EXCLUSIVE Q&A with Kristine W, part 1

Kristine W talks like the girl next door with no attitude, no pretenses. She was utterly and disarmingly charming. A diva only when she takes to the stage, she was frank when she spoke with me about her beauty pageant days, her singing career (a multi-Billboard club music charter for three decades now) and her struggle with leukemia. I was happy to be able to get her talking with producer Bob Esty and have my fingers crossed we might see a collaboration. (Wouldn't that be divalicious!) It's all here in my interview. She will be performing this Sunday, March 15, at Saved, 175 MacDougal Street, NYC with Dj Escape and Dj/remixer/producer Hex Hector. She has a new club hit, "Love Come Home" and an upcoming new album for us to look forward to.

Ladies and gentlemen (and everyone in between and beyond), Ms Kristine W....

Buddy Beaverhausen: Thank you, Kristine for your time and for agreeing to do this Q&A with me.
Kristine W: Thank you, I'm happy to. Are you in New York right now? How's the weather?
BB: Cloudy but relatively warm, near 50.
KW: Well, I'm planning on bringing a lot of sunshine with me [from Vegas], so I'm conjuring that up right now.
BB: What can your fans expect when you appear Sunday night at Saved?
KW: We're going to do "Do What You Want" and just sort of check it out and see how everybody's doing. It'll be fun. And Escape wants to surprise everybody with what we're doing.
BB: You were born and raised in Washington state, am I right?
KW: Yep, farm girl!
BB: What kind of music did you listen to growing up and what influenced you?
KW: Oh, we had a really cool mix of ethnicity where I grew up, Tri-Cities, Washington. We had the farm people who liked Country, migrant workers who played Latin music, vacationing Seattle residents in the summer playing Rock and Easy Listening, Black railroad workers.... I was exposed to a lot of different types of music all the time. I was very rooted in soul and adored Earth, Wind & Fire.... Chaka Khan and Rufus.... My mom sang at a nightclub there. Standards, you know, like "You Light Up My Life."
     When I first heard Donna Summer's voice, that's what got me really excited. I knew, when I was a kid, that's who I wanted to do. And she was very glamorous! The stage presence, the big hair, the eyelashes and make-up, the beaded dresses!
BB: I think I recall you being compared to Donna Summer, especially vocally, when you first started recording, am I right?
KW: Yeah, that was such a compliment to me because she was my idol!
BB: Talking about Donna Summer and glamor, what was it like to be a Miss America contestant and a beauty pageant queen.
KW: You know, it was never about the glamor. I was raised by a single mother with four kids, and this was a way to get scholarship money. It was a way out of my life back home; my ticket to move on. So I got my money and headed to Vegas where I got my Master's degree. I worked all the time. I sang in other people's bands and sang whatever type of music they did. Back home, I'd been in church choirs and sang in bands. At 13, I was, like, 5'10" so nobody ever asked how old I was or for my i.d. or anything.
BB: In your private life, do you consider yourself high-maintenance cosmetically?
KW: Not really. When I'm not doing a show, like today, I have my lipstick on. No eye make-up. But we slather it on big-time at showtime.
BB: You have a slew of top-ten dance hits on the Billboard club chart. How many at this time?
KW: I have 16 #1s right now.
BB: Wow!
KW: And I have twenty records that made it to the top 5.
BB: Incredible.
KW: And I didn't even know it until Billboard shared that with me now that "Love Come Home" has made it onto the chart.
BB: Let's talk about "Love Come Home." What made you decide you wanted to cover that in particular?
KW: Because it's sort of underground; not many people have heard it over here [in the US]. And because I sang on the background vocals with Frankie Knuckles when nobody knew who I was. I was ready to record "Do What You Want," but the back-up singers didn't show up on Frankie's song. I was so young then, I didn't ask for anything. I didn't ask to get paid, or for riders. I later did a duet of "Love Come Home" with Franke Pharoah, of all people, for Our Tribe that I loved!
BB: You write most of your own songs and they're not fluff. They have depth and are serious songs about life and deeper feelings, really, yet they're so dancefloor-friendly. How do you do that?
KW: I listen to what people have to say, and the serious issues about their lives. It touches my heart. It's just put it to a high  number of beats per mnute, about 128 bpm or so. And the beat makes people happy and want to dance even if the song is dark.
BB: The only other dance-music artists who do that consistently, I think, are the Pet Shop Boys.
KW: Yes, I think that's right, too. And I love their music.

The Obamas Honor Dance Music Legend Frankie Knuckles

Dj/remixer Frankie Knuckles died from diabetic complications on the first of this month. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2014/04/dj-buddy-bs-tribute-to-house-musics.html

In 2004, Senator Barack Obama helped to declare Frankie Knuckles Day on August 25th in Chicago. Today, President Obama and First Lady Michelle offered condolences to his family, fans and friends. Dj David Morales said today: "You know you're a true legend when u get one of these." Back in June 2012, I wrote of Morales and Obama on this blog:

David Morales is back, ready to get everyone on their feet to his nouveau disco sound with "Golden Era," a retro-tinged dance number with orchestral flourishes associated with classic dance-floor arrangements. None other than club-fave Roisin Murphy (pictured), the contralto Irish diva of dance and electronica fame, is the featured vocalist on this and she rises to the occasion beautifully. So, swirl, hands up in the air, Sunday tea dance style, on the day our President officially and historically pronounced June "Gay Pride Month!" And have a cocktail or two to really celebrate. Happy days are here again this summer; toast to a new Golden Era! Disco's back!

Below, both the Morales "Disco Mix" & the President's announcement, courtesy of YouTube. (Btw, Prezzie O is so cool, he even tosses in a Whitney quote, "bit by bit, step by step.")

Today's letter from the First Couple read: "Frankie's work helped open minds and bring people together, blending genres to capture our attention and ignite our imaginations. He was a trailblazer in his field, and his legacy lives on in the city of Chicago and on dance floors across the globe."

Huffington Post wrote today: Also this week, musician Elton John announced the creation The Frankie Knuckles Fund, a new charity fund that will support HIV research in black communities and operate under the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

"Frankie was such a lovely man and a great talent," John said in a statement, "and his legacy provides a powerful voice to reach out to people, particularly men of color, about their essential role in helping to create an AIDS-free future."

Knuckles' family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations in Knuckles' memory be made to the American Diabetes Association or the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York.

The dance-music community applauds our President, First Lady and Elton John for the recognition and the tributes to the Godfather of House Music deserves. Class acts all.

Frankie Knuckles Does Chaka Khan

Continuing my tribute to the great Frankie Knuckles, I wanted to share one of his most cited and most enjoyed remixes by clubgoers. Chaka Khan, "Ain't Nobody." "Blown away by the passing of the Godfather of House Music," Ms Khan said. "He's remixing Heaven now. Love Always."

Dj Buddy B's Tribute to House Music's Godfather, NYC's Frankie Knuckles

The Godfather of House Music has died. Long may he live through his now-classic music. Born Francis Nicholls of the Bronx, NYC, he changed his name to Frankie Knuckles and moved to Chicago.

"Nobody can agree on who invented the blues or birthed rock & roll, but there is no question that house music came from Frankie Knuckles, who died Monday afternoon of as-yet-undisclosed causes at age 59," wrote Rolling Stone. "One of the Eighties and Nineties' most prolific house music producers and remixers, Knuckles is, hands down, one of the dozen most important DJs of all time. At his Chicago clubs the Warehouse (1977-82) and Power Plant (1983-85), Knuckles’ marathon sets, typically featuring his own extended edits of a wide selection of tracks from disco to post-punk, R&B to synth-heavy Eurodisco, laid the groundwork for electronic dance music culture—all of it."

Along with his Bronx-born friend, the late Larry Levan, Knuckles launched his career during the '70s in various discos and after-hours clubs and at the Continental Baths. The duo split when Knuckles decided to move to Chicago.

Frankie Knuckles changed the sound of dance music forever. There is no overestimating the influence of his mixes and productions: First Choice, "Let No Man Put Asunder;" Chaka Khan, "Ain't Nobody;" Natalie Cole's "Livin' for Love;" "The Whisle Song; " Satoshi Tomiiee's "Tears;" Hercules & Love Affair's "Blind;" Diana Ross's "Love Hangover;" Pet Shop Boys' "Left to My Own Devices;" Luther Vandross' "Power of Love" and many more. Knuckles was globally renowned and toured the world as a dj, always highly in demand.

"In July 2008, Knuckles’ right foot was amputated: He’d broken it during a 2000 snowboarding accident in Switzerland, leading to a bone disease exacerbated by late-breaking diabetes," wrote Rolling Stone.

Frankie Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame and won a Grammy for Remixer of the Year in 1997.

Last week, Knuckles was quoted as having said, "When you're as fortunate as most of us working DJs to be able to share our creative blessings with the rest of the world, no matter how great or small, wouldn't you agree that it's best to give the world the best of who you are?"

At the time of his death, he was 59 years old. R.I.P., Godfather.