Chic (band)
Encyclopedia
Chic was an African American disco
and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitar
ist Nile Rodgers
and bassist
Bernard Edwards
. It is known best for its commercially successful disco
songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
" (1977), "Everybody Dance
" (1977), "Le Freak
" (1978), "I Want Your Love" (1978), "Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979).
named The Boys and later The Big Apple Band, playing numerous gigs around New York City. Despite interest in their demos, they never got a record contract.
During 1977, Edwards and Rodgers had former LaBelle
and Ecstasy, Passion, & Pain drummer Tony Thompson
join the band, performing as a trio doing cover versions at various gigs. Thompson recommended keyboardist Raymond Jones, 19, to join the band, they had worked together with the hit group Ecstasy, Passion & Pain previously. Needing a singer to become a full band, they engaged Norma Jean Wright
by an agreement permitting her to have a solo career in addition to her work for the band. Using a young recording engineer Bob Clearmountain
, they created a demonstration tape
which included the tracks "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
" and "Everybody Dance
". As a result, Chic became a support act.
Now contracted with Atlantic Records
company, during 1977 they released the self-titled debut album Chic
which was an extension of the demonstration tape. But Edwards and Rogers were now convinced that to replicate the bands recording studio sound live with sound and visuals, they needed to add another female singer to front the band. Wright suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member during late winter/early spring of 1978.
Soon after the sessions ended for its debut album, the band members began to work on Wright's self-titled debut solo album Norma Jean
, released during 1978. This album contained the successful nightclub song "Saturday." To facilitate Wright's solo career, the band had agreed to contract her with a separate record company. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Wright to end her relationship with the band during mid-1978, but not before she participated with the sessions for Chic-produced Sister Sledge
album We Are Family. She was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had done back-up vocals on the band’s debut album. For the Sister Sledge project, Edwards and Rogers wrote and produced "He's the Greatest Dancer" (originally intended to be a Chic song) in exchange for "I Want Your Love" (intended originally to be performed by Sister Sledge).
, containing one of its best-known tracks, "Le Freak
." Created from a jam session in Edwards's apartment
, after they had failed on New Years Eve of 1977 to meet with Grace Jones
at New York's exclusive nightclub Studio 54
. The original refrain "Aaa, fuck off", intended for the doormen of Studio 54, was replaced that night with "Aaa, freak out" after trying a version with "Aaa, freak off." The resultant single was a great success, scoring #1 on the US charts and selling more than 6 million copies. It was the best selling single album ever of Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music, until replaced by Madonna
's Vogue during 1990.
The next year, the group released the Risqué album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most influential songs of the era. The track was the basis of Grandmaster Flash
's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop
music single, "Rapper's Delight
", and it has been sampled since by many dance and hip-hop acts, as well as being the inspiration for Queen
's "Another One Bites the Dust
", Blondie
's "Rapture
", and the bass line for Daft Punk
"Around the World".
At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and Rhythm & Blues records for various artists, including Sister Sledge
's albums We Are Family (1979) and Love Somebody Today
(1980); Sheila and B. Devotion
's "Spacer"; Diana Ross
's 1980 album Diana
, which included the successful singles "Upside Down", "I'm Coming Out" and "My Old Piano"; Carly Simon
's "Why" (from 1982 soundtrack Soup For One
); and Debbie Harry
's debut solo album KooKoo
.
Chic also helped introduce the world to a young vocalist named Luther Vandross
, who sang for several of Chic's albums.
for Diana Ross
during 1980, with Rodgers and Edwards producing. It yielded the number-one single "Upside Down
" and the top ten song "I'm Coming Out
." "My Old Piano" was also a top ten single for Ross in the United Kingdom
. Rodgers co-produced David Bowie
's 1983 album Let's Dance and was also responsible largely for the early success of Madonna
during 1984 with her Like a Virgin
album, which again reunited Rodgers, Thompson, and Edwards, with keyboardist Rob Sabino and collaborators Jeff Bova and Jimmy Bralower. During 1984, Rodgers was involved with a project of the band The Honeydrippers
and helped produce that band's only EP. Thompson and Edwards worked with the group Power Station
on its successful 1985 album, as well as Power Station main singer Robert Palmer's solo success Riptide
that same year, both of which Edwards produced. During 1986, Rodgers produced the fourth album from Duran Duran
, Notorious. Bernard Edwards later gave Duran Duran's bassist John Taylor the bass guitar he'd played during on many of Chic's songs. Taylor had long been a Chic fan, his style influenced greatly by Edwards' playing.
After a 1989 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards, Paul Shaffer
, and Anton Fig
played old Chic songs, Rodgers and Edwards organized a reunion of the old band. They recorded new material—- a single, "Chic Mystique
" (remixed by Masters at Work
) and subsequent album Chic-Ism
, both of which charted—- and played live all over the world, to great audience and critical acclaim.
During 1996, Rodgers was honored as the Top Producer in the World in Billboard Magazine, and was named a JT Super Producer. That year, he performed with Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood
, Simon Le Bon
, and Slash
in a series of commemorative concerts in Japan. His longtime musical partner Edwards died of pneumonia
at age 43 during the trip on April 18, 1996. His final performance was recorded and released as Live at the Budokan
. Chic continued to tour with new musicians.
Thompson died of kidney cancer on November 12, 2003 at age 48.
, Good Times: The Very Best of the Hits & the Remixes
, A Night in Amsterdam
, and The Definitive Groove Collection
. A box set, Nile Rodgers Presents The Chic Organisation, Vol.1: Savoir Faire was released in 2010, covering Rodgers and Edwards' productions both for Chic and for other artists up to the original break-up of the partnership in 1983.
Chic has been nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
seven times: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and again for 2011. Rodgers and Chic continue to perform to major audiences worldwide.
In October, 2010 Nile Rodgers was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, for which he has undergone radical, life-saving surgery. He is currently recovering from this operation.
, which had a series of successes during the early 1980s.
In addition to refining a relatively minimalist disco sound, Chic helped to inspire other artists to create their own sound. For example, The Sugarhill Gang
used "Good Times" as the basis for its success "Rapper's Delight
", which helped initiate the hip hop recorded music format as we know today. Later that year, Vaughn Mason and Crew sampled "Good Times" on its song "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll." "Good Times" was used also by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
on its hit "..On the Wheels of Steel," which was used in the end sequence of the first hip-hop movie, Wild Style
, from 1982. Blondie
's 1980 US number-one song "Rapture
" was not only influenced by "Good Times" but was a direct tribute to Chic, and main singer Deborah Harry
's 1981 debut solo album Koo Koo
was produced by Edwards and Rodgers.
Chic was cited as an influence by the majority of successful bands from Great Britain during the 1980s. John Taylor, the bassist from Duran Duran
claims the bass part of their top 10 single "Rio
" was influenced by Edwards' work with Chic. Even Johnny Marr
of The Smiths
has cited the group as a formative influence. Rodgers guitar work has been so emulated as to become commonplace, and Edwards' lyrical bass is also much-cited in music circles, as is Thompson's recorded drumwork. Queen
got the inspiration for its single "Another One Bites the Dust
" from Bernard Edwards' familiar bass guitar riff on "Good Times" after John Deacon
met the band in The Power Station
recording studio. (Source: "Everybody Dance: Chic and the Politics of Disco")
The French duo Modjo
used the guitar sample from Chic's "Soup for one" as the basic theme for its most famous single Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
.
On September 19, 2005, the group was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame
ceremony in New York when they were inducted in three categories: 1) Artist Inductees, 2) Record Inductees for "Good Times," and 3) Producers Inductees, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
Currently (2011), the song "Funny Bone" can be heard quite often as the bumper music on the
Rush Limbaugh show daily. Bumper music is snippets of songs to segue commercial slots.
Chic have been nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
.
The Chic Strings:
Additional personnel:
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
and bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
. It is known best for its commercially successful disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
"Dance, Dance, Dance " is a 1977 disco song recorded by Chic. It was the group's first hit, reaching #6 on both the pop and R&B charts and reached #1 on the dance play charts. Luther Vandross provided backup vocals...
" (1977), "Everybody Dance
Everybody Dance (song)
"Everybody Dance" is the second single from the first album Chic by the Chic. It features Norma Jean Wright on lead vocals. Luther Vandross appears on background vocals...
" (1977), "Le Freak
Le Freak
"Le Freak" is a successful 1978 disco song by the disco band Chic. It was the band's third single album and first Billboard Hot 100 and soul music number-one song. Along with the tracks, "I Want Your Love" and "Chic Cheer", "Le Freak" scored number one on the disco charts for seven weeks...
" (1978), "I Want Your Love" (1978), "Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979).
1970–1978: Origins and early singers
Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met during 1970, as fellow session musicians working in the New York City area. They formed a rock bandRock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
named The Boys and later The Big Apple Band, playing numerous gigs around New York City. Despite interest in their demos, they never got a record contract.
During 1977, Edwards and Rodgers had former LaBelle
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
and Ecstasy, Passion, & Pain drummer Tony Thompson
Tony Thompson
Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
join the band, performing as a trio doing cover versions at various gigs. Thompson recommended keyboardist Raymond Jones, 19, to join the band, they had worked together with the hit group Ecstasy, Passion & Pain previously. Needing a singer to become a full band, they engaged Norma Jean Wright
Norma Jean Wright
Norma Jean Wright was the lead vocalist of the soul, R&B and disco group Chic, from 1977 to 1978. Before joining Chic in 1977, she sang in the female trio, the Topettes, and toured for a short time with The Spinners...
by an agreement permitting her to have a solo career in addition to her work for the band. Using a young recording engineer Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen , The Rolling Stones , Bryan Adams , Robbie Williams Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He...
, they created a demonstration tape
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
which included the tracks "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
"Dance, Dance, Dance " is a 1977 disco song recorded by Chic. It was the group's first hit, reaching #6 on both the pop and R&B charts and reached #1 on the dance play charts. Luther Vandross provided backup vocals...
" and "Everybody Dance
Everybody Dance (song)
"Everybody Dance" is the second single from the first album Chic by the Chic. It features Norma Jean Wright on lead vocals. Luther Vandross appears on background vocals...
". As a result, Chic became a support act.
Now contracted with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
company, during 1977 they released the self-titled debut album Chic
Chic (album)
Chic is the debut album by American R&B band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1977. It includes the hit singles "Dance, Dance, Dance " - originally released on label Buddha Records - and "Everybody Dance"...
which was an extension of the demonstration tape. But Edwards and Rogers were now convinced that to replicate the bands recording studio sound live with sound and visuals, they needed to add another female singer to front the band. Wright suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member during late winter/early spring of 1978.
Soon after the sessions ended for its debut album, the band members began to work on Wright's self-titled debut solo album Norma Jean
Norma Jean (album)
Norma Jean is the debut solo studio album by American R&B singer Norma Jean Wright, released on Bearsville Records in 1978. The album was produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of the band Chic, and was the project directly following the band's successful selftitled debut album Chic, which...
, released during 1978. This album contained the successful nightclub song "Saturday." To facilitate Wright's solo career, the band had agreed to contract her with a separate record company. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Wright to end her relationship with the band during mid-1978, but not before she participated with the sessions for Chic-produced Sister Sledge
Sister Sledge
Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...
album We Are Family. She was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had done back-up vocals on the band’s debut album. For the Sister Sledge project, Edwards and Rogers wrote and produced "He's the Greatest Dancer" (originally intended to be a Chic song) in exchange for "I Want Your Love" (intended originally to be performed by Sister Sledge).
1978–1979: "Le Freak" and "Good Times"
During late 1978, the band released the album C'est ChicC'est Chic
C'est Chic is the second studio album by American R&B band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1978. C'est Chic includes the band's classic hit "Le Freak" which topped the US Hot 100 chart, US R&B, and US Club Play in October 1978, selling six million copies in the US alone and is to date both...
, containing one of its best-known tracks, "Le Freak
Le Freak
"Le Freak" is a successful 1978 disco song by the disco band Chic. It was the band's third single album and first Billboard Hot 100 and soul music number-one song. Along with the tracks, "I Want Your Love" and "Chic Cheer", "Le Freak" scored number one on the disco charts for seven weeks...
." Created from a jam session in Edwards's apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
, after they had failed on New Years Eve of 1977 to meet with Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
at New York's exclusive nightclub Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
. The original refrain "Aaa, fuck off", intended for the doormen of Studio 54, was replaced that night with "Aaa, freak out" after trying a version with "Aaa, freak off." The resultant single was a great success, scoring #1 on the US charts and selling more than 6 million copies. It was the best selling single album ever of Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music, until replaced by Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's Vogue during 1990.
The next year, the group released the Risqué album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most influential songs of the era. The track was the basis of Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash
Joseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....
's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
music single, "Rapper's Delight
Rapper's Delight
"Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 single by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang. While it was not the first single to feature rapping, it is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop in the United States and around the world. The song's opening lyric "I said a hip hop, a...
", and it has been sampled since by many dance and hip-hop acts, as well as being the inspiration for Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's "Another One Bites the Dust
Another One Bites the Dust
"Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the English rock band Queen. Written by bass guitarist John Deacon, the song featured on the group's eighth studio album The Game . The song was a worldwide hit, charting number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100, number two on the R&B charts and...
", Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
's "Rapture
Rapture (song)
"Rapture" is a single by the American new wave band Blondie. It was released in January 1981 and was the second and final song to be released from the band's 1980 top 10 album Autoamerican, the first being "The Tide Is High", which had topped the chart in the US and UK. "Rapture" went on to reach...
", and the bass line for Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...
"Around the World".
At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and Rhythm & Blues records for various artists, including Sister Sledge
Sister Sledge
Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...
's albums We Are Family (1979) and Love Somebody Today
Love Somebody Today
Love Somebody Today is a 1980 album by Sister Sledge. The album which, just like 1979's highly successful We Are Family, was both written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic and includes three due to the anti-disco backlash largely overlooked single releases; "Got To...
(1980); Sheila and B. Devotion
Sheila (and) B. Devotion
Sheila & B. Devotion was a disco group fronted by French singer Sheila between 1977 and 1980. This formation briefly reached popularity in Europe and to a lesser extent in the US club circuit during the disco era...
's "Spacer"; Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
's 1980 album Diana
Diana (album)
diana is a 1980 album by American R&B and soul singer Diana Ross, released by Motown. Her 11th studio album, it was, and still is, the biggest-selling studio collection of Ross' career.-Conception:...
, which included the successful singles "Upside Down", "I'm Coming Out" and "My Old Piano"; Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
's "Why" (from 1982 soundtrack Soup For One
Soup For One (film)
Soup For One is a 1982 sexually-themed romantic comedy that was directed and written by Jonathan Kaufer and produced by Marvin Worth. The R-rated film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures...
); and Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
's debut solo album KooKoo
Kookoo
Kookoo is a Persian dish similar to the Italian dish frittata or an open-faced omelet. Iranians make many different types of Kookoos with a variety of flavorings...
.
Chic also helped introduce the world to a young vocalist named Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
, who sang for several of Chic's albums.
1980s–1990s: Disbanding, other projects, a brief reunion
After the anti-disco reaction, the band struggled to obtain both airplay and sales, and during the early 1980s they disbanded. Rodgers and Edwards produced records for a variety of artists together and separately. The Chic rhythm section of Rodgers, Edwards, and Thompson provided instrumental back-up for the successful album DianaDiana (album)
diana is a 1980 album by American R&B and soul singer Diana Ross, released by Motown. Her 11th studio album, it was, and still is, the biggest-selling studio collection of Ross' career.-Conception:...
for Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
during 1980, with Rodgers and Edwards producing. It yielded the number-one single "Upside Down
Upside Down
"Upside Down" is a hit song by Diana Ross released on the Motown label. It was the first single taken from her 1980 album diana and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 6, 1980. It also hit number one on the Billboard Disco/Dance and R&B charts...
" and the top ten song "I'm Coming Out
I'm Coming Out
"I'm Coming Out" is a hit single released by Motown singer Diana Ross in 1980, written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers for her album diana .-Background:...
." "My Old Piano" was also a top ten single for Ross in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Rodgers co-produced David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's 1983 album Let's Dance and was also responsible largely for the early success of Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
during 1984 with her Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records released a remastered version with two bonus...
album, which again reunited Rodgers, Thompson, and Edwards, with keyboardist Rob Sabino and collaborators Jeff Bova and Jimmy Bralower. During 1984, Rodgers was involved with a project of the band The Honeydrippers
The Honeydrippers
The Honeydrippers was a rock band of the 1980s. Former Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant formed the group in 1981 to satisfy his long-time goal in having a rock band with a heavy R&B basis. Formed originally in Worcestershire, the band went on to record an EP in the US...
and helped produce that band's only EP. Thompson and Edwards worked with the group Power Station
Power Station (band)
Power Station was a 1980s supergroup made up of singer Robert Palmer, former Chic drummer Tony Thompson, and Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy Taylor . Bernard Edwards, also of Chic, was involved on the studio side as recording producer. For a short time he also functioned as Power...
on its successful 1985 album, as well as Power Station main singer Robert Palmer's solo success Riptide
Riptide (album)
Riptide is the ninth solo album by the British singer Robert Palmer, released in November 1985. It featured his hit single "Addicted to Love" which reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986, helped by a memorable music video...
that same year, both of which Edwards produced. During 1986, Rodgers produced the fourth album from Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, Notorious. Bernard Edwards later gave Duran Duran's bassist John Taylor the bass guitar he'd played during on many of Chic's songs. Taylor had long been a Chic fan, his style influenced greatly by Edwards' playing.
After a 1989 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards, Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
, and Anton Fig
Anton Fig
Anton Fig , known as "The Thunder from Down Under" is a session drummer, noted for his work in David Letterman's house band, the CBS Orchestra. Letterman often refers to Fig as "Anton Zip"or "Buddy Rich Jr."...
played old Chic songs, Rodgers and Edwards organized a reunion of the old band. They recorded new material—- a single, "Chic Mystique
Chic Mystique
"Chic Mystique" is a 1992 song recorded by American disco and R&B act Chic. Written and produced by guitarist Nile Rodgers, it was the second single from the album Chic-Ism and was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play in the U.S...
" (remixed by Masters at Work
Masters At Work
Masters at Work is the house/garage production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. They first worked together using the name, which had been given to them by mutual friend Todd Terry , in 1990...
) and subsequent album Chic-Ism
Chic-Ism
Chic-Ism is the eighth studio album by American R&B band Chic, released on the WEA label in 1992. It is the final Chic album of original material.The album includes singles "Chic Mystique" and "Your Love"...
, both of which charted—- and played live all over the world, to great audience and critical acclaim.
During 1996, Rodgers was honored as the Top Producer in the World in Billboard Magazine, and was named a JT Super Producer. That year, he performed with Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
, Simon Le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...
, and Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
in a series of commemorative concerts in Japan. His longtime musical partner Edwards died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
at age 43 during the trip on April 18, 1996. His final performance was recorded and released as Live at the Budokan
Live at the Budokan (Chic)
Live at The Budokan is a live album by American R&B band Chic, released on Nile Rodgers' label Sumthing Else in 1999. The album contains the concert at Tokyo's Budokan on April 17, 1996 that was to be the very last performance by fellow Chic member Bernard Edwards who died the following day...
. Chic continued to tour with new musicians.
Thompson died of kidney cancer on November 12, 2003 at age 48.
2000-present: Compilations, Nominations, and Venues
Chic has released four new albums during the 2000s (3 compilations, 1 live album): The Very Best of ChicThe Very Best of Chic
The Very Best of Chic is a compilation album of recordings by American R&B band Chic, released by Rhino Records/Warner Music in 2000. The compilation covers the band's hits and best-known album tracks recorded between the years 1977 and 1982....
, Good Times: The Very Best of the Hits & the Remixes
Good Times: The Very Best of the Hits & the Remixes
Good Times: The Very Best of the Hits & the Remixes is a 2 CD compilation album of recordings by American R&B bands Chic and Sister Sledge, released by Warner Music in 2005, an expanded re-release of 1999's single-disc compilation The Very Best of Chic & Sister Sledge...
, A Night in Amsterdam
A Night in Amsterdam
A Night in Amsterdam is a CD/DVD live album by American R&B band Chic, released in 2006.The album was recorded at Amsterdam's Paradiso on July 17, 2005 and features Nile Rodgers and the current formation of the band performing Chic's best known songs as well as tracks from the albums written and...
, and The Definitive Groove Collection
The Definitive Groove Collection
The Definitive Groove Collection is a compilation album of recordings by American R&B band Chic, released by Rhino Records/Warner Music in 2006...
. A box set, Nile Rodgers Presents The Chic Organisation, Vol.1: Savoir Faire was released in 2010, covering Rodgers and Edwards' productions both for Chic and for other artists up to the original break-up of the partnership in 1983.
Chic has been nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
seven times: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and again for 2011. Rodgers and Chic continue to perform to major audiences worldwide.
In October, 2010 Nile Rodgers was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, for which he has undergone radical, life-saving surgery. He is currently recovering from this operation.
Influences and awards
Chic influenced the vocal and music style of the Italian-American disco band ChangeChange (band)
Change was an Italian-American post-disco group formed in Bologna, Italy in 1979 by businessman and executive producer Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi...
, which had a series of successes during the early 1980s.
In addition to refining a relatively minimalist disco sound, Chic helped to inspire other artists to create their own sound. For example, The Sugarhill Gang
The Sugarhill Gang
The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group, known mostly for their 1979 hit, "Rapper's Delight", the first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. The song uses the instrumental track from the classic hit "Good Times" by Chic as its foundation....
used "Good Times" as the basis for its success "Rapper's Delight
Rapper's Delight
"Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 single by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang. While it was not the first single to feature rapping, it is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop in the United States and around the world. The song's opening lyric "I said a hip hop, a...
", which helped initiate the hip hop recorded music format as we know today. Later that year, Vaughn Mason and Crew sampled "Good Times" on its song "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll." "Good Times" was used also by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. Composed of one DJ and five rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in...
on its hit "..On the Wheels of Steel," which was used in the end sequence of the first hip-hop movie, Wild Style
Wild Style
Wild Style is a 1983 hip hop film produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically in 1983 by First Run Features and later re-released for home video by Rhino Home Video, it is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture...
, from 1982. Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
's 1980 US number-one song "Rapture
Rapture (song)
"Rapture" is a single by the American new wave band Blondie. It was released in January 1981 and was the second and final song to be released from the band's 1980 top 10 album Autoamerican, the first being "The Tide Is High", which had topped the chart in the US and UK. "Rapture" went on to reach...
" was not only influenced by "Good Times" but was a direct tribute to Chic, and main singer Deborah Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
's 1981 debut solo album Koo Koo
Koo Koo
KooKoo is the debut solo album by the American singer Debbie Harry, released in 1981.-Album information:KooKoo was made while Harry and boyfriend Chris Stein were taking a year long break from the band Blondie...
was produced by Edwards and Rodgers.
Chic was cited as an influence by the majority of successful bands from Great Britain during the 1980s. John Taylor, the bassist from Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
claims the bass part of their top 10 single "Rio
Rio (song)
"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran, released on 1 November 1982.The song was the fourth, final, and title single lifted from the band's album of the same name, and was edited for its release...
" was influenced by Edwards' work with Chic. Even Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
has cited the group as a formative influence. Rodgers guitar work has been so emulated as to become commonplace, and Edwards' lyrical bass is also much-cited in music circles, as is Thompson's recorded drumwork. Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
got the inspiration for its single "Another One Bites the Dust
Another One Bites the Dust
"Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the English rock band Queen. Written by bass guitarist John Deacon, the song featured on the group's eighth studio album The Game . The song was a worldwide hit, charting number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100, number two on the R&B charts and...
" from Bernard Edwards' familiar bass guitar riff on "Good Times" after John Deacon
John Deacon
John Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
met the band in The Power Station
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...
recording studio. (Source: "Everybody Dance: Chic and the Politics of Disco")
The French duo Modjo
Modjo
Modjo was a French house/pop musical duo made up of producer Romain Tranchart and vocalist Yann Destagnol . It had major success with its hit single "Lady ".-Biography:...
used the guitar sample from Chic's "Soup for one" as the basic theme for its most famous single Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
"Lady " is the debut single by French house duo Modjo, written and performed by producer Romain Tranchart and vocalist Yann Destagnol and released in 2000. A house music song, it features a guitar sample of "Soup for One" performed by Chic, for which Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards are also...
.
On September 19, 2005, the group was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame
Dance Music Hall of Fame
The Dance Music Hall of Fame was created in 2003 when music industry veteran John Parker thought that something needed to be done to honor the creators and innovators of dance music...
ceremony in New York when they were inducted in three categories: 1) Artist Inductees, 2) Record Inductees for "Good Times," and 3) Producers Inductees, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
Currently (2011), the song "Funny Bone" can be heard quite often as the bumper music on the
Rush Limbaugh show daily. Bumper music is snippets of songs to segue commercial slots.
Chic have been nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
.
Line up
Core band:- Bernard EdwardsBernard EdwardsBernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
- bass, vocals - Nile RodgersNile RodgersNile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
- guitar, vocals - Tony ThompsonTony ThompsonAnthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
- drums - Alfa Anderson - lead vocals
- Luci Martin - lead vocals
The Chic Strings:
- Karen Milne
- Marianne Carroll
- Valerie Haywood
- Cheryl Hong
- Karen Karlsrud
- Gene Orloff
Additional personnel:
- Vocals - Fonzi Thornton, Michele Cobbs, Ullanda McCullough, Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
, Jocelyn Brown, Sylver Logan SharpSylver Logan SharpSylver Logan Sharp has been lead vocalist with Nile Rodgers and Chic since the early 1990s and continues to tour with them in 2006.In 2005, her song "All this time", written by Jonathan Peters, became a huge hit in clubs and dance stations in large cities such as WKTU in New York, KNHC in Seattle...
, Jessica Wagner - Keyboards - Richard Hilton, Raymond Jones, Robert SabinoRobert SabinoRobert Sabino is an American rock keyboardist.. , The New York Times He was born and raised in the Bronx...
, Andy Schwartz, Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.Nathaniel Sidney Hardy, Jr. is an American musician, composer, and keyboardist.- Biography :Nathaniel began his career as a band member in Baltimore's, Cherry Hill Junior High School marching band while growing up in the "Projects" of Cherry Hill... - Percussion - Sammy Figueroa
See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
External links
- Chic (band) biography at Billboard Magazine
- Chic (band) biography at Rolling Stone Magazine
- nilerodgers.com - Nile RodgersNile RodgersNile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
' official website - 75 minute audio mix of Chic songs/interviews