[caption id="attachment_147404" align="aligncenter" width="524"] Frankie Knuckles (right) with President and Mrs. Obama[/caption]

Frankie Knuckles, considered the "Godfather of House Music" died today from complications relating to diabetes. He was 59.

Knuckles was born in the Bronx and started spinning in the 1970s, at the Continental Baths alongside Larry Levan. Moving to Chicago in the 1970s, he helped birth house music as the resident DJ at the Warehouse, which drew a predominantly gay and black crowd. In 1983, he opened his own club, The Power Plant.

Knuckles was also a producer on tracks like Jamie Principle's "Your Love," "Baby Wants To Ride," and "Cold World," and scored a major dance hit with "The Whistle Song."

He continued to work as a remixer through the 1990s and into the next decade, reworking tracks from Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, and Toni Braxton. Knuckles won the 1997 Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical.

"I was protected a lot as best [my family] could," Knuckles said of his childhood. "Being a softie when I was a kid and I guess everybody knowing that I was going to grow up and be gay or whatever the case is, people tried to protect me as best they could. Then they realized I could very well take care of myself."

I am devastated to write that my dear friend Frankie Knuckles has passed away today. Can't write anymore than this at the moment. I'm sorry.

— David Morales (@DJDavidMorales) April 1, 2014