Sister Sledge
Teaming up with Chic’s Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers in 1978, the singing sisters raise the bar to deliver a timeless classic…
The making of “Thinking Of You”
I n early 1978, two albums and eight years into a career which had delivered only moderate commercial success, Pennsylvania’s premier sibling vocal group were contemplating the endgame. “We thought, ‘OK, we’ve had a great run in the music industry, now we’re going to do have to something else,’” says Kim Sledge, the second youngest of Sister Sledge’s four original singers.
Fate intervened, in the form of nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Riding high on the success of their singles “Good Times” and “Le Freak”, the Chic duo were seeking to revive the fortunes of an act from the Atlantic Records stable. The Rolling Stones were mooted, before being deemed too volatile to accept firm instruction. Sister Sledge, on the other hand, fitted the bill, although two issues quickly emerged. Firstly, there was no existing relationship between the two parties. “The first time we met them was the first time they set foot in the studio to hear the songs,” nile Rodgers told Uncut. Secondly, there was friction between the sisters’ traditional free-style working methods and Rodgers’ authoritarian, downright secretive approach to making the album. “We built a little tension between us,” he admits.
Yet We Are Family, recorded at new York’s Power Station in the autumn of 1978, exceeded all expectations. A gleaming eight-track distillation of the siblings’ R&B vocal talents and Chic’s flawless feel for rhythm, mood and melody, Rodgers still regards it as the Chic Organization’s greatest achievement – with “Thinking Of You” as the cherry on the cake. Originally released in the US as the B-side of “Lost In Music”, before becoming a belated British hit in 1984, it may not be as anthemic as “We Are Family”, or as artfully alien as “Lost In Music”, but its blend of Rodgers’ scratchily propulsive rhythm guitar, Edwards’ bubbling bass, crisp percussion and sumptuous strings is gloriously uplifting. The melody line alone transmits “sheer joy”, says Kathy Sledge, who sang the dreamily ecstatic lead vocal.
Though Kathy left in 1989 to pursue solo projects, and Joni Sledge sadly died last year, the three surviving sisters frequently come together, with plans afoot to reunite in 2019 to mark the 40th anniversary of We
Are Family. “Thinking Of You” will be the first song on the set list. It always is.
“It’s my absolute favourite song that we ever recorded,” says Kim Sledge. “You can go anywhere with it. Regardless of the audience, demographics, age groups, cultures, it’s one of those songs that is just so full of love and encouragement. When we sing it, I get happy.” GRAEME THOMSON
KiM sledge (VoCAls): We’d been performing and recording for about 10 years, working all over the world, and we were at a point where we were thinking about finishing our education and pursuing our individual interests. We went to see Diana Ross at Valley Forge Music Fair, and we told her road manager we were thinking of moving on. He said, “Hang in there for one more year, this is
“The first day we met Sister Sledge, their whole album was written” nile rodgers
what you should be doing.” As God would have it, that’s the year we were introduced to nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
deBBie sledge (VoCAls): We were introduced through a dear friend of our mother called Phil Hurtt, who was signed to Atlantic. He informed us that Hillery Johnson, [vice]-president of Atlantic at the time, was looking for a group to put with the Chic Organization, as they were trying to find someone who would fit with them.
nile rodgers: The Stones were the first superstar act that was actually offered to us, and instead of doing the Stones we did Sister Sledge. Bernard and I knew that [the
Stones] would’ve been a bad move. How do you tell The Rolling Stones, “Right, we’re going to write all your songs, and then you come in and you play like this?”
KATHY sledge (leAd VoCAls): nile and Bernard had a formula, and it worked for them. It was very regimented, all the way from the song structure to the backing vocals. They’d had success, they were at a sophomore place where everyone was watching them, and they didn’t want to move away from that formula. That was smart. They were confident and diligent.
rodgers: The first day we met Sister Sledge, their whole album was written. We had never even met them! We had just heard about them from the head of our label. He told us how they were a family, how they stick together and all that stuff, and we took down what they’d written and turned it into “We Are Family” and a bunch of other songs.
deBBie: All the songs fit like a glove. I don’t know we were aware of that at the very beginning.
roB sABino (PiAno): Sister Sledge wasn’t really on the up. They needed a hit. We cut the backing tracks before they were even in the studio. That was how nile and Bernard worked. They always gave musicians a lot of a latitude. Whereas regular session players would do their thing, with extra cheese, everyone in Chic were all dedicated to the song and the groove.
rodgers: The real unsung hero of Chic is Rob Sabino! sABino: We worked especially well together on Sister Sledge. We just knew what to do, we didn’t have to be told. rodgers: The sisters were in the studio while we were finishing up the lyrics on We Are Family. I remember sitting there and saying, “no, hold on a second, we’ll finish in a minute.” It was the rudest thing ever. Like, we’re now telling you what your life is going to be like, before we knew who they were. KiM: With a lot of the songs, they’d not written the words. Some of them were written while we were waiting in the studio. It was exciting. We had to fit into a different technique. We were happy to be there, in new York, and we loved the music – even though we weren’t able to hear it until we got there! deBBie: “Thinking Of You” has got a gorgeous melody. It’s such a happy song.It’s immediately uplifting. KATHY: We were not allowed to hear any of the songs until it was time to record them. That was interesting! KiM: We’d been taught by our grandma
“The word that comes to mind is ‘joy’. It’s one of the most feelgood songs ever” KATHY SlEDGE
to learn a song until it was a part of you, but going in with Bernard and Nile was very, very different. They wouldn’t let us hear anything. We had no idea what we’d be recording day to day… KATHY: Nile and Bernard were the directors, but they wouldn’t let me study the script. I get it now, because one of the things that’s so magic about “Thinking Of You” is the spontaneity. It was an amazing way to work. Frustrating at the time, but I get it now. They knew what they were listening for, and if I sang it different they’d stop me and say, “No, no, no!” SABINO: The vocal lines were so close to what Nile originally wrote. The sisters, and Kathy in particular, put their own phraseology and style on it, because of their skills and their understanding they could put their own stamp on it, but as far as the notes on the page went, it was pretty much what Nile and Bernard wanted. The way Nile writes, arranges and produces, the parts don’t fit together if you vary things too much. If you jam too much, it would come out less of a pop song and more of a jamming gospel song. RODGERS: We’d never worked with any stars; we’d only worked with other studio musicians who were used to us telling them what to do. That’s the only way we knew how to produce.
SABINO: I know Nile encouraged that vocal extemporisation towards the end – “Once you let go, go for it!” – but in the body of the song, you had to do what he conceived. But part of what he conceived was letting Kathy do her thing.
KATHY: I was used to producers telling me, “Just do your thing,” and I would scream all over the place. I was able to do that a little at the very end of “Thinking Of You”, on the ad-lib track. They let me go at the end and then they edited it and spliced it to how they wanted it. I do vividly remember Kim helping me with that. She was on the other side of the glass, saying, “You gotta go, ‘You-oo-ooh, you-oo-ooh, you-oo-ooh’.” After two or three passes they would come in and edit it all together.
KIM: As we began to do the tracks, we would stretch out. You can hear all the spontaneity on the song. It was our first time at the Power Station, and that was a thrill in itself. We ran into lots of people, a lot of people came through that place. Once, we’d been up all night long, it was super early in the morning, and I went out to get some coffee. This guy was standing next to me at the coffee machine, kind of blowing his nose, wiping his eyes. We kind of made small talk. “I’m so tired! Long night.” “Yeah, me too.” He got me a coffee, and as we parted ways to go back to our separate studios, I realised it was Mick Jagger! It was just typical morning studio talk. It was a great place.
DEBBIE: We were inspired singing these songs, and they were inspired writing them. We did butt heads, but in a good way. They weren’t fully aware of what we were capable of, and vice versa, but it turned out a good mix, a good sharpening of irons. Iron sharpens iron.
KATHY: The whole process was like a puzzle. You get to hear the playback after they’d worked their magic on it, and it was like hearing it for the first time. “Thinking Of You” was so fresh. I was just this goofy teenager with braces, and I kept asking Nile, “Is it gonna be a hit, is it gonna be a hit?” He’d laugh and say, “You know what, sweetie, it’s gonna be huge!” And it was! KIM: We were told later that their LP project for Diana Ross [Diana], with “I’m Coming Out” and all that, was supposed to be our follow-up album, but she came to the studio, heard what was going on, and she insisted that she wanted them to record for her. So they used the songs they were going to use for our follow-up on her album instead. Ain’t that something! Of course they have another story behind that now, but I know that’s a fact…
RODGERS: Diana came about after we’d had the phenomenal success with Sister Sledge. Even so, when we got to Diana, we didn’t want to make the same mistakes, because now this is our first star that we’re working with.
KIM: In our show nowadays, Debbie sings “Thinking Of You”, and she does an amazing job. It ’s taken on this delightful flavour, a fun-loving jazz thing, but it’s still just as pop and upbeat.
DEBBIE: I don’t know if you can go wrong with that song. We would never not perform it. It’s a privilege to do it.
KATHY: I’m a real stickler in my own shows for making sure it’s performed exactly as recorded, right down to the ad-libs. I never get tired singing it. It’s just timeless. The word that comes to mind is ‘joy’. It’s one of the most feelgood songs ever. The Chic Organization 1977–1979 is out November 23 via Atlantic/Rhino