Nile Rodgers on Working With Michael Jackson: 'We're Weird Guys!'
By David Browne
October 3, 2013 12:20 PM ET
Nile Rodgers performs in London. Burak Cingi/Redferns via Getty Images
In the history of pop second winds, Nile Rodgers may be setting a record. From the mid Seventies through the late Eighties, Rodgers' footprint was all over the charts. First, he was the co-founder of the iconic disco band Chic, the man who co-wrote and played guitar on "Le Freak," "Good Times," and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family." Although Chic disbanded in 1983, Rodgers went on to become one of pop's most ubiquitous producers, helming records by David Bowie (Let's Dance), Madonna (Like a Virgin), and Duran Duran (Notorious) and hits by the Thompson Twins, the B-52s and many more. Drug addiction curtailed Rodgers' life and career in the Nineties, but he's blasted back as EDM's most beloved founding father: in the last year and a half alone, he's worked with Daft Punk ("Get Lucky," "Lose Yourself to Dance") and Avicii ("Lay Me Down") along with David Guetta, Disclosure and other dance producers. Talking with Rolling Stone in his Manhattan apartment, Rodgers clicked through some of the legends and newcomers he's worked with and some of his favorite tales about them.
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Nile Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards crafted some of the definitive soul-disco anthems of the 70's, including "Upside Down," "Good Times," and "He's the Greatest Dancer." Equal parts pop genius and pure magic, CHIC can still pack the dance floor.
Pick up a copy of
Nile Rodgers Presents:
"The CHIC Organization -
UP ALL NIGHT" on
iTunes UK or Amazon.
LIVE on Good Day New York
Catch Nile Rodgers & co. on Good Day New York (FOX5) with hosts Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly, 9:40am EDT - August 5, 2013.
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Nile Rodgers Presents - The CHIC Organization "Up All Night" (Greatest Hits)
The CHIC Organization - Up All Night (The Greatest Hits)
Released on July 1, 2013.
Includes FREE MP3 version of this album.
The double album features a hand-picked selection of tracks from the CHIC Organization including classics from not only CHIC and Sister Sledge, but also Diana Ross, Carly Simon and Debbie Harry.
World's Most Successful G££tar
05/06/2013
by Ellie Ross
IT’S the £1.3billion guitar that continues to earn its owner a fortune.
Funk legend Nile Rodgers is the genius behind disco giants Chic but has also produced and played on some of the biggest-selling albums of all time by artists including Madonna, David Bowie, Duran Duran and Diana Ross.
And on each track he has played his white 1959 Fender Stratocaster, known as The Hitmaker.
The total value of music to flow through the instrument was once valued at $2billion — that’s £1.3billion — and Rodgers has once again proved the instrument is a force to be reckoned with.
He and his trusty Fender provide the riff for Daft Punk’s anthem of the summer Get Lucky, which is top of the UK singles chart for the second week running. Last month the track hit No3, despite being available for just over 24 hours.
Then music site Spotify announced it had become the most streamed song over a 24-hour period in the UK and US in their five-year history.
Rodgers, 60, said he felt “wonderful” about the track’s success, adding: “For it to come together in this fashion is just great.”
Referring to when Chic stormed the charts with Le Freak, he added: “It’s like the summer of ’78 has been duplicated.” French duo Daft Punk wanted to write and record Get Lucky the old-fashioned way.
They went to Electric Lady — the studio designed for Jimi Hendrix in New York — and Rodgers’ Fender was plugged directly into the mixing board.
Rodgers said: “They chose to go the difficult route. They don’t believe in shortcuts. They allowed me just to write and play. Then we chipped away at it. By the end of the night — woah! It’s a smash.”
Rodgers has now sold more than 100MILLION records, having taught himself guitar as a teen to impress a girl.
Get Lucky becomes biggest hit of Daft Punk’s career
05/05/2013
There’s just no stopping this track!
Daft Punk remain firmly locked at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart for a second week as sales of Get Lucky accelerate yet again, shifting a staggering 163,000 copies since last Sunday.
The disco-drenched Get Lucky featuring N.E.R.D’s Pharrell Williams and Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers not only extends its title of the fastest selling single of the year, but in just a little over two weeks the lead single from upcoming album Random Access Memories has notched up UK sales of 369,000, to become the biggest hit of the French duo’s career, overtaking 2000’s club smash One More Time.
Daft Punk "Get Lucky" feat. Pharrell & Nile Rodgers Now on iTunes
1. Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell and Nile Rodgers] :: (4:07)
$1.29 :: View in iTunes
"Random Access Memories" Album due out May 21, 2013
Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” Video Shown At Coachella: Watch Pharrell & Nile Rodgers Jam With The Duo
New Daft Punk music has appeared in the form of a video shown at Coachella festival last night.
The 'Get Lucky' trailer features Pharrell and Nile Rodgers and was aired before Yeah Yeah Yeahs came onstage.
It features the French robots on drums and bass with Pharrell on vocal duties and Rodgers on guitar. It's an expansion of the snippet of music used on the band's website since the start of the campaign promoting their new 'Random Access Memories' album and is the longest amount of audio they've given away so far.
Pharrell looks to be on fine vocal form, providing a super smooth performance ending in the refrain "we're up all night to get lucky" – it's so infectious that it's likely to be the hook that soundtracks the summer.
The video also confirms the list of collaborators that was leaked last week and comes days after it was revealed that the band would premiere the album in the tiny Australian town of Wee Waa.
See article at mixmag.comAnd see a view from the fans seat!
La Roux Prepping Nile Rodgers Inspired Second Album
Former Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers is everywhere at present. First came his illuminating autobiography, which shed light on the excesses of the disco era and his fight against cancer. Then came news of his collaboration with Daft Punk. Now comes word of a new La Roux album, apparently inspired by the great man.
A report in the new issue of Mojo (via FACT) highlights Rodgers' influence on the album, currently being recorded by the duo in a barn in the countryside in England, which singer Elly Jackson describes as having “its own climate. Surrounded by geese and otters.”
There’s no new yet of a title or release date for the new recordings, but if the duo can come up with something half as catchy as the eternally airplayed “Bulletproof,” then they’re likely to strike gold again. The description of the album as being influenced by "rare disco" tends to suggest they will.
Manchester Evening News: Johnny Marr joins his guitar hero Nile Rodgers on stage at Warehouse Project
He might be a musical icon himself but it turns out Johnny Marr still enjoys meeting his heroes.
In fact, the former Smiths guitarist is such a big fan of Nile Rodgers, guitarist and founder of 1970s disco hit machine CHIC, that he named his son after him.
So when Nile came to Manchester at the weekend to talk with DJ Dave Haslam about his recent memoir, Le Freak, and career as musician and producer for the likes of Madonna and Duran Duran, Dave couldn’t resist getting the two legends together.
The pair met backstage at the Zion Arts Centre, Hulme. And it turned out they got on so well that they decided to make a weekend of it – by appearing together on stage the following night.
Johnny joined CHIC during the encore at super cool nightclub The Warehouse Project, in Piccadilly, for a very special rendition of the band’s biggest 1978 hit Le Freak.