Honoring the 15th year anniversary of my former partner Bernard Edwards' death in Tokyo last April

I will be heading to Japan soon. I go every spring to honor Bernard Edwards' memory. He was my long time partner, co-founder of The CHIC Organization LTD, and he died in Japan while performing with me about sixteen years ago.

We were doing a mega gig called JT Super Producer. It was a series of concerts that culminated with a 90 minute TV special. The concept was: they'd honor a music producer by telling his story followed by a live concert with many of the artists the producer had worked with. In 1996, I was that producer and Steve Winwood, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon, Sister Sledge, Slash and CHIC were the featured artists.

During the last of the live concerts Bernard Edwards collapsed on stage. He was revived and continued with the three-hour concert. After the show he went back to his hotel room and died on the couch watching television.

I found his body the next morning when he failed to answer his wake-up call. It's hard to believe that It's Been 16 Years.