Marshall Jefferson is one of the founding fathers of house music as it is known today. Born in Chicago in 1959, Marshall was a central figure in the development of the Chicago house scene and produced seminal house anthems including ‘Move Your Body’, ‘7 Ways To Jack’ and ‘Open Our Eyes’. He has worked with the best in the business, from fellow founding father Frankie Knuckles to Roy Davis Jr., Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, Felix Da Housecat and Lil Louis. Marshall has had a leading hand in the growth of the acid and deep house movements and even today continues to evolve these genres amid dooms-dayers predicting their collective demise.

Initially inspired by rock music, regular trips to Chicago’s famed Music Box Club in the mid-1980s turned Marshall onto the sounds of early house music. Having bought himself a modest synthesiser and sequencer set-up, Marshall began producing his own cuts and passed them onto Ron Hardy of the Music Box Club, who quickly began playing them to the love of the crowd.

Marshall’s first release, 1985’s ‘Go Wild Rhythm Trax’ on Virgo Records, demonstrated Marshall had the talent vital to succeed in such a fickle industry. ‘Move Your Body’, originally a production Marshall had passed onto Ron Hardy, was released on Trax Records in 1986 and is today recognised as a genre-defining release, having been subtitled and acclaimed ‘The House Music Anthem’.

Marshall Jefferson plays a rare disco set alongside Joey Negro (Z Records) at the Tropical Disco Records at Night Tale, Hackney, on Friday June 21st with support from Moodena, Sartorial and Dylan Pasqua. Info at https://www.facebook.com/events/2610219005715701/

Listen to it below, on Spotify or iTunes here