SUPER TALENTED MUSICIAN/PRODUCER/SONGWRITER NILE RODGERS
Well they say what goes around comes around, and this certainly seems to be the case with the acclaimed and extremely talented Nile Rodgers. He first came to worldwide fame in the mid 1970's as one half of the powerhouse funk/dance group Chic, alongside the now sadly departed Bernard Edwards. The two, Rodgers (on guitar) and Edwards (on bass) built a superior unit of singers and musicians around themselves and then proceeded to write and produce immensely popular records, not only for themselves, but for other artists, notably Diana Ross and Sister Sledge. The sibling group, in particular would see their career reach dizzying heights due to the efforts of The Chic Organisation (the name of Rodgers and Edwards' production company). In a period which spanned roughly 3 years they ruled the charts with such hits as 'Good Times', 'Le Freak', 'We Are Family' and 'Upside Down'. It was endless, and at a time when the record business was in a very healthy state. However, by time of the early 80's, the concept of disco and disco music was being viewed by the mainstream as old hat and obsolete, which in turn meant the huge popularity of Chic evaporated overnight. Of course it is widely known that Rodgers went on to work with several major recording artist s, including a then new girl on the block called Madonna and the Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie.
Then out of the blue in 2013 saw the re-emergence of Rodgers and his distinctive Chic sound when he wrote and produced 'Get Lucky' for the French electronic dance music duo, Daft Punk, not only giving them the biggest hit of their career, but also in turn seeing the song receive the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. A new worldwide audience seem to be embracing that late 70's funky disco sound with open arms. Soon after Rodgers came across a box of unreleased Chic music which prompted him to work on putting out a brand new Chic album called 'It's About Time'. (The last release was 'Chic-ism' in 1992) The first single from this set, the hot and funky 'I'll Be There' has just been released to much acclaim and joy from dance music fans world wide. That Chic sound is intact and Rodgers is driving this whole enterprise of soulful funky dance groove with precision. He has managed to capture a feeling associated in the past, yet infused the track with an ingredient which enables the track to not sound dated in any way. The accompanying video is a great companion piece evoking many of those classic funky images of dancing and good times, kicked off with a great intro from TV's 'Soul Train' master of ceremonies, Don Cornelius. A superb way of getting us all ready for the album which is due to drop shortly.
In the meantime here is a 5 minute documentary from Nile Rodgers explaining how he arrived at the decision to release new music from Chic, even though several members, including his partner Bernard Edwards are no longer with us.
Then out of the blue in 2013 saw the re-emergence of Rodgers and his distinctive Chic sound when he wrote and produced 'Get Lucky' for the French electronic dance music duo, Daft Punk, not only giving them the biggest hit of their career, but also in turn seeing the song receive the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. A new worldwide audience seem to be embracing that late 70's funky disco sound with open arms. Soon after Rodgers came across a box of unreleased Chic music which prompted him to work on putting out a brand new Chic album called 'It's About Time'. (The last release was 'Chic-ism' in 1992) The first single from this set, the hot and funky 'I'll Be There' has just been released to much acclaim and joy from dance music fans world wide. That Chic sound is intact and Rodgers is driving this whole enterprise of soulful funky dance groove with precision. He has managed to capture a feeling associated in the past, yet infused the track with an ingredient which enables the track to not sound dated in any way. The accompanying video is a great companion piece evoking many of those classic funky images of dancing and good times, kicked off with a great intro from TV's 'Soul Train' master of ceremonies, Don Cornelius. A superb way of getting us all ready for the album which is due to drop shortly.
In the meantime here is a 5 minute documentary from Nile Rodgers explaining how he arrived at the decision to release new music from Chic, even though several members, including his partner Bernard Edwards are no longer with us.
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