Everything about Nile Rodgers totally explained
Nile Gregory Rodgers (born
September 19 1952 in
New York City) is a musician,
composer,
arranger,
guitarist and
music producer, and co-founding member of the seminal multi-platinum hit R&B band
Chic, with influential
bassist, the late
Bernard Edwards.
Biography
Rodgers began his career as a
session guitarist in New York, playing with the
Sesame Street band in his teens, and then working in the
house band at
Harlem's renowned
Apollo Theater, backing artists like
Aretha Franklin,
Ben E. King,
Nancy Wilson, and
Parliament Funkadelic.
1970s
He met bassist
Bernard Edwards in 1970. They formed a
rock band called
The Boys (later known as the
Big Apple Band) and played numerous gigs around New York City, but despite interest in their demos, they couldn't get a record contract when the music companies discovered they were black; the
discrimination of the day said black artists couldn't play "rock".
These experiences, in addition to
activist tenor of the times, led to Rodgers' active involvement in the
Black Panther Party in New York City. The 1999 documentary film
Public Enemy contains history and interviews with Rodgers about these times. Not the type to give up on their musical dreams, in 1977 Rodgers and Edwards joined forces with drummer
Tony Thompson to form the
funk/
R&B band
Chic (NB: There is a degree of controversy over
Chic being referred to as
disco), and went on to score numerous top ten hits and helped propel
disco to new levels of popularity. Their songs "Everybody Dance", "
Le Freak" and "
Good Times" remain among the most
sampled songs of the late 1970s/early 1980s R&B era.
"
Good Times" signals the start of the take-off of
hip hop music as its sample immensely contributed to the success of
Sugarhill Gang's
Rapper's Delight, the first rap hit ever. Chic dissolved in 1983. As Chic's tight sound and yet rich composition became increasingly popular and sought-after,
Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers began doing
record production, sometimes together, sometimes apart. Rodgers and
Bernard Edwards produced, wrote, and performed with the band
Sister Sledge.
1980s
In 1980 they produced the album
diana for
Diana Ross, yielding the smash hits
Upside Down and
I'm Coming Out (which remains Ross' best selling album).
In
1981,
Deborah Harry worked with both Rodgers and Edwards on the album
Koo Koo.
In 1983, they produced
David Bowie's album
Let's Dance (to date Bowie's biggest-selling album) with several hit singles, and in 1984 produced
Madonna's blockbuster album
Like a Virgin Madonna's breakthrough album, spawning her two signature hits ("
Material Girl" and the title track). Rodgers helped develop Madonna's career significantly.
Duran Duran worked extensively with Rodgers after he produced the hit single, "The Reflex", in 1983 and followed up with "The Wild Boys" for inclusion on their 1984 live album
Arena. Rodgers also produced
Sheena Easton 1985 album "
Do You".
In 1986, he produced the entirety of
Duran Duran's
Notorious album, which yielded a #2 title track hit. During a live set,
Simon Le Bon introduced Rodgers, saying "Well, this band went through a difficult time (during
Notorious). The band might not have made it if it weren't for this gentleman..." He contributed to numerous other projects and appearances with members of the band throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2002-2003 helped to produce
Astronaut, the new album by the original five members of the band.
Also in 1987 Rodgers produced the
Grace Jones album
Inside Story for Manhattan records.
He formed the short-lived experimental band Outloud in 1987 with acclaimed French session musician/producer/keyboardist,
Philippe Saisse; they released a single album,
Out Loud, on
Warner Bros. Records. Saisse has often played with Rodgers during in the
Chic tours.
1990s
After a 1992 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards,
Paul Shaffer and
Anton Fig played old
Chic hits to rapturous response, Rodgers and Edwards organized the reunion of the old band. They recorded new material and played live all over the world, to great audience and greater critical acclaim. In 1996, Rodgers was honored as the
Top Producer In the World in
Billboard Magazine, and was named a JT Super Producer. That year he performed with
Bernard Edwards,
Sister Sledge,
Steve Winwood,
Simon Le Bon and
Slash in a series of commemorative concerts in Japan which provided a career retrospective. Unfortunately his longtime musical partner and close friend
Bernard Edwards died of
pneumonia during the trip, a blow that Rodgers took very hard.
In 1998, Rodgers founded Sumthing Else Music Works music label and
Sumthing Distribution, the largest African-American owned independent music label distribution company in America. Sumthing currently focuses on distributing a fast-growing new genre:
video game soundtracks. Soundtrack titles include Halo, Halo 2 and the upcoming Halo 3 soundtrack.It has been underminded that he produced a legendary album called
A Great Long While By Jamband great's known as
Strangefolk where he put his pop and rock know how and incorporated a great Jamband album.
2000s
The
September 11, 2001 attacks prompted Rodgers to create the We Are Family Project to help begin the healing process. To begin, he organized a re-recording of the song he and his music partner
Bernard Edwards wrote for
Sister Sledge called "
We Are Family" with more than 200 musicians, celebrities, and personalities.
Director Spike Lee filmed the "We Are Family"
music video and director
Danny Schechter filmed a
documentary depicting the recording sessions called
The Making and Meaning of We Are Family. The film was chosen as a
Sundance Film Festival Special Selection in 2002. Rodgers continued the healing process and produced another "We Are Family" recording and music video involving more than 100 beloved children's television characters. The children's music video airs as a public service announcement on
Disney Channel,
Nickelodeon, and
PBS stations to promote the message of a common humanity. In July 2002, Rodgers officially created the
We Are Family Foundation to celebrate the vision of a global family by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate people about mutual respect, understanding, and appreciation of cultural diversity.
Rodgers received a NY Chapter's Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award and a Heroes Award from the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. On
September 19,
2005, Nile Rodgers was honored at the
Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony in New York when he was inducted for his many outstanding achievements as a producer, along with former fellow band mate
Bernard Edwards. CHIC has been nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame three times - 2003, 2006 and 2007. In the summer of 2006 Rodgers served as musical director for the tribute concert to
Ahmet Ertegün at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. The concert included performances by
Chic,
Robert Plant,
Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks, Kid Rock and many other artists who were signed to Ertegün's
Atlantic Records. In 2007, Rodgers made contributions to the upcoming
Wu-Tang Clan album,
8 Diagrams.
Selected discography
Chic
Solo
Adventures in the Land of the Good Groove (1983)
B-Movie Matine] (1985)
Out Loud (1987)
Chic Freak and More Treats (1996)
Official Production (partial)
Norma Jean, Norma Jean Wright (1978)
We Are Family, Sister Sledge (1979)
King of the World, Sheila B. Devotion (1980)
Love Somebody Today, Sister Sledge (1980)
diana, Diana Ross (1980)
I Love My Lady, Johnny Mathis (1981) UNRELEASED
Koo Koo, Debbie Harry (1981)
unknown title, Fonzi Thornton (1982) UNRELEASED
Let's Dance, David Bowie (1983)
Situation X, Michael Gregory (1983)
"Invitation To Dance", Kim Carnes (1983)
Trash It Up, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (1983)
"Original Sin", INXS (1984)
Like a Virgin, Madonna (1984)
"The Reflex", "The Wild Boys", Duran Duran (1984)
Flash, Jeff Beck (1985)
She's The Boss, Mick Jagger (1985)
Here's to Future Days, Thompson Twins, (1985)
Do You, Sheena Easton (1985)
When The Boys Meet The Girls, Sister Sledge (1985)
Home of the Brave, Laurie Anderson (1986)
Notorious, Duran Duran (1986)
Inside Story, Grace Jones (1986)
Inside Out, Philip Bailey (1986)
L Is For Lover, Al Jarreau (1986)
"Moonlighting Theme", Al Jarreau (1987)
"Route 66" [NileRogers Mix], Depeche Mode (1987)
Cosmic Thing, The B-52's (1989)
Slam, Dan Reed Network (1989)
, Duran Duran (1989)
So Happy, Eddie Murphy (1989)
Workin' Overtime, Diana Ross (1989)
Family Style, Vaughan Brothers (1990)
Move To This, Cathy Dennis (1990)
The Heat, Dan Reed Network (1991)
"Real Cool World", David Bowie (1992)
Good Stuff, The B-52's (1992)
Black Tie White Noise, David Bowie (1993)
Your Filthy Little Mouth, David Lee Roth (1994)
Azabache, Marta Sánchez (1997)
Us, Taja Sevelle (1997)
Samantha Cole, Samantha Cole (1997)
On And On, All-4-One (1998)
Everything is Cool,SMAP (Japan) (1998)
Su Theme Song,SMAP (Japan) (1998)
Just Me, Tina Arena (2001)
Dellali, Cheb Mami (2001)
"We Are Family", Nile Rodgers All Stars (We Are Family Foundation) (2001)
Only A Woman Like You, Michael Bolton] (2002)
Shady Satin Drug, Soul Decision (2004)
Astronaut, Duran Duran (2004)
Evolution, MorissonPoe (2007)
Soundtracks
Soup For One (1982)
Alphabet City (1984)
Coming to America (1988)
Earth Girls Are Easy (1989)
White Hot (1989)
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
Blue Chips (1994)
Public Enemy (1999)
Rise of Nations (2003) Game
Halo 2 (2004) Game
Perfect Dark Zero (2005) Game
Biographical reference work
"Everybody Dance: Chic and the Politics of Disco", book by Daryl Easlea, Helter Skelter Publishing (24 Oct 2004), ISBN 1-900924-56-0 (External Link
)Further Information
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