0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07My name is Nile Rodgers.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08You probably don't know my name
0:00:08 > 0:00:10but I bet you know at least one of my songs.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14# I want your love... #
0:00:14 > 0:00:16# Oh, freak out... #
0:00:16 > 0:00:20As the songwriter, guitarist and producer of Chic, Nile Rodgers was
0:00:20 > 0:00:26one half of a partnership that had the world caught up in disco fever.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I think it's one of the most brilliantly devised
0:00:30 > 0:00:33guitar-bass situations in music, period.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35# Good times... #
0:00:35 > 0:00:37They were determined to get you out of your seat.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Maybe you didn't want to get up, but you had to get up.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43# Leave your cares behind... #
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Together they would create the hits that helped define the disco era
0:00:46 > 0:00:47and beyond.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Those bass lines are iconic. The Good Times thing, you know,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54became the foundation for modern hip-hop.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02We Are Family is the best record you can ever put on a turntable
0:01:02 > 0:01:04to get people dancing in a room.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08It makes you feel good and it brings people together.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And it's just so positive that it has to be more than the music.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16But the music that made them would also break them.
0:01:16 > 0:01:23'Between games, as planned, a huge box containing thousands of disco records was blown up.'
0:01:23 > 0:01:29We were done. "Disco sucks" completely shut us down.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32What could have been the end for Nile Rodgers would actually
0:01:32 > 0:01:33be a new beginning.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38He defined the sound of pop in the early '80s.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46The excitement of buying that record, and Bowie's back, and Bowie's looking great, and look! He's doing funk!
0:01:46 > 0:01:49He knows and understands artists.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51# Let's dance... #
0:01:51 > 0:01:56The grooves of Nile Rodgers have filled dance floors for nearly 40 years.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58People love so many of his songs.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00They've played them at their weddings
0:02:00 > 0:02:02and at their births of their children,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05or they've fallen in love to them.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10It's like he's just born to just make music and just do it perfectly.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12It's just sickening.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14This is the story of the man behind the hits.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19From New York's mean streets to the drug-fuelled excesses of the '80s.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Meet Nile Rodgers, the Hitmaker.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Er, my man, you know this shit is happening.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37MUSIC: Get Lucky by Daft Punk
0:02:44 > 0:02:47In 2013, Nile's distinctive guitar work
0:02:47 > 0:02:52helped French dance music duo Daft Punk to one of the year's biggest hits.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54The success of Get Lucky
0:02:54 > 0:02:58reenergised Nile's career and helped introduce a brand-new audience
0:02:58 > 0:03:00to his back catalogue of hit music.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02# She's up all night till the sun
0:03:02 > 0:03:04# I'm up all night to get some
0:03:04 > 0:03:06# She's up all night for good fun
0:03:06 > 0:03:08# I'm up all night to get lucky
0:03:08 > 0:03:10# We're up all night to the sun... #
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Now Chic are back, with a new album nearly 40 years
0:03:13 > 0:03:17after Nile's career was launched on the streets of New York city.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Nile was born in New York in 1952.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31His mum Beverley was just 13 when she became pregnant.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Together with his Jewish stepfather, they would
0:03:35 > 0:03:38move around some of the city's toughest neighbourhoods,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42from the Bronx to Alphabet City and Greenwich Village.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46It was a far from conventional upbringing.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48My mom and dad were beatniks
0:03:48 > 0:03:53and they lived the whole Bohemian, cool, beatnicky lifestyle.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I mean, they were heroin addicts, too.
0:03:56 > 0:03:57It was sort of weird to come home
0:03:57 > 0:04:00and find your parents sleeping standing up as they would
0:04:00 > 0:04:04always do - they'd nod and fall asleep mid-sentence.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08That was a little weird, but I got used to it after a while.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Despite his parents' habitual drug use, his Bohemian home-life
0:04:12 > 0:04:15was intellectually and creatively stimulating.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18The greatest memories are of the music that was
0:04:18 > 0:04:20always around my house.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23I mean, there was just constant jazz, um,
0:04:23 > 0:04:29Nina Simone, Oscar Brown Jr, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31I grew up with modern jazz all the time.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33MUSIC: Blue Train by John Coltrane
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Music was a constant in Nile's childhood. At home, it was jazz.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46And he tried his hand at a few classical instruments in the school orchestra.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50But it was a teenage crush that led Nile to pick up the guitar.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52It was actually a really pretty girl who had a band,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56and because I was relatively proficient at the symphonic music,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58I just thought for some reason that
0:04:58 > 0:05:00when this girl said she needed a guitar player, that
0:05:00 > 0:05:05I was smart enough to just pick one up and somehow know how to play it.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10Or at least play it on a level where I could impress her. Oops - wrong!
0:05:10 > 0:05:14I picked up the guitar, and it was a completely different language.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18And the girl was like, "You certainly aren't good enough to play in my band."
0:05:18 > 0:05:21I knew I was a good musician, I just wasn't a guitar player.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Had she asked for a clarinet player, I'd have said, "I'm your man!"
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Undeterred, Nile taught himself the guitar.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Picking up a Beatles song book and strumming the opening chords
0:05:35 > 0:05:39to A Day In The Life, he soon realised this was the instrument for him.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44# I read the news today, oh, boy... #
0:05:44 > 0:05:46He went on to study jazz and classical guitar
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and was soon playing in his first bands.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53By the time he was just 19, having been playing guitar for less
0:05:53 > 0:05:57than three years, Nile landed his first job as a professional musician.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03He joined the touring band for recently launched children's TV show Sesame Street.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10But it was in his next job that Nile truly began to hone his craft.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15He joined the house band at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theatre
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and played behind some of R&B's biggest names.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23# Don't play that song for me
0:06:24 > 0:06:27# Cos it brings back memories... #
0:06:29 > 0:06:36The Apollo theatre was the premier performance house in R&B music.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39It was James Brown, it was Aretha Franklin, it was The Supremes,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41The Temptations,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46any of the big black artists in our music were at the Apollo.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50He would play with artists like Aretha Franklin.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Aretha's shouting out, "This is in B, two flats, off you go."
0:06:54 > 0:06:56And you know, you have to work quickly,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00because these people are incredibly professional.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03They're used to working with a high calibre of musician,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and if they didn't cut it, you know, you wouldn't last in that gig.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12As well as playing at the Apollo,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Nile worked as a jobbing musician throughout the early '70s,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17playing R&B, funk and some rock tunes
0:07:17 > 0:07:19on the East Coast club circuit.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24But one show, where Nile played as a last-minute stand-in,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27proved to be life-changing.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31The band was pretty good. But the bass player was extraordinary.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34I mean, just playing a song that everybody knows,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38he had a feel that just was something incredible.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41The bassist was Bernard Edwards,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44and this meeting was the start of a friendship
0:07:44 > 0:07:48and musical partnership that would define the rest of Nile's career.
0:07:50 > 0:07:51Before the night was over,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54it was clear that even though he and I were pick-up guys,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Bernard and I were the guys who sort of brought everybody together.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02After we meet that first time, we became inseparable.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05So he was my bass player, I was his guitar player.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17In 1973, Nile's new musical partner,
0:08:17 > 0:08:18Bernard Edwards, took a job
0:08:18 > 0:08:21as the musical director for vocal group New York City,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24who had a top-20 hit with I'm Doin' Fine Now.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29He called on Nile to be the guitarist in the touring band.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31# I'm doin' fine now... #
0:08:31 > 0:08:33The New York City gig was huge for me
0:08:33 > 0:08:37because Bernard was the band leader and New York City had a hit record.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41And because they were identifiable with that song called
0:08:41 > 0:08:45I'm Doin' Fine Now, we then came up with our own identity,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50which was the Big Apple Band - New York City and the Big Apple Band.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53# Without you, baby... #
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Together they toured extensively, supporting acts
0:08:55 > 0:08:59like The O'Jays, Parliament, and The Jackson 5.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02But the Big Apple Band would also perform as a separate act to
0:09:02 > 0:09:05New York City, and soon developed their own following.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10We played a lot of small clubs around the north-east area. We'd do our
0:09:10 > 0:09:14top-40 stuff and occasional original, and people would say, "Oh, look!
0:09:14 > 0:09:18"Black men! They must be one of those disco bands! We love that!
0:09:18 > 0:09:22"That's great! Come on in!" And we'd come in, and we did some disco stuff.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27We also did The Boys Are Back In Town, and like, jazz-fusion stuff.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30But then Nile and Bernard, I guess they figured,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33"Well, if people think we're a disco band, let's write some disco songs."
0:09:40 > 0:09:44In the early '70s, America was engulfed in political scandal,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48financial recession and a prolonged war in Vietnam.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Young people wanted an escape.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54The disco phenomenon that had emerged in Philadelphia
0:09:54 > 0:09:56was exploding in New York's clubs.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03Disco was the right music for the right historic moment.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05People wanted a happy style of music,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09and a place to escape due to these difficult things that were
0:10:09 > 0:10:15going on in the decade, you know, the Watergate, the Vietnam War,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19this kind of cynicism about the country, about the world.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25The music, from the beginning, was associated with black clubs,
0:10:25 > 0:10:26with gay dance clubs,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and so there was this whole underground element to it,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and as the music became popular, people wanted to experience that,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38that energy of these underground clubs.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44To walk into a club, and hear this continuous music phenomenon,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46I'd never felt anything like that.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50I don't think that I ever wanted to be
0:10:50 > 0:10:53a part of anything as much as I wanted to be a part of that.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58# You should be dancing, yeah
0:10:58 > 0:11:00# You should be dancing, yeah... #
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The Big Apple Band were now starting to develop their own stripped-back
0:11:06 > 0:11:09funky, disco sound whilst continuing to play
0:11:09 > 0:11:13the hits of the day, like the Bee Gees' You Should Be Dancing,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17which had topped the Billboard Charts in the summer of 1976.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20# ..My baby moves at midnight
0:11:20 > 0:11:23# Goes right on till the dawn... #
0:11:23 > 0:11:26But another song reaching number one would be a turning point
0:11:26 > 0:11:28for Nile's Big Apple Band.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30MUSIC: A Fifth Of Beethoven by Walter Murphy
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Walter Murphy's A Fifth of Beethoven featured his own Big Apple Band,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42forcing Nile and Bernard to find a new identity.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Their inspiration would come from an unexpected source.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51My girlfriend at the time took me to see Roxy Music.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55# Do it on the tables
0:11:55 > 0:11:59# Quaglino's place or Mabel's
0:11:59 > 0:12:01# Slow and gentle... #
0:12:01 > 0:12:04It was the hippest thing I'd ever seen.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07They were dressed impeccably and Bernard said, "Why don't we call
0:12:07 > 0:12:12"ourselves 'Chic'?" So we changed our name to Chic, and that inspired me.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17I wrote our very first Chic song, which was called Everybody Dance.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Armed with Chic's first songs,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Nile and Bernard headed for the recording studio.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Their friend, engineer and DJ Robert Drake, sneaked them
0:12:30 > 0:12:32in to the studio where he worked.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41Our full cost to record this entire session was 10 to pay the elevator
0:12:41 > 0:12:45operator to ferry us up to the tenth or twelfth floor of the studio.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Robert engineered the session but Nile and Bernard
0:12:49 > 0:12:51took on the role of directing the musicians,
0:12:51 > 0:12:55marking their first foray into the world of record production.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58# Everybody dance, doo-do-doo-do
0:12:58 > 0:13:00# Clap your hands, clap your hands... #
0:13:03 > 0:13:05In the studio, Bernard had some reservations
0:13:05 > 0:13:07about the song's lyrics.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11He said, "But...what does doo-do-doo-do mean?"
0:13:11 > 0:13:13I said, "What do you mean, what does doo-do-doo-do mean?"
0:13:13 > 0:13:16He says, "What does doo-do-doo-do mean?" I says,
0:13:16 > 0:13:17"It's like la-la-la-la."
0:13:17 > 0:13:19He says, "Why don't you go, Everybody dance, la-la-la-la,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22"cos I know what la-la-la-la means," I said, "But that's not hip."
0:13:22 > 0:13:26"The la-la era is over. We gotta do doo-do!"
0:13:26 > 0:13:28# Everybody dance, doo-do-doo-do
0:13:28 > 0:13:31# Clap your hands, clap your hands... #
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Everybody Dance was recorded, but was unfinished.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Unknown to Nile, Robert mixed the tracks
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and took them to the club where he DJ'd.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45The Night Owl was popular with the buppies,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49New York's emerging young black professionals.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52The moment that I put on Everybody Dance,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57it's like everybody's head turned, and they said, "What's that?"
0:13:57 > 0:14:01And then suddenly the floor just like, was consumed with people.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07If I attempted to play another record, they would boo.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10So I had to just keep playing the record.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13We had no idea he was playing it for people.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17When I walked in, I saw these beautiful buppies screaming at the top of their lungs,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20"Everybody dance, doo-do-doo-do, clap your hands..."!
0:14:22 > 0:14:25When Bernard was asking me "What does doo-do-doo-do mean,"
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I got thinking to myself, "THAT'S what doo-do-doo-do means! There you go!"
0:14:30 > 0:14:33As Nile and Bernard were starting to develop the Chic sound,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35disco was already evolving.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42One of the biggest hits of 1977 was Donna Summer's I Feel Love,
0:14:42 > 0:14:48which featured Giorgio Moroder's futuristic synthesisers and drum machines.
0:14:48 > 0:14:49But for Chic's first album,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Nile and Bernard wanted to keep the live feel of their club hit and
0:14:53 > 0:14:57gathered together in the studio with some of New York's finest musicians.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05The core of the band was Nile, Bernard and Big Apple drummer, Tony Thompson
0:15:05 > 0:15:07with Norma Jean Wright on lead vocals.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10I thought they were an amazing band.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16I mean, they were an incredibly, incredibly tight band. For recording
0:15:16 > 0:15:20you'd put down a click track, which keeps everybody in time.
0:15:20 > 0:15:21They never used any click tracks.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25It was always... Tony was such a steady drummer.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Nile and Bernard had a clear vision of the sound they wanted,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31but the musicians were allowed to have their own input.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33We were just given, you know,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38E minor, A 11, D sharp 9 on a napkin or a rudimentary chart,
0:15:38 > 0:15:39and then there'd be suggestions...
0:15:39 > 0:15:41I would suggest something and say,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43"How about this? It should just be two bars."
0:15:43 > 0:15:47Maybe I played something I shouldn't have, and it was, "That was good! Do that again!"
0:15:47 > 0:15:49They kept everything very simple.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51If you hear the keyboard parts, they're not doing very much,
0:15:51 > 0:15:57they're just very sort of holding it down, just basic, um...
0:15:57 > 0:16:01most of the movement comes from, well, the bass, drums, guitar.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Those three guys.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Also essential to the sound was the Chic choir,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11which included the then-little-known singer Luther Vandross.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Luther helped them produce those vocals at the beginning because he
0:16:21 > 0:16:24had such a tremendous ear for what worked vocally
0:16:24 > 0:16:29and how to put voices together, and so I think he was helping Nile
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and Bernard to develop the vocal sound that's on all the records.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Most songs when you sing R&B,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40and in pop, there are a lot of harmonies,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and working with Nile and Bernard,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46it was more percussive, and it was unison singing,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50and I'm saying, "OK, so when are the harmonies coming?" But there
0:16:50 > 0:16:55are very few harmonies, but the unison singing was brilliant.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59# Everybody dance, doo-do-doo-do
0:16:59 > 0:17:02# Clap your hands, clap your hands
0:17:02 > 0:17:07# Spinning all around the floor just like Rodgers and Astaire
0:17:07 > 0:17:10# Who found love without a care... #
0:17:10 > 0:17:15They wanted the lead voice to really work with the rhythm and the music.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20It was almost...it supported the music, it wasn't necessarily
0:17:20 > 0:17:25where they were looking for a lead voice to dominate.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28# Come on, everybody get on your feet... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:29They couldn't let the singers go wild,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33cos they knew exactly what they wanted to produce.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36So you couldn't have some singer carrying on all over the place -
0:17:36 > 0:17:37that wasn't what they did.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42Their thing was the nucleus of that bass and that guitar, and that beat.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46# Dance, dance, dance, dance
0:17:46 > 0:17:50# People dancing... #
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Completing the sophisticated Chic sound were the strings,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58played by some of New York's top classical musicians.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01At the helm, Nile himself.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09He got the A-list string players - always.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13These guys don't put up with anybody that isn't at their level.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17They're very...a bit of a snob thing, cos they're so good.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19And er... And so I was thinking,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22"Boy, how is he going to pull this off?"
0:18:22 > 0:18:25You know, he's this kid that's sort of this street kid,
0:18:25 > 0:18:31conducting the strings, and he knew exactly what he was doing.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35He was so good with them and he won their respect immediately.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Nile had a very clear vision of what the strings should add to a track.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46It added that little bit of sophistication
0:18:46 > 0:18:48that made it not just a street band.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Always underpinning the band's sound were the metronomic guitar
0:18:54 > 0:18:55and pounding bass.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Nile and Bernard were the beating heart of Chic.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06I think it's one of the most brilliantly devised
0:19:06 > 0:19:12guitar-bass sort of situations in music, period.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16The two of them are like a riff machine.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19It's a hard thing to do, to let the bass line just back up the track
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and back up the accents that need to be backed up
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and to make it such a hook at the same time.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28And I think a lot of that and Nile's guitar playing, and just keeping a groove.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Such a good groove and such a good feel.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Those tunes, where the singing stops, you hear this guy's
0:19:37 > 0:19:42super-energetic, and idealistic, and off he goes.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45It's got real life force in it, and then behind that you've
0:19:45 > 0:19:49got this guy who's just backing him up all the time.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53You really hear two friends, playing together.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It's a very beautiful thing, I think.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00It's like Lennon and McCartney and Jagger and Richards,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03um, it's um, together it just gelled, you know.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07As well as having a clear musical vision,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Nile and Bernard also wanted to create a distinct image for the band.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Having taken their stylistic cues from Roxy Music,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19another very different act would provide the final
0:20:19 > 0:20:21ingredient in the Chic concept.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27# I wanna rock and roll all night
0:20:27 > 0:20:30# And party every day
0:20:30 > 0:20:32# I wanna rock and roll all night... #
0:20:33 > 0:20:36We went to see Kiss, and it was amazing. It was like "Whoa"!
0:20:36 > 0:20:39It was like this whole theatrical thing.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43When I met Ace, nobody knew that I was talking to Ace Frehley.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45I mean, he's standing there, we're all just talking,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and meanwhile, the crowd was going crazy for him 20 minutes ago,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51but once they came out of their make-up,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53and you're sitting in their room, having drinks,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57people are going, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" And he's sitting right there. Wow!
0:20:57 > 0:20:59You know, we had always been back-up musicians for stars.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01We didn't know how to be stars.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05So we thought that anonymity was going to be our key.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06We made the music the focus,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10and this Chic mystique, this concept, was the star.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16Like Kiss, Chic hid their identities on their first album.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Echoing Roxy Music's album artwork,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22they featured two models on the cover rather than the band itself.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26There was a strategy to put the two models on the cover.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29It opened the door for, um,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34the group not to be pre-judged as an R&B group,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38because I think if they had seen the four of us...
0:21:38 > 0:21:45It's... We're all black, and at that time, I think that some
0:21:45 > 0:21:49programmers may have said, "Oh, this is just another R&B group."
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Released in 1977, Chic's debut album reached number 27
0:21:55 > 0:21:58in the Billboard chart, later going gold.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01It was released when disco culture was at its peak,
0:22:01 > 0:22:06and New York's fabled Studio 54 was at the heart of the disco universe.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12It was the place to be seen.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15John Travolta, Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol and Liza Minnelli
0:22:15 > 0:22:19were just some of the celebrity names on the club's guest list.
0:22:20 > 0:22:26Studio 54 from the time it opened in the spring of 1977,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30just became literally the hottest club in the world.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It was the gathering place of the hip, the beautiful, the wealthy.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39It kind of epitomised excess - the drugs, the sex,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42the best music, the best lights - everything.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45It really was the best of everything.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Steve Rubell, the co-owner of Studio 54, would hand-pick the people
0:22:50 > 0:22:54they would let in, who would contribute to the image,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56and the energy for a particular night.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58It was all very conscious.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01You know, Steve and Mickey Ruskin before him invented
0:23:01 > 0:23:06the concept of keeping people out, you know - "You, you, you.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10"Not you."
0:23:10 > 0:23:15So it was about exclusivity, very much.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Everybody Dance and Dance, Dance, Dance,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20both top-40 hits from Chic's debut album,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23were regularly played at Studio 54.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28But Nile and Bernard's carefully constructed anonymity meant
0:23:28 > 0:23:30that on New Year's Eve 1977,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33they fell foul of the club's strict entry policy.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Despite being invited by Grace Jones,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42the star performer that night, they were refused entry.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Even Nile's best Grace Jones impersonation couldn't
0:23:45 > 0:23:47convince the doorman.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Knock, knock, knock.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54"Yeah, what d'you want?" "Er, we're personal friends of Grace Jones."
0:23:54 > 0:23:57It was like, you know? And the guy like, slams the door in our faces.
0:23:57 > 0:23:58"Oh, man! Fuck off!"
0:23:58 > 0:24:01It was like... Cos this was New Year's Eve at Studio 54,
0:24:01 > 0:24:07the centre of the disco and nightclub universe in 1977, going to '78.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09So it was pretty obvious
0:24:09 > 0:24:13we weren't going to get in with that story, or period.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Studio 54 just happened to be around the corner from my apartment.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19We had enough money to buy two bottles of champagne,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and after we downed the first bottle, we started jamming,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24and we just started singing,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28# Ohhhhh! Fuck off! Diddle-dee-dee-oh, fuck Studio 54!
0:24:28 > 0:24:33# Fuck off, diddle-dee-dee-oh, dah-dam, Ohhhhhh! Fuck off! #
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Finally Bernard looked at me and said, "My man, you know this
0:24:39 > 0:24:44"shit is happening. All right, how we going to get this on the radio?"
0:24:44 > 0:24:46This was way before hip-hop.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49No-one used profanity on pop records...
0:24:49 > 0:24:52was like, that's impossible. And then Bernard said,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56"Yeah!" And then my kids are doing this new dance, called the Freak.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57Hello!
0:24:57 > 0:25:00# Ohhhhh! Freak out
0:25:00 > 0:25:02# Le freak, c'est chic
0:25:02 > 0:25:03# Freak out
0:25:05 > 0:25:07# Ohhhhh! Freak out
0:25:07 > 0:25:10# Le freak, c'est chic
0:25:10 > 0:25:11# Freak out
0:25:14 > 0:25:18# Have you heard about the new dance craze
0:25:19 > 0:25:22# Listen to us, I'm sure you'll be amazed... #
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Le Freak became Chic's first number-one single in the US,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and went on to sell over seven million copies,
0:25:29 > 0:25:34making it the biggest-selling single in Atlantic Records' history.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37It was the first hit from their second album C'est Chic,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and featured two new lead vocalists, Luci Martin
0:25:40 > 0:25:44and former Chic backing singer Alfa Anderson.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49# Ohhhhh! Freak out
0:25:49 > 0:25:50# Le freak, c'est chic
0:25:50 > 0:25:52# Freak out! #
0:25:52 > 0:25:551978 saw disco dominating the charts,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and its place in mainstream musical culture was confirmed.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
0:26:01 > 0:26:04spent months at the top of the album charts on both sides
0:26:04 > 0:26:07of the Atlantic and spawned a string of hit singles for the Bee Gees.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Chic were riding high on the disco wave
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and their record company, Atlantic, wanted them
0:26:13 > 0:26:17to apply their winning formula to other artists on the label.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19Rather than opt for an established artist,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24Nile and Bernard chose to work with a relatively unknown act.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28# You know I'm there and that I care
0:26:28 > 0:26:31# Boy, I'm crazy about you... #
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Sister Sledge, who'd formed in 1971, had already had a number
0:26:35 > 0:26:39of minor hits in Europe but had failed to break through in the US.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Atlantic Records President Jerry Greenberg hoped Nile and Bernard
0:26:43 > 0:26:45could make a hit record for the Sisters,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47who were like family to him.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51He was describing us, and Nile and Bernard started writing
0:26:51 > 0:26:53it down, what he was describing, "They're family.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56"They stick together like birds of a feather."
0:26:56 > 0:27:02He went on with this long diatribe that basically, er, dictated the
0:27:02 > 0:27:07lyrics to the song We Are Family, and we just moved a few things around.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11# We are family
0:27:11 > 0:27:16# I got all my sisters with me
0:27:16 > 0:27:18# We are family
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# Get up everybody and sing... #
0:27:23 > 0:27:28Once we were charged with producing Sister Sledge, we did it our way.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32We'd sit down and we'd come up with an actual real story,
0:27:32 > 0:27:33just like reporters.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38So then we superimposed the Studio 54 and the bottle of fairy dust
0:27:38 > 0:27:43on to it, and created this new entity of four young girls, who were
0:27:43 > 0:27:49hipper than hip, and on the leading edge of fashion and art and music.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54# Everyone can see we're together
0:27:54 > 0:27:57# As we walk on by... #
0:27:59 > 0:28:01A crucial part of the Studio 54 fairy dust
0:28:01 > 0:28:04was the distinctive Chic sound.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Who better to create it than the Chic musicians
0:28:07 > 0:28:09and singers themselves?
0:28:09 > 0:28:13A lot of times they'd use the Chic singers instead of using
0:28:13 > 0:28:17the sisters, so politically it was difficult.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22They knew our sound, they trusted us, and we would sing background
0:28:22 > 0:28:25on all of their productions, so we went in to sing background.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29I don't think at that point Sister Sledge was extremely
0:28:29 > 0:28:33happy about it, and I mean, I understand.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37# Get up everybody and sing... #
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Like We Are Family - that's Luther Vandross, and the Chic sound,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and the sisters did record with them,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45but they had a formula and they knew it worked,
0:28:45 > 0:28:51and they had a process of how they worked, and they knew that worked.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56And now, in retrospect, I feel like, well, I was along for the ride.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Nile and Bernard wrote,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03produced and played on all the songs in Sister Sledge's album.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08This was the Chic hit-making formula applied to maximum effect.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10# Oh, what, wow
0:29:10 > 0:29:12# He's the greatest dancer
0:29:12 > 0:29:13# Oh, what, wow
0:29:13 > 0:29:14# That I've ever seen... #
0:29:14 > 0:29:19I remember going to Nile and asking him, you know,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22"Do you think this is going to be a hit?" And I remember
0:29:22 > 0:29:25the confidence that he exuded, he didn't even think twice.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27He said, "Oh yeah, sure it's going to be a hit."
0:29:27 > 0:29:30And I said to myself, "Well, we'll see."
0:29:30 > 0:29:35We took Sister Sledge, who probably had a very minor record deal,
0:29:35 > 0:29:40and we delivered one of the biggest records of the entire organization.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53With their first major success as producers for other artists
0:29:53 > 0:29:56behind them, Nile and Bernard headed
0:29:56 > 0:29:59back into the studio to record Chic's third album, Risque.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04With its Agatha-Christie-inspired retro artwork, it would spawn
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Chic's most iconic groove.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08MUSIC: Good Times by Chic
0:30:13 > 0:30:15Good Times was centred around
0:30:15 > 0:30:19doong-doong-doong, doong-doo-doo-doong...
0:30:19 > 0:30:22So the thing is, it was such a laid-back kind of groove.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29# Happy days are here again
0:30:29 > 0:30:31# The time is right for making friends... #
0:30:31 > 0:30:34The day that we got in the studio and heard this, it's like,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38"Oh, this is something important going on here."
0:30:38 > 0:30:39We didn't even know why.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41# Tomorrow, let's all do it again... #
0:30:41 > 0:30:45I was sitting at this very desk, and I'm listening to this bass line,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49and Good Times is just... like, what's that?
0:30:49 > 0:30:51It's like, where did that come from?
0:30:51 > 0:30:54# Must put an end to this stress and strife
0:30:54 > 0:30:56# I think I want to live the sporting life... #
0:30:56 > 0:30:58And I turned to Bernard, and I said,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01"Where the hell'd you get THAT bass line from?
0:31:01 > 0:31:05He goes, "Why d'you say that?" "That's amazing!
0:31:05 > 0:31:08"That's like one of the most amazing things I've ever recorded,
0:31:08 > 0:31:13"or even heard, come out of a bass!" He goes, "Oh, d'you like that?"
0:31:13 > 0:31:15You know, it was kind of like he didn't even know!
0:31:22 > 0:31:26In 1979, New York clubs like Studio 54
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and Xenon were at their decadent peak.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34Chic were singing about Good Times whilst the US economy was in tatters.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35The media came after us.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38How could we do these hedonistic, celebratory songs when we're
0:31:38 > 0:31:41going through the greatest financial recession
0:31:41 > 0:31:43since the Great Depression, and we says,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47"Because that's what they did back then when they had the Great Depression."
0:31:47 > 0:31:50All those songs that we're referencing are from that era.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53We were writing about things that had happened years ago
0:31:53 > 0:31:56as if they were current events, because we could see
0:31:56 > 0:32:00the mirror between the disco era and the speakeasy era.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04When they got rid of prohibition in America and everybody
0:32:04 > 0:32:08was...now it was legal to drink again, what was the popular song?
0:32:08 > 0:32:14HE SINGS: "Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again."
0:32:14 > 0:32:16So Good Times goes, boom...
0:32:16 > 0:32:19"Happy days are here again..."
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Clear as a bell!
0:32:24 > 0:32:28Despite the criticism, Good Times shot to number one in the US,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Chic's second chart-topper of the year.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Risque was Chic's third success in a little over two years,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40the album adding to their growing collection of gold and platinum discs.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Disco had been the dominant musical force around the world
0:32:44 > 0:32:48since the mid-'70s. It had fought off punk in the UK charts
0:32:48 > 0:32:53and kept rock music at bay in the US, but whilst Good Times was riding high,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56an anti-disco storm was brewing.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02On 12th July 1979, disco-hating DJ Steve Dahl
0:33:02 > 0:33:05fronted a promotion at a Chicago White Sox baseball game.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Admission was just 98 cents
0:33:10 > 0:33:14if fans brought an unwanted disco record with them to destroy.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16ARCHIVE: 'Between games, as planned,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19'a huge box containing thousands of disco records was blown up.'
0:33:21 > 0:33:24The stunt got out of hand and a near-riot ensued.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29A few months later, disco music had all
0:33:29 > 0:33:31but disappeared from the US charts.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34It was never really against the music so much -
0:33:34 > 0:33:37it was against the lifestyle -
0:33:37 > 0:33:44white...rockers saw their substance fading away.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49Disco's associations with gay people, with black people,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52with the underground, and then of course
0:33:52 > 0:33:59it became associated with this very hedonistic kind of lifestyle, and I think that sort of
0:33:59 > 0:34:05white, red-blooded American males in particular were threatened by that.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07We never had a Chic hit after 1979.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Good Times was it, we were done.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12"Disco sucks" completely shut us down.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17The "disco sucks" movement could have spelt the end of Nile and Bernard's careers...
0:34:20 > 0:34:23..but before that fateful night in Chicago, pop legend
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Diana Ross had committed to making her next solo album with them.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29# I said upside down you're turning me
0:34:29 > 0:34:31# You're giving love instinctively... #
0:34:31 > 0:34:36This was their opportunity to further establish themselves as producers.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41# Upside down, boy you turn me... #
0:34:41 > 0:34:45We decided we would interview Diana Ross before we wrote a word of music.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47We wanted to know who she was as a person.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50She sat there and told us everything.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54She told us that she was going to turn her world upside down.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58That's her title. Those are her words. We turned it into a song.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03Diana Ross would have producers sort of presented to her
0:35:03 > 0:35:06on silver platters, and she'd worked with many great producers and
0:35:06 > 0:35:08she had sort of gone disco already,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11but it was the fact that these guys, you know...they'd been going
0:35:11 > 0:35:15for a couple of years, really, they were sort of young upstarts.
0:35:15 > 0:35:16This was, you know, Miss Ross.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Nile and Bernard put everything they had into the project,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25once again writing, producing and playing on every song,
0:35:25 > 0:35:29but Diana and Motown Records weren't happy with the album.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36When we finished what we thought was our most amazing work ever,
0:35:36 > 0:35:41they turned it down and said, "It's not a Diana Ross record."
0:35:41 > 0:35:46And we tried to plead our case by saying, "You're right, it's not
0:35:46 > 0:35:48"an old Diana Ross record, it's a new Diana Ross record."
0:35:48 > 0:35:51# I'm comin' out
0:35:51 > 0:35:53# I want the world to know... #
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Nile and Bernard's work was taken away from them
0:35:56 > 0:35:58and remixed by Motown.
0:35:58 > 0:36:04One day, this test pressing shows up, and it's almost our record,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07but we thought it was a weaker version.
0:36:07 > 0:36:08And we thought that er,
0:36:08 > 0:36:12what had happened to it is they sort of Motownized it.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14I said to Nile, I said,
0:36:14 > 0:36:19"Look, man, the songs are so... You guys wrote great songs.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22"No...no mix is going to destroy those songs, you know,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26"the songs still come through. And so I wouldn't really worry about it,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28"because it's going to be a smash."
0:36:28 > 0:36:31And sure enough, it was a big smash for Diana.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35# ..coming out, I'm coming out... #
0:36:35 > 0:36:40The Diana album sold six million copies, reinvigorating her career
0:36:40 > 0:36:44and introducing her to a new broader audience.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47But it hadn't been easy for Nile and Bernard, and thanks to
0:36:47 > 0:36:50the disco backlash, there were more difficult times ahead.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00# You should have seen by the look in my eyes, baby... #
0:37:01 > 0:37:04In the early '80s, America was changing.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07A new Republican President was tasked with turning
0:37:07 > 0:37:10the economy around, and musical tastes were becoming safer.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Disco's hedonism was being replaced by middle of the road rock and pop
0:37:17 > 0:37:20that played to the white American heartland.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26Nile and Bernard were struggling to find their place in this post-disco world,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30and their musical projects weren't hitting the highs they'd achieved in the '70s.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35But this didn't stop them enjoying the trappings of their earlier successes.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40Because my parents were heroin addicts, and drugs
0:37:40 > 0:37:46were just a normal part of our family life, I guess I was...
0:37:46 > 0:37:50wired to be an alcoholic or a drug addict.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54So when the drugs and alcohol hit me in the '80s,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57that's when it really started to take effect.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59Erm...
0:37:59 > 0:38:02it didn't feel that bad to me. I was actually having a great time.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Cocaine and alcohol were part of life for Nile and Bernard,
0:38:07 > 0:38:08but whilst Nile was partying hard,
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Bernard was spending more time with his family.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Their relationship started to suffer.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17I think the drugs had a lot to do with it.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21They drifted apart out of that third person that was in there
0:38:21 > 0:38:24and that was kind of moving their lives in different directions.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28I don't think either of them had that much control.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Through the early '80s,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Chic released four albums but none delivered the hits.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37In 1983, the band split up
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and the producing team of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards was no more.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Both went on to release solo albums and whilst neither sold well,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48they were highly regarded, particularly by other musicians.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54One musician who heard Nile's album was David Bowie,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58who was looking for a hit to follow up his 1980 album Scary Monsters.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00After a chance meeting in a New York bar,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02they embarked on a project together.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07Bowie had no record deal. Nile had no record deal.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10I mean, a string of platinum records, but I couldn't get a record deal.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14I couldn't get arrested. We were so desperate in a strange way.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17And also because he told me that he wanted a hit.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19And I was like, "Whoa! No, please, David. I got hits.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22"I got a lot of hits, I don't want a hit.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25"I want an art record that makes me...just the record producer."
0:39:25 > 0:39:27With the project under way,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30they started to write at Bowie's home in Switzerland.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32I came over to his house
0:39:32 > 0:39:34and he proceeds to play a folk song called Let's Dance.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39I was, like, "If we call this song Let's Dance...
0:39:39 > 0:39:43"I come from dance music. Man, we better make people dance."
0:39:43 > 0:39:45So I scribbled together an arrangement.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49We went to Queen's studio and we had these jazz guys come in
0:39:49 > 0:39:52and read down the charts that I had written to Let's Dance.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54And David could not believe
0:39:54 > 0:40:00how I transformed his guitar thing into... You know, duh-duh-duh!
0:40:00 > 0:40:03HE MIMICS BEAT
0:40:03 > 0:40:05MUSIC: Let's Dance by David Bowie
0:40:10 > 0:40:13I was looking at him and I said to him,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15"David, did I make this too funky?"
0:40:15 > 0:40:17# Let's dance... #
0:40:17 > 0:40:21And he looked at me and he went, "Nile, is there such a thing?"
0:40:21 > 0:40:24I was, like, "Absolutely, brother, I hear you."
0:40:24 > 0:40:25# Let's dance
0:40:25 > 0:40:30# To the song they're playing on the radio
0:40:32 > 0:40:34# Let's sway
0:40:34 > 0:40:38# While colour lights up your face... #
0:40:38 > 0:40:42To help deliver the hit album Bowie was looking for,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Nile called on many of his former Chic team,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49including recording engineer Bob Clearmountain.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52I was setting up the session, I was setting up the microphones
0:40:52 > 0:40:55and the headphones and everything, and he came in
0:40:55 > 0:40:57and he's like, sort of following me around the studio.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00I was, "Wow! David Bowie's following me round a studio!"
0:41:00 > 0:41:04And he's going, "Look, do you know the musicians?"
0:41:04 > 0:41:08And I said, "Yeah, I know most of them. Don't you?"
0:41:08 > 0:41:11He goes, "No, I only know Nile.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14"They're all Nile's guys and I've never met them."
0:41:14 > 0:41:18I said, "Really?! OK, well, this ought to be fun." You know.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21- # Never gonna fall for... - # Modern love... #
0:41:21 > 0:41:25Let's Dance was finished in the studio in just three weeks
0:41:25 > 0:41:28and became the biggest selling album of Bowie's career,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31producing hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Parts of it are a Chic record.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36You look at the credits and Bernard's on there, Tony's on there.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Yes, it sounds a product of the '80s,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43but it really helps both of them.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46It gave Bowie his biggest album,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49it gave Nile that absolute credibility
0:41:49 > 0:41:51that, "If Bowie's using him, OK."
0:41:51 > 0:41:55And then the productions sort of tumbled out after that period.
0:41:55 > 0:42:02# You might know of the original sin
0:42:02 > 0:42:06# And you might know how... #
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Nile was now carving a successful path as a producer in his own right,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13moving further away from his disco past.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Ever present was his signature funky sound, which he applied
0:42:17 > 0:42:21to Australian band INXS, handing them their first number-one single.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28We heard Original Sin, a track Nile had done with INXS.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31And I heard that and that just really knocked me out.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35And then I knew that Let's Dance wasn't a fluke.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39By 1983, Duran Duran had already had a string of hit singles in the UK,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43but the first two singles from Seven And The Ragged Tiger
0:42:43 > 0:42:45hadn't made the impact the band wanted.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49The Reflex, which was a song we'd written on the third album,
0:42:49 > 0:42:51which we all felt was...
0:42:51 > 0:42:54We all felt it was a commercial sounding song,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57but we just didn't have it quite right.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00There was a feeling that we could adjust it a little and get it right.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03And that's when we thought Nile might be the man to do it.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07# The reflex is an only child
0:43:07 > 0:43:11# He's waiting in the park... #
0:43:11 > 0:43:15I reconstructed the record. I rewrote it, basically.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17You know, I reproduced it from my point of view.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Cos, like I said, I'm not a mixer per se, I'm an arranger.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23I don't know what the hell he did to it.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25He, like, dipped it in the funk jar.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28He trimmed back the fat, he made it all meat.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32And then he added this really spicy sauce to it.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45He made the flex-flex-flex, all of those sampled parts,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49which were completely new at that time. Nobody had done that before.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52# So why-y-y don't you use it... #
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Nile started what would become a long working relationship with Duran Duran
0:43:58 > 0:44:00when they were already a global sensation.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04But his greatest commercial success was the result of a collaboration
0:44:04 > 0:44:09with an up-and-coming artist hungry for worldwide domination.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13# I made it through the wilderness
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# Somehow I made it through... #
0:44:16 > 0:44:20She used to say that she was going to be the biggest star in the world
0:44:20 > 0:44:22and I loved that about her. I absolutely loved it.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25I would introduce her to somebody who was really famous
0:44:25 > 0:44:27and Madonna wasn't, and she would say,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30"Oh, hi, I'm Madonna, I'm going to be a superstar."
0:44:30 > 0:44:33# I was sad and blue... #
0:44:33 > 0:44:35To record her second album, Like A Virgin,
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Nile took Madonna to New York's legendary Power Station Studios
0:44:39 > 0:44:42and brought in his old Chic band-mates once again.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46I think that Nile made a conscious departure
0:44:46 > 0:44:50from the more sequenced techno-sounding style
0:44:50 > 0:44:52of her first album.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57# Like a virgin... #
0:44:57 > 0:45:01I was able to say to her, "If we just programme your record,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04"we'll just sound like any other synth-pop thing
0:45:04 > 0:45:07"and you could be replaceable.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11"But if Chic plays your record, no-one sounds like Chic.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13"We're the only ones that sound like that.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16"Cos no-one can play like Bernard, no-one plays like Tony.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18"That's how we play."
0:45:18 > 0:45:21# Cos we are living in a material world
0:45:21 > 0:45:24# And I am a material girl... #
0:45:24 > 0:45:27That could almost be seen as Chic's last album,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29because most of them are on that record.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31That's what Chic did next.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32The Like A Virgin album
0:45:32 > 0:45:35was to become Nile's biggest selling production,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38moving over 21 million copies worldwide.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43# ..You know that we are living in a material world... #
0:45:43 > 0:45:47It just gave Nile at that point that absolute invincibility.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51This is the guy you go to who is going to make you a big star.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55As the '80s rolled on, Nile's talents not only as a producer,
0:45:55 > 0:46:00but as a composer and guitarist, continued to be in huge demand.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01MUSIC: Roam by The B-52's
0:46:03 > 0:46:06Everybody wanted some of the Hitmaker's magic.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22Whenever Nile plays guitar for you, he's producing what he's doing.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26He's producing himself, and helping to produce the record.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31# Bring me a higher love
0:46:31 > 0:46:35# Bring me a higher love... #
0:46:35 > 0:46:39He would go into the studio and do a take
0:46:39 > 0:46:44and come back and we'd say, you know, "Fantastic! Great!"
0:46:44 > 0:46:46And he'd have a listen and say,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49"Yeah, well, I just want to go and just change that
0:46:49 > 0:46:50"and do that bit again."
0:46:50 > 0:46:53"OK. Fine. It sounds great to us."
0:46:53 > 0:46:58So for me he had a big production influence on the record.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01MUSIC: Don't Stop The Dance by Bryan Ferry
0:47:03 > 0:47:07We were doing an album called Boys And Girls.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09He came and ended up playing on every track,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13always finding a space... No matter how much stuff we had on tape,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16how many musicians were already recorded,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19he'd find something which would make it sound better.
0:47:19 > 0:47:26And he is a genius...at just improving a groove of a song.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30# Don't stop
0:47:30 > 0:47:32# Don't stop the dance... #
0:47:35 > 0:47:39He's one of the few signature musicians left
0:47:39 > 0:47:42that can play eight bars, and everybody that hears that song
0:47:42 > 0:47:45are going to hear Nile Rodgers, they're going to hear that feel.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47There's not many people that can do that.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50I can't think of anybody else, actually, that can do it.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Throughout the '80s, Nile's former Chic partner Bernard Edwards
0:47:58 > 0:48:00played on many of his productions.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05Bernard also had a successful career as a producer in his own right.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10Chic would reform in 1992 with a new line-up for one more album.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15They went on the road
0:48:15 > 0:48:20at a time when Nile's excesses were starting to catch up with him.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23I realised that I was living a lifestyle
0:48:23 > 0:48:26that I couldn't sustain very long.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30It was obviously going to crash and burn.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33At that point my heart had already stopped eight times,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36I had already been in God knows how many coronary care
0:48:36 > 0:48:39and intensive-care coronary units.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43And all sorts of stuff, acute alcohol poisoning three or four times.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46At that point I had diabetes...
0:48:46 > 0:48:49I mean, I was just killing myself.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53And... And that was it.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Drugs and alcohol had been part of Nile's life since his childhood,
0:48:57 > 0:49:00but in 1994 he would check himself into rehab
0:49:00 > 0:49:02and quit once and for all.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Two years later, a clean and sober Nile Rodgers
0:49:06 > 0:49:09was invited by Japanese television
0:49:09 > 0:49:12to play at an event to celebrate his work as a producer.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15# I want your love
0:49:15 > 0:49:17# I want your love... #
0:49:17 > 0:49:19The concert would see Nile
0:49:19 > 0:49:22back on stage with Chic, and musical partner Bernard.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26When we showed up for the show, Bernard had taken sick.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31The doctor examined him and said, "Whoa! You can't go on stage.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35"You got to go to hospital right now."
0:49:35 > 0:49:38And Bernard refused to go.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43'So we go on and we do the show, and everything was going great...'
0:49:43 > 0:49:45We got to bring it down. He can't talk tonight.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Yeah, I'm a little sick tonight.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53- I got the Tokyo flu. - THEY LAUGH
0:49:53 > 0:49:55But we're still here.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58After that concert, we all hug and we're thrilled.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01You can see the jubilation on our faces,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03cos we killed it, it was a great show.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Erm... And Bernard goes back to his hotel room.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11I actually was on my way out to go to a restaurant, and I called his room
0:50:11 > 0:50:15to check on him and I asked him if he wanted me to bring him any food back.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19And his last words to me were...
0:50:19 > 0:50:24"No, I'll be all right. I just need to rest."
0:50:24 > 0:50:26And that's what he did. He needed to rest
0:50:26 > 0:50:28and I never heard another word from him.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31On the 18th of April, 1996,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Nile found Bernard in his hotel room.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37He had died from pneumonia.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43His sudden death brought to an end a friendship and musical partnership
0:50:43 > 0:50:45that had survived good times and bad
0:50:45 > 0:50:48and had changed the face of pop music for ever.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Chic's musical legacy lives on.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Nile and Bernard's music has been sampled hundreds of times,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01continuing to make hits for artists to the present day.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08In 2010, Nile was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer
0:51:08 > 0:51:13but rather than slowing down, he threw himself into a hectic schedule
0:51:13 > 0:51:15of touring and recording.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20Less than two years later,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22French electronic dance music pioneers Daft Punk
0:51:22 > 0:51:26were looking to change their sound and create an album using
0:51:26 > 0:51:28real musicians that paid homage to '70s disco.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Instead of sampling Chic, they would call in the Hitmaker in person.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Random Access Memories was Daft Punk's first studio album,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43because every other record they did at home in their bedroom, or whatever.
0:51:43 > 0:51:50Daft Punk never did a pop record with live musicians and people playing.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53# Lose yourself to dance... #
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Daft Punk also brought in frontman Pharrell Williams,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01drummer Omar Hakim and bassist Nathan East.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05The collaboration would result in a track that would become one of the biggest hits of summer 2013.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09We recorded a bunch of tracks in Los Angeles
0:52:09 > 0:52:11and Get Lucky was one of those tracks.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17It went back to Nile and I had a listen to it with the new guitar part
0:52:17 > 0:52:19and it was a different song.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23I mean, Nile just took the song to another level.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25# Like the legend of the Phoenix... #
0:52:25 > 0:52:30He just put the signature funk thing that nobody else does but him
0:52:30 > 0:52:34and for me I was just really thinking a lot about what, you know,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36what that would be if it was a Chic record.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38# ..The force from the beginning... #
0:52:42 > 0:52:48People who didn't know who Daft Punk was thought that Pharrell and I were Daft Punk
0:52:48 > 0:52:50and that the robots were props in our cool little video.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52# ..all night to the sun
0:52:52 > 0:52:54# I'm up all night to get some... #
0:52:54 > 0:52:58So a lot times people would call me Daft Punk
0:52:58 > 0:53:00or am I Punk or am I Daft?
0:53:02 > 0:53:05We were shocked with that whole Get Lucky thing.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09It changed that anonymous part of my life
0:53:09 > 0:53:13while retaining their complete anonymity.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17I wound up getting my first Grammy
0:53:17 > 0:53:19because of Daft Punk.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Get Lucky would go on to sell nearly ten million copies worldwide,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27helping thrust Nile back into the limelight.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34Chic, meanwhile, had been building their reputation as a great live band,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38their heavy touring schedule taking them to the Glastonbury Festival
0:53:38 > 0:53:41at a time when Get Lucky was at the height of its success.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46From the time when we were booked, to the time when we played,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50Random Access Memories comes out, and Get Lucky becomes a huge record.
0:53:50 > 0:53:5635,000 was the capacity, supposedly, of that particular stage.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58But we had 55,000
0:53:58 > 0:54:01so there was people as far as the eye could see.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04It was one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06It was just incredible.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08I remember people like texting
0:54:08 > 0:54:11kind of like their friends who were in other parts of the site,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14saying, like, you've got to get over here.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16And people were moving from all corners of the site,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18it was just such an amazing moment.
0:54:18 > 0:54:19# Good times
0:54:20 > 0:54:23# These are the good times
0:54:25 > 0:54:27# Leave your cares behind... #
0:54:27 > 0:54:31It was a real mixed crowd and I think people that wouldn't necessarily normally
0:54:31 > 0:54:34go to a Chic show suddenly had discovered it
0:54:34 > 0:54:37and been, like, this is just incredible, so a really young crowd
0:54:37 > 0:54:39as well as the older fans.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41# Chic, Chic
0:54:41 > 0:54:43# Chic, Chic
0:54:43 > 0:54:45# Chic, Chic... #
0:54:45 > 0:54:50The way we ended our show was we have all these people come up on stage and they dance with us and they party.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53# Good times. #
0:54:53 > 0:54:56And the very first time in my life,
0:54:56 > 0:55:02people were chanting, "Nile, Nile, Nile!"
0:55:04 > 0:55:07AUDIENCE: Nile! Nile! Nile!
0:55:09 > 0:55:12I was trying to hold back the tears cos I was overwhelmed.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15What does that do to a composer who's anonymous?
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Now all of a sudden there's 55,000 people
0:55:18 > 0:55:22that are confirming we like your compositions
0:55:22 > 0:55:24and we're going to let you know by just chanting your name.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27It was like going, "Ludwig, Ludwig!",
0:55:27 > 0:55:30and like, Beethoven's going, "All right!"
0:55:33 > 0:55:36As a result of the hits with Daft Punk and Chic's success as a live band,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Nile's career has been reignited, and in 2015
0:55:40 > 0:55:44he is releasing the first new Chic material for 23 years.
0:55:44 > 0:55:45The album takes inspiration
0:55:45 > 0:55:48from the music that gave him his big break in the '70s.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53It was important for me to, to pay tribute
0:55:53 > 0:55:56to the music that gave me my start,
0:55:56 > 0:56:01but I didn't sort of look at it as a retro thing in a way.
0:56:01 > 0:56:07You know, disco was not just something that was part of a fad that went away.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11It's part of my life, it was the music that changed my life.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14# When a single DJ dropped the needle on our vinyl
0:56:14 > 0:56:16# Everybody dance... #
0:56:16 > 0:56:20The starting point for the new album was the discover of some early Chic
0:56:20 > 0:56:23and Sister Sledge tapes that Nile believed were lost.
0:56:23 > 0:56:29The reason why I didn't make it just an album of these found tapes
0:56:29 > 0:56:34is because time has become very important to me.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38You get terminal disease, cancer, the time that they diagnosed me
0:56:38 > 0:56:40it wasn't looking very good.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43The outcome was fairly grim
0:56:43 > 0:56:46and, thank God, I did well, I recovered well,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50but all of a sudden time takes on a new dimension.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54And I realised that most of the people on the lost tapes
0:56:54 > 0:56:58have passed away. Luther Vandross, Tony Thompson, Bernard Edwards,
0:56:58 > 0:56:59Raymond Jones.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05- # And if you come along - I'll be there there... #
0:57:05 > 0:57:09You know, Bernard has been dead almost 20 years now
0:57:09 > 0:57:11but I've been making music ever since.
0:57:11 > 0:57:16So, I wanted the album to be a true reflection of
0:57:16 > 0:57:21what Chic would be if Bernard were still alive.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27'Music evolves, it's just a natural process,
0:57:27 > 0:57:29'and that's what that's about.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33'Paying homage and tribute to the music that changed my life
0:57:33 > 0:57:38'and also evolving and liking modern music.'
0:57:40 > 0:57:44# ..it's a nice place to visit... #
0:57:44 > 0:57:47Chic's new material, his work with Daft Punk,
0:57:47 > 0:57:52and Nile's passion for playing live have introduced him to brand-new audiences,
0:57:52 > 0:57:58audiences that are now meeting the Hitmaker, the man behind nearly 40 years of hit music.
0:57:58 > 0:57:59One, two, ahhh...
0:57:59 > 0:58:00# Freak out!
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# Le freak, c'est chic
0:58:03 > 0:58:04# Freak out!
0:58:04 > 0:58:05Come on
0:58:07 > 0:58:08# Ahhh, freak out!
0:58:10 > 0:58:11# C'est chic
0:58:11 > 0:58:13# Freak out! #
0:58:17 > 0:58:22I think Nile's musical legacy is that he made very, very successful pop music
0:58:22 > 0:58:25that had some class in it,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28songs and records you'd have to be made of stone to not react to.
0:58:34 > 0:58:36You can talk to people who are knowledgeable about music
0:58:36 > 0:58:40and you'll say Nile Rodgers and you'll be shocked they don't know who you're talking about
0:58:40 > 0:58:44and then you mention Upside Down and We Are Family and so on, and, "What? He did all of that?"
0:58:46 > 0:58:51He never had his own name in lights particularly because he was always behind other names like Chic
0:58:51 > 0:58:52or Diana Ross or Sister Sledge.
0:58:52 > 0:58:55When you get all that music together, and say, "I know this guy!"
0:58:59 > 0:59:02I think people have been looking at the body of work
0:59:02 > 0:59:04that he's produced and gone, "Wow!"
0:59:05 > 0:59:06# All that pressure
0:59:06 > 0:59:08# Got you down
0:59:08 > 0:59:10# Has your head
0:59:10 > 0:59:12# Spinning all around
0:59:13 > 0:59:14# Just come on down
0:59:14 > 0:59:17# To the 54
0:59:18 > 0:59:21# Find a spot Come on
0:59:21 > 0:59:23# Ahhh, freak out!
0:59:23 > 0:59:24# Le freak, c'est chic
0:59:24 > 0:59:26# Freak out
0:59:26 > 0:59:28Everybody, one time, come on!
0:59:28 > 0:59:30# Ahhh, freak out! #
0:59:30 > 0:59:31Thank you.