Saturday July 25th, 2026 at Sound Machine Toronto

United Soul, NuFunk & Groovin In The Park proudly present

ROOTS OF HOUSE Party

The next Roots of House guest DJ/Artist is one of the original architects of Chicago house music. With a career spanning more than four decades as a DJ, producer, vocalist, engineer, and songwriter. Emerging alongside Chicago pioneers such as Ron Hardy, Larry Heard, and Armando in the 1980s, he helped shape the city’s groundbreaking house scene. His iconic productions—including Dance You Mutha, Magic Feet, Phreaky MF, God Made Me Phunky, and So Let It Be House—captured the raw, funk-driven spirit of Chicago house and continue to influence generations of artists.

featuring Chicago House Music Legend:

MIKE DUNN (Defected Records / Blackball Muzik)
(producer for Magic Feet, God Made Me Phunky)

Alongside:
ABACUS
DJ YOGI

Hosts: Iced Misto & Raoul

Early Bird Tickets: $20 / $25 / $30
https://rootsofhousemikedune.eventbrite.ca 

MIKE DUNN Biography 2026

Few artists embody the spirit and legacy of Chicago house music quite like Mike Dunn. A pioneering DJ, producer, vocalist, engineer, and songwriter, Dunn has been shaping dance music culture for over four decades while continuing to influence new generations of artists and audiences worldwide.

Born and raised in Englewood on Chicago’s South Side, Dunn’s musical journey began at local block parties, where he developed a reputation for pushing boundaries. Long before live electronic performances became commonplace, he was bringing reel-to-reel machines, drum machines, and live production techniques directly into clubs, basements, and community parties, creating tracks in real time as crowds danced around him.

As Chicago house music emerged in the mid-1980s, Dunn became part of the city’s foundational movement, sharing booths and dancefloors with innovators including Ron Hardy, Larry Heard, and his close friend Armando Gallop. His production career began in 1987 with the release of the now-classic Dance You Mutha on Westbrook Records, establishing a sound that would become synonymous with Chicago house: raw grooves, infectious vocal hooks, acid-infused energy, and unmistakable funk.

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Dunn released a string of influential records under his own name and aliases including MD Connection, MDIII, and QX-1. Seminal tracks such as Magic Feet, Face The Nation, So Let It Be House, Phreaky MF, and God Made Me Phunky helped define the evolution of house and hip-house, while his production and engineering work supported fellow Chicago artists including Armando, Fast Eddie, and K-Alexi Shelby.

Beyond his solo catalogue, Dunn collaborated with an impressive roster of vocalists and producers including Syleena Johnson, Byron Stingily, Mina Jackson, Kool Rock Steady, and Kym English. His music found homes on respected labels such as Nervous Records, Tribal America, Nu Groove, Classic Music Company, Defected Records, and Nite Stuff.

In recent years, renewed appreciation for Chicago’s original house pioneers has brought Dunn’s catalogue to an even wider audience. Reissues of Phreaky MF and God Made Me Phunky became modern dancefloor staples, while collaborations and remixes with artists including Honey Dijon, Kings Of Tomorrow, Riva Starr, Hilit Kolet, and the late Jackmaster have reinforced his status as both an originator and a contemporary force.

His acclaimed album My House From All Angles, released through moreaboutmusic and later licensed to Classic Music Company, marked his first full-length project in nearly three decades and received widespread praise from critics, DJs, and house music devotees alike.

Never content to rest on past achievements, Dunn continues to release new music at a prolific rate. Through his Blackball Muzik imprint, he showcases fresh productions that blend disco, funk, soul, and classic Chicago house aesthetics, while his Dance Mutha Records label has opened the vaults to reveal previously unreleased acid and house recordings created during the genre’s formative years.

Today, Mike Dunn remains one of house music’s most respected and in-demand ambassadors. His DJ schedule regularly takes him to leading clubs and festivals across the globe, including Panorama Bar, Fabric, Sub Club, Glastonbury Festival, Movement Detroit,

Electric Forest, and countless other renowned venues and events. Whether delivering a marathon DJ set, producing a new record, or mentoring the next generation of artists, Dunn continues to exemplify the creativity, innovation, and authenticity that made Chicago house music a worldwide cultural phenomenon.

More than forty years into his career, Mike Dunn is not simply preserving house music history—he is still actively writing it.