Everybody Dance 😊

Chic have been one of the greatest groups around for the past forty years.  Nile Rodgers has been leading the band since they were formed and what fantastic music he has made.

I first recall hearing Chic in 1977 when Dance, Dance, Dance was a hit. It was followed by a succession of great singles such as Everybody Dance, Le Freak, I Want Your Love and the era defining Good Times in 1979.  I had the pleasure of seeing Chic live in the Autumn of 1979 at the Liverpool Empire and they were absolutely fantastic.  Along with The Beatles in Llandudno in Summer 1963, this remains my favourite of all concerts.

Nile had Bernard Edwards on bass and Tony Thompson on drums on stage with him that night as well as many other contributors to what had become known as the Chic Organisation.  The string section of the group made their disco/funk/ pop sound even more unique and people were dancing in the aisles all evening long.

Fast forward a few months and Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was all over the airwaves.  At the time (like Nile Rodgers apparently) I did not appreciate the song.  In fact, Rodgers and Edwards threatened legal action over copyright but settled when they became credited as co-writers.  Again, similar to Nile, over the years the song has grown and grown on me and it is now one of my (and his) favourite songs and of course was instrumental in introducing hip hop to the public at large.

The 1980s saw Nile as one of the decade's top producers with artists as diverse as David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna.  By the time the 1990s was with us, I had lost touch with the popular music scene to some extent, but remember the shock when reading that Bernard Edwards had died of pneumonia following a concert in Japan in 1996.

This century has seen Nile touring with Chic, including two magnificent performances at Glastonbury over recent years.  He has also survived prostrate cancer and contributed to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album.  Nile Rodgers is one of my all time musical heroes and here is the song inspired by Nile and Bernard being refused entry into Studio 54 on New Year’s Eve 1977: