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Ron Hardy

Real Name:Ron Hardy
Profile:Ron Hardy is the only man who can test Frankie Knuckles' status as Godfather of Chicago House Music.
Though he rarely recorded under his own name and left little evidence of his life, Hardy was the major name for Chicago's dance music from the late '70s to the mid-'80s. By 1974, he had already effected a continuous music mix with reel-to-reel machines plus a dual-turntable setup at the club Den One. Several years later, Hardy played with Knuckles at a club called the Warehouse and though he spent several years in Los Angeles, he later returned to Chicago to open his own club along with Robert Williams, the Music Box.

While Knuckles was translating disco and the emerging house music to a straight, southside audience at the Power Plant, Hardy's 72-hour mix sessions and flamboyant party lifestyle fit in well with the uptown, mostly gay audience at the Music Box. A roll-call of major Chicago producers including Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Phuture's DJ Pierre and Chip E all debuted their compositions by pressing up acetates or reel-to-reel copies for Hardy to play during the mid-'80s.
Lingering problems with heroin addiction forced him to leave the Music Box around 1986 and though he continued to DJ around the area, Hardy wasn't around when Chicago became house music's mecca later in the decade.

Deejay Ron Hardy died in 1991, and that's the only reason why he's not a star today. With the clubs he's been spinning for (especially the Music Box from 1983 to 1988), he was drawing the way of the new sounds of the night. Something was definitely changing, and he was part of the change. You know that one day 'Jack Has a Groove'... but did you really know when late Disco turned into early House music? Ron Hardy was it. Icon of the gay House nights of Chicago, that man was a deejay like some others are monk... it was everything for him, a sort of religion. Mixing speedy electro-pop with accelerated disco, edited disco-classics with acid tracks, when other deejays used to mix it warm... he used to mix it cold. One of his very close friends told me that he was almost never sleeping... mixing records all the time, doing weird things with his turntables. There was about nothing in his appartment, nothing but black shiny records, and a bed... and that for years since the 70's when he left for westcoast, the 80's when he came back to Chicago, until 91 when everything stopped. Too much drugs and awaken nights... he killed his own batteries for the music.
At least we still have the tapes of his talent and the memories of his friends.
URLs:http://www.partehardy.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Hardy
Name Variations: All | Ron Hardy | Hardy | R. Hardy
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Releases:
Sensation ◄ (3 versions)   Trax Records 1985
Muzic Box Classics Volume One ◄ (3 versions)   Partehardy Records 2005
Muzic Box Classics Volume Two (12")   Partehardy Records 2006
Muzic Box Classics V3 (12")   Partehardy Records 2007
Muzic Box Classics Volume 4 (12")   Partehardy Records 2009
Remixes:
Donnie ◄ (2 versions) Donnie (Hardy Mix) D.J. International Records 1986
Mystery Of Love / Donnie (12", Promo) Donnie (Hardy Mix) D.J. International Records 1986
I Can't Stay Away (12") I Can't Stay Away (Ron... Bright Star Records 1987
Tearin Down The Walls (12") Tearin Down The Walls ... Trax Records 1990
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (3xLP) Get Ready (Looking For... Nuphonic 2000
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (CD) Get Ready (Looking For... Nuphonic 2000
Queer Trax - Coming In Loud & Queer (CD, Comp, Mixed, Dig) Ride The Rhythm (Ron H... Trax Records, Casablanca Trax Inc. 2004
Mix:
Move Your Body (12")   Boy Records (Spain) 1986
Move Your Body - The House Music Anthem (12")   BCM Records 1986
Pleasure Control ◄ (3 versions)   Bright Star Records ... 1986
Ride The Rhythm ◄ (2 versions) Ride The Rhythm Trax Records 1986
The House Music Anthem (12")   Affair Record Company Ltd 1986
The House Music Anthem ◄ (5 versions)   Trax Records 1986
The House Sound Of Chicago - Chicago Trax (CD, Comp) Pleasure Control, The ... London Records 1986
Chicago Trax - Volume 1 (2xLP, Comp) Pleasure Control, Move... BCM Records 1987
Chicago Trax - Volume 1 (CD, Comp) Pleasure Control, Move... BCM Records 1987
The House Sound Of Chicago - Vol. II - Chicago Trax (Comp) ◄ (3 versions) Pleasure Control, The ... London Records 1987
The Deep House Sampler - Volume 1 (Comp) ◄ (3 versions) Pleasure Control Jack Trax 1989
The History Of The House Sound Of Chicago (15xCD, Comp, Ltd + Box) Move Your Body (The Ho... BCM Records 1989
The Best Of Ron Hardy Volume 1 (12", TP)   Trax Records 1992
Move Your Body / Baby Wants To Ride (12") Move Your Body Trax Records 2002
House Nation! 2 (2xCD) Move Your Body (The Ho... Hi-Bias Records Inc. 2005
Without Makeup ◄ (2 versions)   Let's Pet Puppies 2006
The House Sound Of Chicago / The Chicago Trax Edition (CD, Comp) The House Music Anthem... BCM Records  
Appears On:
Work The Box ◄ (4 versions)   Trax Records 1986
Frankie Knuckles Presents - Music Selected And Edited By Ron Hardy (LP)   Trax Records 1989
Chicago Trax - The Original Sound Of House (2xLP, Comp) Beat The Knuckles Unisex 2001
Queer Trax - Coming In Loud & Queer (CD, Comp, Mixed, Dig) Work The Box Trax Records, Casablanca Trax Inc. 2004
Chilites (File, MP3) Throwback 87 Rucksack Records 2007
I Can't Stay Away (12") I Can't Stay Away (Ron... Clone Classic Cuts 2008
RA.102 (File, MP3, Mixed, Pod) Peaches And Prunes (Ro... Resident Advisor 2008
Spring 2005 DJ Mix (CDr, Mixed, Comp) Wordy Rappinghood Domino Recording Company Ltd.  
Tracks Appear On:
Frankie Knuckles Presents (Cass, Comp) Beat The Knuckles Radical Records (5) 1989
The House That Trax Built II (CD) Liquid Love Trax UK 1996
The House That Trax Built II (2xLP) Liquid Love Trax UK 1996
House (2xCD) Liquid Love, Sensation Mirakkle Records 1999
Queer Trax - Coming In Loud & Queer (CD, Comp, Mixed, Dig) Sensation Trax Records, Casablanca Trax Inc. 2004
City To City (Comp) ◄ (2 versions) House Flashback (Origi... BBE 2005
Maestro ◄ (2 versions) Interview Of Ron Hardy Central Station ... 2005
Twilight Trax (CD, Comp, Mixed) Liquid Love (Clean Edit) Trax Records 2005
The Unusual Suspects - Once Upon A Time In House Music (DVD-V) Talking About House Music NowonDVD 2007
Unofficial Releases:
Live @ Warehouse (12", W/Lbl)   Not On Label 1996
Automan 2 (12") Peaches & Prunes (Ron ... Automan 2002
Ron's Edits #1 (12", Ltd, W/Lbl)   Not On Label (Ron's Edits Series) 2004
Ron's Edits #2 (12", W/Lbl, Ltd)   Not On Label (Ron's Edits Series) 2004
Unreleased (CDr) Crazy Hard Acid Edit, ... Not On Label 2006
Altmix Volume 3 - Oldskool Red (CDr, Mixed) Move Your Body Unknown Russian Source Records 2008
Your Mind (Passion) (12")   Warehouse Box Tracks Records 2008
Untitled (12") Donnie (Ron Hardy Mix) DJ Classic Mastercuts 2009
User Reviews:
djfrankiebones, Jun 12, 2008

Legendary. DJ Culture has had its opening moments shaped and formed by so many different people, yet when you trace it back as a song title such as "Going Back To My Roots" (Lamont Dozier, Warner Bros. 1976) its always going to come back down to Ron Hardy and Larry Levan. The parallel lifestyles riding an exact path in two of the largest cities in America. Chicago & New York City.

While I am only leaving this review to pay homage to someone who was able to live his dreams through the music he played, before such a thing as DJ Culture existed...It is important to point out that Heroin is a killer. Ron Hardy (33) Larry Levan (38). We have actually been involved in a scene where most of the veterans are still here doing their thing. And that is a good thing. I am 41 years old as of print and post time. We as DJs lead a strange lifestyle, but Heroin Kills. These guys might have been able to reach millions of people had they made it today. It is sad that we have been stuck in retrospect for a decade and a half.

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