Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers is a musician, composer, arranger, guitarist and record producer from New York, United States, born in 1952. He begins his career as a session guitarist in New York, playing with the Sesame Street band as a teenager and later working in the house band at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, where he backs artists including Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Nancy Wilson and Parliament Funkadelic.

Chic and early work

Rodgers meets bassist Bernard Edwards in 1970, and the pair form a rock group called The Boys, later known as the Big Apple Band. After difficulties obtaining a record contract, they turn toward work that leads to Chic. In 1977, Rodgers, Edwards and drummer Tony Thompson form Chic, the funk, R&B and disco band with which Rodgers becomes closely identified. Chic scores numerous top ten hits and helps push disco to wider popularity. Their songs include “Everybody Dance”, “Le Freak” and “Good Times”, all of which become heavily sampled. “Good Times” also plays a major role in the emergence of hip hop through its use in Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”. Chic dissolves in 1983 and later reunites for live performances and new recordings.

Production work and collaborations

As Chic’s reputation grows, Rodgers and Edwards move into production, sometimes working together and sometimes separately. They produce, write and perform with Sister Sledge. In 1980 they produce Diana Ross’s album diana, which includes “Upside Down” and “I’m Coming Out”. In 1981 they work with Deborah Harry on Koo Koo. In 1983 they produce David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and in 1984 they produce Madonna’s Like a Virgin, an album central to her breakthrough and including “Material Girl” and the title track. Rodgers also helps develop Madonna’s career. He produces Duran Duran’s hit single “The Reflex” and later “The Wild Boys”, then produces the group’s Notorious album in 1986. He also produces Sheena Easton’s Do You in 1985 and Grace Jones’s Inside Story in 1987. In later years he contributes to projects involving Duran Duran members and to Wu-Tang Clan’s 8 Diagrams.

Other groups and projects

Rodgers forms the short-lived experimental project Outloud in 1987 with French session musician, producer and keyboardist Philippe Saisse. The group releases the album Out Loud on Warner Bros. Records. He also appears in projects associated with The Honeydrippers, Material, NHS Voices, We Are Family Collective, The Chic Strings, Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers and Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes.

Labels, charity work and honours

In 1998, Rodgers founds Sumthing Else Music Works and Sumthing Distribution, the latter becoming a major African-American-owned independent music distribution company in the United States. The label focuses on video game soundtracks, including the Halo series. He also creates the We Are Family Project after the September 11 attacks, re-recording “We Are Family” with more than 200 musicians, celebrities and personalities, and then establishes the We Are Family Foundation in 2002 to support projects promoting mutual respect, understanding and cultural diversity. Rodgers receives a New York Chapter Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award, a Heroes Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and induction into the Dance Music Hall of Fame as a producer in 2005. Chic receives Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominations in 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Later career

Rodgers serves as musical director for a tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegün at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006, where performers include Chic, Robert Plant, Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks and Kid Rock. He also writes “Love Me Sexy” for the film Semi-Pro and takes part in commemorative concerts in Japan with Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood, Simon Le Bon and Slash.