Celebrating Black History: Pioneers of house music
A trip through the timeline of dance music
Larry Heard
If Frankie Knuckles is considered the godfather of house, then Larry Heard is the father of deep house. With a catalogue of releases that include timeless tracks like ‘Can You Feel It?’, ‘Mystery of Love’, ‘Closer’ and ‘Bring Down the Walls’ among others, it’s clear he was a musical visionary who had a way with delivering smooth and emotive material.
With a jazzy motif, Heard fused house rhythms with more soulful roots. In a later interview, he mentioned how his creative process needed complete focus: "Some folks can have a whole crowd of people around them, and that just doesn't work for me. I need to get to a quiet place with myself and the sounds and go from there."
Larry Heard has produced under many aliases during his career, including Fingers Inc., Mr. Fingers, The It, House Factors, Trio Zero, Loosefingers and Fingers. His label, Alleviated Records, is home to much of his material.
