RIP: HOUSE MUSIC ICON KIM ENGLISH DIES AT AGE 48

*Chicago House and dance music icon Kim English has passed away. She died Tuesday (04-02-19) at the age of 48 after an ongoing battle with kidney failure. Her death was announced by her label Nervous Records.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing tonight of Kim English,” the label wrote in a Facebook post.

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Vickie Markusic, her manager, said she was on dialysis and awaiting a transplant, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

For those not familiar, English was once a gospel singer but she topped the Billboard dance-chart with hits such as “Missing You” (2000) and “Unspeakable Joy” (1999). English was best known for her classic house track, “Learn 2 Luv.”

“We’re talking about basically house music anthems because she had that soaring voice,” said Metro club founder Joe Shanahan, who heads the advisory committee for the Frankie Knuckles Foundation, dedicated to the house music pioneer. “Like Aretha, like Whitney, like Mavis, many of the greats, it comes from the church. If you brought her in on a session, you were bringing in the top, you were bringing in the best.”

Byron Stingily, a producer and singer-songwriter said: “Kim may be one of the most successful people to have ever sung club music.”

He added, “She was one of the best vocal talents” to come out of Chicago, said deejay and producer Joe Smooth. “Her words were very strong and powerful.”

English was also quite popular in the LGBTQ community. “She loved everybody,” Stingily noted.

“She felt everybody was God’s children and that it was not her place to cast judgment on anyone,” Markusic said. “Her mission was to be able to present in the club scene a message about God, and she did it without being preachy.”

“She had a unique ability both through her singing and songwriting talents to inspire people to dance and also celebrate the joys of God and religion,” Nervous Records said in a Facebook post announcing her death.

English is survived by her son Christopher, her parents, brothers Eric, Richard and Ronald Carl and Layuna Hayes-Cooper, whom she considered a sister. Funeral arrangements are pending, the Sun-Times report stated.