Chic

Chic is a US disco group from New York, formed in 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. The group’s core sound comes from Rodgers’ rhythm guitar and Edwards’ bass lines, with tightly arranged keyboards, strings and rhythm parts used sparingly to keep the emphasis on groove and dance rhythm. Chic is active from 1976 to the present and is also credited in fully capitalised form as CHIC.

Formation and line-up

Rodgers and Edwards first work together in the early 1970s, after meeting as jazz-trained musicians. Before taking the Chic name, they perform in the Big Apple Band, back New York City and Carol Douglas, and briefly use the name Allah & the Knife Wielding Punks before settling on dance music. The first Chic line-up includes Tony Thompson on drums and vocalists Norma Jean Wright and Alfa Anderson, with studio support from keyboardists Raymond Jones and Rob Sabino.

Wright later leaves and is replaced by Luci Martin. The later re-formed version of Chic includes Sylver Logan Sharp and Jenn Thomas on vocals, with session drummers standing in for Thompson. Members associated with the group also include Jessica Wagner-Cowan, Jerry Barnes, Milton Gerry Barnes, Kimberly Davis, Omar Hakim, Ralph Rolle, Luther Vandross and Diva Gray.

Recorded work and major songs

Chic’s first major single is “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”, which first appears as a 12-inch release and is later reissued more widely. It reaches the Top Ten and helps establish the group in disco. The debut album is followed by “Everybody Dance”.

The album C’est Chic includes “Le Freak” and “I Want Your Love”. “Le Freak” becomes a major hit, spends five weeks at number one and becomes Atlantic’s biggest-selling single at the time. “I Want Your Love” also reaches the top ten. The 1979 album Risqué includes “Good Times”, another number one pop hit. “Good Times” becomes especially influential because its groove is widely reused and it helps shape later hip-hop records; it is also closely associated with “Another One Bites the Dust” and with the backing track used for “Rapper’s Delight”.

Other noted Chic singles include “My Forbidden Lover”. The group’s early catalogue also helps establish a template for urban funk and dance-pop, and its sound is later linked to hip-hop sampling practices.

Production work and wider impact

Rodgers and Edwards also work as producers and songwriters outside Chic. In 1979 they produce and write Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” and “He’s the Greatest Dancer”. They then work with Diana Ross on diana, including “Upside Down” and “I’m Coming Out”. Rodgers later produces major albums for David Bowie, Madonna, Mick Jagger, the Thompson Twins, the Vaughan Brothers, INXS and The B-52’s, while Edwards works with Robert Palmer, Rod Stewart, Jody Watley and Tina Turner.

Luther Vandross appears among the background singers on recordings connected with Chic and Sister Sledge, before becoming a major solo artist in his own right.

Later years and activity

Chic’s commercial peak fades in the early 1980s as disco declines. The group releases Real People in 1980 and later albums with reduced commercial success. Rodgers and Edwards disband the group after completing Believer in 1983. They re-form Chic in 1992 with new vocalists Sylver Logan Sharp and Jenn Thomas, and release Chic-ism. Edwards dies in Tokyo in 1996 during a tour of Japan. Rodgers continues to tour with a later version of Chic and releases Live at the Budokan, a recording of Edwards’ final performance with the band, in 1999.

Chic receives multiple nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Rodgers continues to perform as CHIC ft. Nile Rodgers. The group appears at major festivals and television events, including Glastonbury, the iTunes Festival in London, the X Factor live show for Disco week, the Essence Festival and Bestival.

Related projects and collaborations

Rodgers’ work with Daft Punk on Random Access Memories includes “Get Lucky”, which wins a Grammy for Record of the Year. He also begins a fight with prostate cancer in 2010 and later says he is cancer free. His autobiography, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny, is published in 2011.