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Nile Rodgers Radio 2 - interview


casapete
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Just caught a bit of the interview on Radio 2 on Sunday afternoon with Nile Rodgers on the Johnnie Walker show.

Am sure I heard mention of both Nile and Bernard Edwards playing on the song 'I'm doing fine now' by the band New York City.
I never knew they had both been involved with the record.

Great tune and bassline - produced by Thom Bell in 1973, and later covered here by The Pasadenas I think.

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Yeah i heard this interview..Really good stuff..Was interesting to here that Nile and Bernard turned down the producing of a Rolling Stones record, becauase they thought everyone would think the RS would get the production recognition and not them..


ironically im betting that not that many people know that they produced Sister Sledge's We are Family..

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[quote name='bubinga5' post='579322' date='Aug 24 2009, 05:06 PM']Yeah i heard this interview..Really good stuff..Was interesting to here that Nile and Bernard turned down the producing of a Rolling Stones record, becauase they thought everyone would think the RS would get the production recognition and not them..


ironically im betting that not that many people know that they produced Sister Sledge's We are Family..[/quote]

And diana ross and carly simon.They gave these artists there biggest hits in my opinion.

Edited by YouMa
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Haven't heard this but I will, thanks to the blessing of BBC's iPlayer thingy.

For a great read and a mind-opener on how important CHIC were and just what they did, I'd heartily recommend 'Chic: Everybody Dance: The Politics of Disco' by Daryl Easlea

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Chic-Everybody-Dance-Politics-Disco/dp/1900924560"]http://www.amazon.com/Chic-Everybody-Dance...o/dp/1900924560[/url]

Much respect for Nile, Bernard and Tony.

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CHIC and Nile Rodgers are on tour at the moment. I'm going to see tham at the Forum in Kentish Town , London, a week Friday. Checking out a few recent vid's on youtube, their still putting on a good show.

Still tickets available as far as I know

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Bernard and Nile also played on, and produced Koo Koo by Debbie Harry way back in the mists of time ('81 I think). Sounded a bit like Chic, but with Debbie Harry singing. Not bad actually.

Will need to check out this interview. Nile is awesome, as was Bernard.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Platypus' post='579490' date='Aug 24 2009, 08:17 PM']CHIC and Nile Rodgers are on tour at the moment. I'm going to see tham at the Forum in Kentish Town , London, a week Friday. Checking out a few recent vid's on youtube, their still putting on a good show.

Still tickets available as far as I know[/quote]

That gig last night was a blast, a real disco fest. The played all their hits and some of the songs they did for the other artists mentioned above, Diana Ross , Sister Sledge

Ahh, Good Times

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And Bowie's 'Let's Dance' album and the early Madonna stuff and The Power Station and Sheila B Devotion.

As you can tell I'm a bit of a 'Nard fan.

Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards were the Lennon & McCartney of disco.

Saw an intersting interview with Nile Rodgers where he said that the night Bernard Edwards died, Rodgers said he was physically thrown out of his bed while he was asleep. He thinks it was Bernard Edwards saying goodbye.

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The Sister Sledge story goes something like - Nile & Bernard went to their record company and asked who was the act that was performing the worst. They figured that they could make Sister Sledge sucessful.

The sugarhill gang incident was particularly funny - as everyone knows, the sugarhill gang ripped off 'good times' without getting permission to use it in their song 'rappers delight'. NIle & Bernard threatened legal action so a couple of the Gang's entourage came round with guns and advised them against it.

They didn't know that Chic's lawyers were friendly with the Mafia and the end result was the same 2 guys coming back with a suitcase full of money

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[quote name='Delberthot' post='592671' date='Sep 8 2009, 09:09 AM']The Sister Sledge story goes something like - Nile & Bernard went to their record company and asked who was the act that was performing the worst. They figured that they could make Sister Sledge sucessful.

The sugarhill gang incident was particularly funny - as everyone knows, the sugarhill gang ripped off 'good times' without getting permission to use it in their song 'rappers delight'. NIle & Bernard threatened legal action so a couple of the Gang's entourage came round with guns and advised them against it.

They didn't know that Chic's lawyers were friendly with the Mafia and the end result was the same 2 guys coming back with a suitcase full of money[/quote]

Did they threaten John Deacon as well when they heard 'another one bites the dust' ?

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I heard a couple of great stories being told by Nile on a program about Disco one night.

First one was the Diana Ross record 'I'm Coming Out' - she was, at the time (maybe still is, I don't know) something of an icon within the lesbian community and they did this mainly as a joke to get her to burst on stage singing 'I'm Coming Out'. The mischievous little imps.

Then one time during an interview Nile said Bernard was asked what strings he used to get his distinctive sound. He said something like 'I don't know, man - Nile, what strings were on the bass when I got it?'

He always comes across as a really nice bloke - pretty humble about his success and talent which he generally lays at the feet of Bernard Edwards.

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[quote name='Paul S' post='592846' date='Sep 8 2009, 01:01 PM']I heard a couple of great stories being told by Nile on a program about Disco one night.

First one was the Diana Ross record 'I'm Coming Out' - she was, at the time (maybe still is, I don't know) something of an icon within the lesbian community and they did this mainly as a joke to get her to burst on stage singing 'I'm Coming Out'. The mischievous little imps.

Then one time during an interview Nile said Bernard was asked what strings he used to get his distinctive sound. He said something like 'I don't know, man - Nile, what strings were on the bass when I got it?'

He always comes across as a really nice bloke - pretty humble about his success and talent which he generally lays at the feet of Bernard Edwards.[/quote]

I heard the rest of the story about the strings on the bass. Apparently when Bernard died, his stingray was passed onto John Taylor from Duran Duran, including the original strings.

During one Duran Duran recording session a guitar tech swapped all the strings on it and chucked them out as"they looked old" :)

Edited by Bass_In_Yer_Face
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[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='592145' date='Sep 7 2009, 03:10 PM']And Bowie's 'Let's Dance' album and the early Madonna stuff and The Power Station and Sheila B Devotion.[/quote]

Yep, they played Lets Dance, with the drummer doing the vocal. One of the girl vocalists was stunning, they way she looked, the way she moved - could sing a bit as well :)

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I've had the opportunity to chat with Nile a couple of times on Facebook before he went permanently offline because he got too busy. He is a really, really nice bloke, very approachable and recently had a cancer scare which FB helped him get through while he was travelling cross country from CT to LA to see his specialist.

He says he rates Duran Duran's Notorious as one of his favourite sessions still.

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[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='593068' date='Sep 8 2009, 05:09 PM']I heard the rest of the story about the strings on the bass. Apparently when Bernard died, his stingray was passed onto John Taylor from Duran Duran, including the original strings.

During one Duran Duran recording session a guitar tech swapped all the strings on it and chucked them out as"they looked old" :)[/quote]

Not only did he take then off, he apparently cut them to get them off.

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