A Word with Nile Rodgers
A superstar onstage and in the studio, Nile Rodgers forever changed the sound of music and introduced a whole new groove to the world when Chic’s first single, “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” exploded onto the dancefloor in 1977. But his artistic innovation and influence started years before he led the disco era and continues to drive hits to this very day. In a career that started out with Sesame Street (Nile was a musician in the touring band) and The Apollo Theatre (backing some of the greatest singers to ever grace the fabled theatre’s stage) and is still on fire (he took home a GRAMMY Award in 2015 with Daft Punk), Nile’s impact on music has spanned nearly 50 years and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, when we spoke with him last week, he was working on a new Chic album, the first from the group in 24 years.
“10 minutes ago, I just got off the phone with an artist that wants to be on it,” Nile says excitedly about the new Chic album. “I can’t share with you the plan of how it’s going to come out and everybody that’s on it yet, but I’ll just say that it’s really, really exciting.” And in just that one sentence, Nile Rodgers reveals his stunning modesty, something rarely seen in a person who bears the talent and a career like his. All fans know that a new Chic album is an exciting prospect, no matter who the guest artists may be.
“It’s a Chic album in the truest sense of the word,” he explains. “It’s all about dance music or music that makes you want to move, makes you feel emotional and hopefully happy.” He pauses for a moment to recount a story from 1980 when he was working on the groundbreaking album, “Diana,” with Diana Ross. “When we finished doing the album, Berry Gordy called us up and said, ‘Hey guys, this is not a Diana Ross album.’ I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Gordy, but it’s not an old Diana Ross album, it’s a new Diana Ross album,’ and he went, ‘Oh, okay.’ So along those lines, it’s not an old Chic album, it’s a new Chic album.” Rodgers describes with a smile. “But it’s Chic.”
“At this point in my life, there’s nothing that motivates me more than doing a record that makes me feel like everybody who’s been a part of this organization would be proud of it from the moment the needle drops on the record. That shows how old I am,” he adds with a laugh. “Every album that I cut, I make a vinyl copy and go listen to it in my basement on the record player.”
The organization Rodgers wants to make proud is an incredible collection of artists he’s worked with throughout his career, a list that is filled with GRAMMY winners and icons, musical geniuses and talent with no bounds. “We think of Chic as this concept that we call the Chic Organization,” he explains. “And what the Chic Organization is responsible for is not just songs by the band Chic; it’s Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran and even now Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams and all the people that I’ve made hit records with.”
For lucky Soul Train Cruise guests, Chic will pay homage to this Organization when they perform onboard, literally rocking the boat with songs that Rodgers topped the charts with in Chic and many of the other stars that he has worked alongside. “I don’t think we play a song in our show that wasn’t at least Top 5 - it’s almost all Number One records.” Audiences will be stunned by the setlist, which features Chic’s massive hits, “Le Freak,” “I Want Your Love,” “Good Times,” “Everybody Dance” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” along with songs Rodgers has developed with artists as varied as Pharrell andSister Sledge . “When our show starts, it actually starts with the very first composition I ever wrote for Chic and it then it sort of takes you through my life. And honestly, I say that with a massive amount of humility because I never had a clue that that’s what would wind up happening,” he adds with genuine modesty, “that I’d wind up writing so many hit records. I just wanted to, I didn’t actually know that I could. I just hoped I could.”
Chic songs insist that you dance, and dance with a groove like no other band can get you moving to. But what most fans don’t realize is that underneath the irresistible beats are thoughtfully planted philosophical roots. “When we conceived Chic, there was a new feeling of optimism in America,” he recalls. “Black people were now starting to work on Wall Street. We had this upwardly mobile sense that was going around the community. They had just coined the term ‘supermodel’ so people like Beverly Johnson and Iman were popular; they were sort of like iconic dream figures because up until that time you wouldn’t think in terms of a black model being on the cover of Vogue.” Chic’s first album cover reflects this sentiment, with model Alva Chinn on the cover. “So we bought into that concept hook, line and sinker even though we were totally poor. We didn’t have any money. I could barely pay rent and luckily I lived in an apartment that rent was so cheap that every month I could scrape it together. Chic has always been a concept of looking toward the future and a future that was very rosy and optimistic.”
Doing a large part to drive the optimism of that era was Soul Train. “For all musicians, but certainly for black musicians in particular, getting a chance to get on Soul Train was probably one of the biggest dreams that you could ever imagine,” Rodgers declares before sharing a favorite memory about Soul Train founder Don Cornelius. “Nobody knows this story, but I was once headed to Las Vegas and Don Cornelius happened to be at the airport and he was getting on the same plane that I was getting on. I asked him if he would come to our show and announce us the same way he would announce it on the television show.” “Now this was a big no-no because I was going to Vegas to represent a television syndicator that did not syndicate Soul Train so it was like Coke and Pepsi,” he says with a laugh, “and Don did it. It was amazing and when people saw him come out onstage and introduce Chic, it was the most amazing thing ever. It was like we re-created a feeling that I never thought would happen again. When we first played Soul Train, it was amazing. When we played it again, it was amazing. And now we get to play the cruise and give people some of those feelings that we’ve had.”
There was no possible way the Soul Train Cruise producers were going to let another year go by without, literally – as it turns out locking Chic into a promise to perform onboard. “I was at the Soul Train Awards a couple of years ago and I was trying to leave the building and I didn’t know this but the Soul Train Cruise owners actually had me locked in the building.” With vivid detail, Rodgers describes his confusion in not being able to leave the arena after he presented an award during the show. “After the Soul Train Awards were over, I was trying to leave the building and none of the guards would let me leave and I kept thinking, ‘What did I do wrong?’ So finally one of the security guards walked me up to a suite and that’s when everybody started talking to me about the Soul Train Cruise. I said I’d love to do it and here we are about to make it happen. And I really can’t wait because it represents something that’s a real thing to me. Soul Train is like a reaffirmation of all of the things that we believed in when we started Chic. Of upward mobility, of progress and moving forward and coming from a place where you’re just starting out. So hopefully I’ll get to walk out onstage and maybe explain to the audience, or even just show them through the music, how you can have this idealistic dream and it could all come true. I can’t wait.”
Neither can we, Nile. Neither can we.