I would never fight with my sisters... I want that to be known
Sister Sledge star Kathy Sledge talks to ALEX GREEN about being a disco pioneer, the genre’s pandemic resurgence and healing her relationship with her siblings
LAST summer Kathy Sledge toured with a newfound energy.
Disco, the music she helped pioneer as one quarter of Sister Sledge, had found a new multigenerational audience, eager for positivity after months of lockdowns. And for the first time in some 20 years, the 62-year-old was able to use the Sister Sledge name following a thaw in the frosty relationship with her sisters.
“Finally, because of some of the madness with the sisters, I was allowed to use the brand,” she explains over a temperamental line from her home in the US.
“It was crazy. For like the past 20 years as a corporation they voted that I was the only sister that couldn’t say I was ‘of’ Sister Sledge or ‘from’ Sister Sledge.”
But characteristically, Kathy is upbeat about the whole affair.
“It was serendipitous for me,” she offers. “Because I started learning how to produce festivals and how to perform in such a way that singing all these hits and using the brand value as well now has just been amazing.
“So this past summer, for the first time I started, I guess you could say, just reinventing.”
Alongside her sisters Debbie, Joni and Kim, youngest sibling Kathy was responsible for some of the biggest hits of the 70s and 80s.
She was the voice behind arguably the group’s most beloved song, We Are Family, as well as favourites such as Thinking Of You and He’s The Greatest Dancer.
Raised in Philadelphia by a father who tap danced on Broadway and an actress mother, the sisters were taught to sing by their grandmother Viola Williams – a former opera singer with links to the civil rights movement. They found some success, but things took off in earnest when they met Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic and released the album We Are Family in 1979.
After becoming an international force, Kathy left in 1989 to become a solo artist and her three sisters continued to perform as Sister Sledge, although she would occasionally join them on stage.
For the last 20 years or so, contractual wranglings have meant she has toured without being able to use the name Sister Sledge. But in the pandemic and following Joni’s death in 2017, things changed.
“Kim actually is my neighbour,” she explains. “We get along – we go and get coffee. She knocked on my door right before the pandemic and she said, quote unquote, ‘I’m sorry we’ve been so mean to you’. And she voted back my rights.
“One thing I would like to clear up. When I say my rights, it gave me the right in the company to vote, because they had taken that away from me.
“Now what I’m trying to do is clear up, because it’s very nebulous out there. I would never fight with my sisters. I want that to be known.
“Yes, I have for lack of better words, fought to be able to sing.
“And I feel like what’s meant for you is meant for you.”
This thaw was always going to prompt suggestions of a reunion, but Kathy remains uncertain.
“We always get asked, ‘Will we do anything together again?’ I feel like people have to understand that we’ve been doing this all of our lives, and it’s very healthy to go to other plateaus.”
We Are Family became an unofficial anthem during the pandemic.
Kim re-recorded the hit to raise money for the World Health Organisation, while Kathy was joined by Nile Rodgers for a rendition during the 2021 Presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden.
So why was disco so important last year?
“It’s almost like a repeat of the 30s when we had the Depression,” she reflects. “Coming out of it everyone was ready to just have a good time.
“It’s definitely people embracing the feel good, if there is such a thing. We’re embracing that feel good feeling. And yes, disco dance music does that. I think that is why.”
Her performances are now attended by multiple generations, something Kathy puts down to the resurgent influence of Sister Sledge’s sound.
“I’m looking at kids that weren’t even born when I sang Thinking Of You or We Are Family,” she laughs. “What’s so cool is they don’t really know what the band brought to the industry. Sister Sledge – we were the first girl band to ever dance full on. After us it was Spice Girls, TLC, you know. But we were one of the first girl bands to to do full choreography.”
The pandemic has seen artists such as Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware revamp disco for the modern day, and in the process secure chart success.
“I’m totally loving it,” says Kathy of the acts inspired by her music.
She adds: “And what I’m seeing with some of the newer artists is they’re taking it to another level but at the same time they’re keeping the authenticity of what disco/ dance music is all about, which to me, honestly, is just uplifting.
“I think music should do that. It should not only make you dance, but it should make you feel good.
“That’s what I’m seeing with the newer artists, that they get it. And I think when you do that, it becomes timeless.”
Kim actually is my neighbour. We get along – we go and get coffee Kathy speaking of the thaw in her relationship with her sisters
Sister Sledge featuring Kathy Sledge takes place on Saturday, May 14 at London’s Indigo at The O2. Tickets are on sale now