GET ON YOUR FEET
Nile Rodgers will have everyone dancing when Chic hits TD Garden
Nile Rodgers has the ultimate rock 'n' roll resume. Rodgers has produced records for David Bowie and David Lee Roth, Duran Duran and Mick Jagger.
But he also has a stellar pop resume, having crafted hits for Madonna, Diana Ross and Sister Sledge. Come to think of it, his dance CV is pretty amazing. He co-wrote Daft Punk's “Get Lucky,” and his collaboration with DJ Tony Moran, “My Fire,” currently sits atop the Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.
“I have had more flops than hits. I don't mind saying that,” Rodgers said ahead of a concert in Philadelphia. “But I love music, and when you work as much and as hard as I do, when you work with so many different artists, you end up with a lot of hits, too.”
Rodgers' latest collaboration is his band Chic's coheadlining tour with Earth, Wind & Fire, which stops at the TD Garden tomorrow. Oh right, Chic! Sometimes it's hard to remember that Rodgers and songwriting partner Bernard Edwards also perfected disco in 1977 with the Chic LP “Risque.”
The current tour, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the seminal dance club Studio 54, aims to be the world's biggest disco party. Imagine this: You'll actually be able to hear Chic sing “Le Freak” and “Good Times” and Earth, Wind & Fire do “Shining Star” and “Boogie Wonderland” at the same show.
“It's pretty incredible to see a concert of this size where everyone is out of their seats the whole time,” Rodgers said. “I even heard a gentleman say, `Thank God Chic only played an hour. I couldn't stay up dancing much longer.'”
Chic hasn't released a new album since 1992, but that will change by the close of this year. The tongue-in-cheek titled “It's About Time” will feature, not surprisingly, a huge cast of guests, including Lady Gaga, Elton John and Janelle Monae. Rodgers promises it's almost done.
“I'm actually just trying to finish the last track with a special guest,” he said.
No, he won't reveal who that is. He insists he has to keep some mystery about the project.
The biggest mystery of Rodgers' career may be how he has managed to remain a concert draw and hit-maker four decades after he got his start as a disco king. For Rodgers, the answer is simple: He learned how to make the masses boogie to his grooves.
In the early '70s, “My jazz guitar teach told me that I was a snob and that I needed to keep an open mind,” Rodgers said. “I had told him I had this gig playing only Top 40 music, and I was really depressed about it ... I asked how in the world he could think `Sugar, Sugar' by the Archies was a great composition. He told me, `Because it speaks to the souls of a million strangers.' I went, `Whoa, I get it.' Two weeks later, I wrote `Everybody Dance' for Chic.”