Rick Wilhite

Although he may not be as talked about as his Detroit peers and fellow 3 Chairs collaborators Kenny Dixon Jr. and Theo Parrish, there’s no doubting Rick "The Godson" Wilhite’s position as one of the central characters in the city's house music heritage. The record store was his first step along the way, and after learning the ropes of the vinyl industry via his job at Buy-Rite Music, he set about becoming a shop proprietor in his own right. The House Of Music was his first venture, and up until its closure late last year, he was the owner of Vibes New and Rare Music. Though his work behind the counter may be a thing of the past, his work behind the mixing desk certainly isn't. His sporadic sample-heavy singles for KDJ and most recently Stilove4music have become sought after slabs of wax, changing hands for serious amounts of money on sites like Discogs and eBay, yet fans looking to get a slice of Wilhite's production talent will be able to do so at a much more reasonable rate when he drops his debut solo album in the coming months. The final string to his bow is his skill behind the decks, with his much-refined turntable technique working in tandem with an enviable knowledge of disco, house and techno. He’s also not one to shy away from sharing his wisdom, taking a pre-teen Kyle Hall aside to school him on the finer points of deep house. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.