Marshall Jefferson

Though house music had already begun to develop by the time Marshall Jefferson started cutting tracks in his Chicago hometown, he was the one who created the emerging sound’s first and possibly most iconic anthem with “Move Your Body.” Born in 1959, Jefferson was working in a post office when he started his music career in the mid-’80s, creating songs with a newly purchased synthesizer and distributing tapes of his music to clubs like the Music Box. His thrilling and innovative use of piano was one big reason why “Move Your Body” became an underground favorite in 1985 before its official release on Trax Records the following year. The propulsive song helped turn house into a worldwide phenomenon and Jefferson into one of its foremost ambassadors. On his richly textured productions for artists such as CeCe Rogers and Ten City, he warmed up chilly electronic rhythms with ecstatic elements of soul and gospel, establishing the deep-house sound that became his trademark across decades of singles, remixes, and DJ sets.