The co-founder of the Chic group looked back on his career and his working method at the microphone of BFMTV, before a mini French tour.
We owe him some of the most emblematic titles of the 1970s and 1980s. Nile Rodgers, American disco legend, looked back on his extraordinary career this Thursday, June 20, at the microphone of BFMTV.
Author, composer and guitarist, the musician signed We Are Family by Sister Sledge, Upside Down by Diana Ross, Let’s Dance by David Bowie, Like a Virgin by Madonna… not to mention the titles of her own group Chic, such as Good Timeswhich still resonate years later.
“I always write about something that’s not fiction,” he explains. “Of course, there are imaginary elements, to tell a story, but there is always an undertone of reality.”
Cultivated Francophilia
Far from sticking to American artists, Nile Rodgers has also collaborated with French music stars. Starting with Sheila, who owes him one of the most emblematic titles in her discography: Spacer.
Nile Rodgers thought of this proximity to France when he created Chic and has cultivated it throughout his career. With the aim of circumventing the racist stereotypes that his group, composed exclusively of African-Americans, would inevitably be confronted with.
“We called ourselves Chic because of racism in the United States,” he explains. “At the time, if you could think that this black group was French, it became magical.
“So I made records with Étienne Daho, Claude Nougaro, Sheila, Christine and the Queens… France is part of who we are.”
And France, Nile Rodgers and his group will travel there with a mini-French tour this summer. Nile Rodgers & Chic will perform at the Zénith in Paris on June 26, July 17 at the Seine musicale, July 21 at the Guitare en scene festival (Haute-Savoie) and the next day at the Campo Santo festival in Perpignan.
