Dannie Flesher, co-founder of the acclaimed record store-turned-label Wax Trax!, has died at the age of 58 from pneumonia. Flesher, who had left the music business after his Wax Trax! co-founder Jim Nash died in 1995, passed in his hometown of Hope, AR. Wax Trax! Records was developed in Denver during the '70s as a record store, later expanding into a full-fledged studio in the '80s and operating into the mid-'90s. Among the label's featured artists were KMFDM, Underworld, Front 242, The KLF and Ministry. Many artists were influenced by Flesher and Nash.
"I never met either one, but the impact the music on their label had on me was literally life-changing," writes Tom Shear of Assemblage 23 on his Waveformless blog. "The label was what introduced me to industrial dance music and made my angsty teenage years just a little bit more tolerable."
Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM shares in the mourning and remembrance: "My band KMFDM would not still exist nowadays were it not for Dannie and Jim. It was them who got me out of a miserable existence and gave me my one chance in life. Some of my best memories ever involve being around them. I lived for a few years upstairs from the label, below Jim and Dannie's, in the little half-finished apartment on the second floor, whilst Dannie and Jim cared for me as if I were a family member, frequently asking me to join them upstairs to partake in Dannie's delicious home-cooking." KMFDM began their U.S. exposure under Wax Trax! Records in 1988 with their album Don't Blow Your Top. "In my book, Dannie is one of the best people I've ever known; may he live on in our hearts and minds forever," says Konietzko. "Dannie, I salute you."
"I busted my ass in the '90s working for the greatest record label ever, Wax Trax! Records. I've made friends, became part of stories, history and news. I felt like I became part of a family," says Michael Carrasquillo, musician and former employee of Wax Trax!, in his official blog. "Dannie, you will be missed, and thank you [Jim and Dannie] both for your passion and for giving us a great home to be ourselves!"
Flesher is survived by four brothers and three sisters. Services have not been announced at this time.
