Friday, March 29, 2024

More Music from Coming to America

Walking on Planet C

More Music from Coming to America


"Coming to America" poster in German

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'm in Hamburg with the CHIC girls getting ready for a month of tour dates across Germany. We'll be touring with Seal, Alyson Moyet and Stanfour for Night of the Proms. I'll also be bouncing back to the UK promoting my memoir "Le Freak."

The past few days I've been sharing videos inspired by surprise messages from John Landis. He's directed many notable films, including Eddie Murphy's "Coming to America" which was my first big orchestral film score.

It's really great to see the impression this film has made on pop-culture and I detail the experience of creating the music for it in my memoir.

The very end of my book takes place the day before Thanksgiving, last year. I had just been diagnosed with very aggressive cancer and was headed to Las Vegas for my family's yearly gathering. You can read about that in my memoir, too.

Today, I am very thankful for my family and friends all around the world. I'm also thankful for being able to share with all of you More Music from Coming to America.

 


In this behind-the-scenes video, I'm conducting the orchestra for the very end of the "King's Motorcade" movement. This composition of mine was also featured in another big Hollywood film, "Drumline" and was performed by the protagonist marching band.


Here's the finished scene with my score


This is "King's Motorcade" in another Hollywood blockbuster, "Drumline"

 

Le Freak:
An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny
Written by Nile Rodgers

Category: Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Popular
Format: eBook, 336 pages
On Sale: October 2011
Price: $ 12.99
ISBN: 978-0-679-64403-3 (0-679-64403-2)

Available as a hardcover and eBook.

You will hear a Nile Rodgers song today. It will make you happy.

Today's pop music—genre-crossing, gender-bending, racially mixed, visually stylish, and dominated by dance music with global appeal—is the world that Nile Rodgers created. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote and produced the songs that defined that era and everything that came after: "Le Freak," "Good Times," "We Are Family," "Like a Virgin," "Modern Love," "I'm Coming Out," "The Reflex," "Rapper's Delight." Aside from his own band, Chic, he worked with everyone from Diana Ross and Madonna to David Bowie and Duran Duran (not to mention Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Prince, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Grace Jones, Bryan Ferry, INXS, and the B-52's), transforming their music, selling millions of records, and redefining what a pop song could be.

Read more about order the memoir here:
"Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny"