By Charlotte Heathcote
July 2009

Nile Rodgers is the man behind the birth of disco, having formed Chic in 1976 with bassist Bernard Edwards, and echoes of Le Freak, Everybody Dance and Good Times have reverberated through the charts ever since.

The same partnership produced Sister Sledge’s We Are Family, Diana Ross’s Diana (spawning the singles Upside Down and I’m Coming Out) and David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, the title track of which became Bowie’s biggest-selling single. After Rodgers produced Madonna’s 1984 Like A Virgin record, which sold 14million copies, he could have retired on the royalties.

Rodgers and Edwards (who died in 1996) have been described as “the Lennon and McCartney of the dancefloor” and, as Chic prepare to play three UK dates, Rodgers once again proves to be ahead of his time. Although disco never truly went away, it’s enjoying a revival in the clubs of Britain’s liveliest cities at a time when the economy is as troubled as it was at the dawn of disco.

“I’ve done rather well in my life,” reflects Rodgers, who is also working on three musicals and plans to produce the new Slash record next. “I’ve written many, many, many hit songs. I don’t have to work but playing this dance music makes me feel good. I do it because it makes me feel alive. To walk out on a stage and go, ‘Aaaaaah…’ and the audience goes, ‘Freak out!’ is pretty unbelievable.”

In school, as a black boy raised by a white stepfather, Rodgers developed an early sense of not really belonging. He was 13 the first time he took LSD, later becoming a “panhandler” on the streets of New York. The Sixties proved to be a liberating time for him, however, being the era of the Black Panther movement. He compares the community-oriented Black Panthers to the Boy Scouts, and he became involved in feeding children and painting elderly ladies’ homes.

A trained classical guitarist, Rodgers’s first job was, unexpectedly, playing on children’s TV show Sesame Street but he teamed up with fellow session musician Edwards in 1970. His success, he believes, has been against all odds, hampered by racist attitudes. Although the music industry became less colour-blind once they saw the success of Chic, the band fell victim to the inevitable disco backlash in the early Eighties. When he tells me he’s “inundated with work”, there’s a sense that Rodgers is still smarting from that knockback.


In 1979, for example, Good Times was supplanted at the top of the charts by The Knack’s My Sharona. “The entire industry rallied around The Knack while we were persona non grata. I can’t pretend it didn’t get me down. The Knack never had a hit record ever again but one year later the No1 record was Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust, which sounded mysteriously like Good Times. That sold more records than any other Queen record. Then we had Radio Clash, Rappers’ Delight, Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll, all based on Good Times, which the industry had been saying sucked. The Clash, Blondie, Bow Wow Wow, Duran Duran; this whole new wave of bands were influenced by Chic but we never heard a record based on My Sharona.”

Chic started to lose their way, paying too much attention to critics. “We had six flops in a row but history changes it. One record that was a flop, Soup For One, became a No1 when Modjo sampled it on their track Lady.”

As the band scrabbled round for another hit, Rodgers became heavily involved in drink and drug excess: “In the Studio 54 days I was pronounced clinically dead eight times.” After a birthday party thrown by Madonna in 1994, he decided enough was enough.

“My behaviour was such that I was embarrassed into sobriety. When you hear Madonna tell the story it means nothing to her, she laughs and says: ‘You were a little drunk!’ The year that we did Like A Virgin, she never really saw me high because I’d get rid of her by 3am or 4am. I’d stay out clubbing all night but she couldn’t do that.

“Mickey Rourke and I were the last people to leave her party. We stayed in the bathroom all night trying to save humanity. The next day I was told some friends of mine had to carry me home. I was drunk and high and it lasted until the next afternoon. And I used to do that every day.”

Rodgers was so mortified that he pulled out of producing a record by Cuban artist Nil Lara and checked into rehab.


After he produced Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Rodgers was vindicated in his belief that Chic had hit a racial glass ceiling. “When we’re playing behind Bowie we’re happening. We [Chic] could have made the same musical statement but we weren’t allowed to, we had to play by different rules. Bowie is a unique rarified thing but it’s clearly, clearly a race issue.” But he and Edwards came to blows as Rodgers’s focus turned to solo projects. “We had a row and broke up then, when I called, it was as if nothing bad ever happened and we were the best of friends. It’s like a relationship; you get tired and a few years later you go, ‘What was the problem?’.”

The personal rapprochement led to a professional reunion in the early Nineties. He compares this enduring partnership to his relationship with Duran Duran, for whom he produced The Reflex and Wild Boys, later turning down a lucrative judging role on American Idol to work on the band’s comeback record.

“I should have quit because they didn’t treat me that nicely. They went to other producers because they wanted to be with the hot flavour of the month. It was quite shocking but I don’t hold a grudge.”

Bernard Edwards was just 44 when he died of pneumonia while Chic were in Japan to play a big concert. Rodgers was traumatised and, for a year, thought he’d never play a Chic song again. Then when that same Japanese promoter asked him to get back on stage, Rodgers agreed. “It was amazing. It was exactly what I needed to do.”

Rodgers is currently getting his head round the death of another significant collaborator. His band opened for the very first Jackson 5 concert in 1973 and he played guitar on Jackson’s 1995 album HIStory. The Jackson he knew was a caring, big-hearted individual.

“The Make A Wish foundation called me because they had a young girl who was dying of cancer and they asked me to bring her to a Michael Jackson concert. I did and he was unbelievably magnanimous. She wrote me a letter before she passed away saying it was worth her getting brain cancer just for that night. That was the Michael Jackson I knew. He was amazing.”

Michael Jackson may be the more famous name but, when it comes to influence and innovation, Rodgers can give the King of Pop a run for his money.


http://www.express.co.uk/...hic-again-

great read & great talent.

Good thread and thanx for posting it. I've always dug Niles as a kid with Chic, who I adore. And then later as Niles as a producer in the 80's, the cat was on fire. Bowie's Let's Dance album, Madonna's Like A Virgin, Duran Duran's Notorious, Debbie Harry's Koo Koo, Jeff Beck's Flash, The B52's Cosmic Thing. Just shows Nile's versatility. Great songwriter and guitarist as well.
[Edited 7/25/09 15:20pm]

what is a "classically trained" guitarist?

scriptgirl said:

A guitarist who is trained in Classical music.
[Edited 7/27/09 0:34am]

September 1984 Madonna interview, speaks on Nile Rodgers

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Great post, Thanks!!





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Thank you for that. Love Nile and his music..Wow. Had no clue Nile was into the junk for a little while. Glad he's clean and still here.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I think that almost everyone was into the 'junk' back in those days, but damn, being pronounced clinically dead 8 times, he was wild. He's very lucky to still be here.

Excellent article/interview.