, Jamie 326, Mike Dunn, Ron Carroll, Terry Hunter and Wayne Williams. It will be broadcast live from Le Nocturne in Chicago on Twitch, Facebook and YouTube. FKF and Chosen Few have also set up a GoFundMe where donations to the cause can be made. At the time of writing, the fund had already surpassed its goal of $2500. Any funds remaining after purchasing Hardy’s marker will be donated to “a COVID -19 related charity selected by Ron’s family”.
Ron Hardy was an influential DJ pioneer, infamous for the intensity and energy of his sets at Chicago’s Music Box. Hardy championed the early records of DJ Pierre, Marshal Jefferson and Larry Heard. He famously was the first to play Phuture’s ‘Acid Tracks’, reportedly several times in one night. Bill Brewster and Frank Tope in ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ said of Hardy: “If Frankie Knuckles is the godfather of house, he shared the raising of his child with Ron Hardy’. The 8th of May would have been Ron Hardy’s 63rd birthday.