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There is nothing you can say about Nile Rodgers that hasn't already been heard by billions of people, via millions of radio airwaves, in thousands of cities, in hundreds of countries. The career of Nile Rodgers is one of the most enduring and prolific in music. Nile 's signature is scrawled across an amazing array of music - from Madonna to Diana Ross , from David Bowie to Eric Clapton .
Nile first picked up a guitar while still in school and there was no stopping the evident talent that quickly emerged. At the age of 19, Nile not only worked for Sesame Street , but was performing nightly as part of the house band for the world renowned Apollo Theatre in Harlem , playing with luminaries such as Aretha Franklin , Parliament Funkadelic , Ben E. King , and The Cadillacs . Pretty amazing for a skinny kid with glasses from New York City , but he wanted more. Nile Rodgers wanted a band of his own.
Once the decision was made, Nile searched for a partner in crime. He soon found him in local boy Bernard Edwards , whose perfectly meticulous bass seamlessly complemented Nile 's precise guitar. The two were confident enough of their synergy to introduce the world to CHIC in 1977.
"Dance, Dance, Dance", the first single off Chic's eponymous début, hit the Top 10 and they never looked back. 1978 yielded their second hit, "Everybody Dance", while a third single, "Le Freak", hit No. 1 and became Warner Brothers' biggest selling single of all time. The dynamic duo of Edwards and Rodgers finished off the year by releasing their second album, C'est Chic , which went directly into the Top 5.
The year 1979 brought the singles "I Want Your Love", "Good Times", and a third CHIC album, Risqué . While they still kept their day job as the front men of CHIC, Nile and Bernard were not content to simply propel their own band to the top. They produced and composed the album We Are Family by Sister Sledge and did the same on Diana , the best selling album by Diana Ross, featuring her smash singles, "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out". And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then surely the Sugarhill Gang's appropriation of the bass line from "Good Times" as the bass line for 1980s seminal rap song "Rapper's Delight" is an outstanding tribute.
Though the ‘70s embraced the R&B funk of CHIC, it was the ‘80s that secured Nile 's place in music history. While forever bonded, Nile branched away from Bernard in the early ‘80s to collaborate with David Bowie . Their partnership may have raised more than a few eyebrows, but it offered music lovers Let's Dance , the biggest selling record in Bowie's career, and the hits "China Girl", "Modern Love", and "Let's Dance".
With the success of Let's Dance, Nile proved an R&B guy could produce pop and rock. He followed it up by working with a girl from Michigan named Madonna , on a little record called Like A Virgin , which went on to sell 14 million copies in the United States alone. Nile then produced Duran Duran's "The Reflex" single, which stayed at No. 1 for 15 weeks...
more: NileRodgers.com..[if !IE]
