‘We Are Family’ singer dies
NEW YORK: Joni Sledge, one of four sisters who sang one of disco’s most enduring songs We Are
Family, has died, a representative said on Saturday. She was 60. The singer died at her home in Arizona on Friday with the cause of death yet to be determined, publi-Biff cist Warren said. “We miss her and hurt for her presence, her radiance and the sincerity with which she loved and embraced life,” a family statement said.
Daughters of two performers, Joni and her sisters — Debbie, Kathy and Kim — grew up in Philadelphia and had moderate success touring in the 1970s with R&B songs.
But the sisters found a major hit in 1979 with We Are
Family, which was written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who had emerged as key figures in the disco craze with their band Chic.
Joni, in an interview last year with The
Guardian, said the sisters were professionally frustrated by the time they made We
Are Family and had considered other careers.
Joni, speaking in 2015 to Women’s Wear Daily, said the group’s hit — with its chorus of “We are family, I got all my sisters with me” — carried a time-tested message of unity.