Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers Bio

Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (September 19, 1952), popularly known as Nile Rodgers, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and record producer. He is widely known as the co-founder of disco-funk band, Chic. Hailing from the Lower East Side of New York, Nile practiced his talent as a multi-instrumentalist playing the guitar, the flute and the clarinet. At the age of 19, Nile played as the guitarist for the house band of the Apollo Theatre alongside famous artists such as Aretha Franklin and Funkadelic. Wanting to pursue playing his own music, Rodgers then put together Chic with bass player Bernard Edwards along with drummer Tony Thompson and vocalists Norma Jean Wright and Alfa Anderson. Chic became a commercially successful band producing two platinum albums, ‘C’est Chic’ in 1978 and ‘Risque’ in 1979. They are best known for their singles, ‘Le Freak’, ‘Dance Dance Dance’ and ‘Good Times’. Whilst working with Chic, Nile began to write music for other artists, producing a number of massive hits, such as Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’, Mick Jagger’s ‘She’s the Boss’ and INXS’ ‘Original Some’ to name a few. It was clear that his sound was ressonating the airwaves and thus, Nile produced a pair of solo albums; ‘Adventures in the Land of the Good Grove’ in 1983 and ‘B-Movie Matinee’ in 1985. In 1992, Nile Rodgers reunited with Bernard Edwards to tour with Chic, releasing an album ‘Chic-ism’ with the band in 1992. Nile continued his music career producing with other artists such as Rhino France, releasing a four-disc box set titled ‘The Chic Organization Box Set. Vol 1: Savoir Faire’ as well as Daft Punk, Disclosure and Duran Duran. Nile, along with Bernard Edwards were inducted to the Songwriter Hall of Fame and still continue to make music with Chic and has recently gone on tour with Cher.