David Bowie Webdream

Nile Rodgers

Posted by Moonage | Filed under The World Of David Bowie

In 1977 Nile Rodgers exploded on the scene with Chic’s “Le Freak“. Now, disco bands were cranking out monster hits with regularity and vanishing. Rodgers stood out. After leaving Chic, he produced:

Sister Sledge, We Are Family, Cotillion, 1979.
Diana Ross, Diana, Motown, 1980.
Debbie Harry, Koo Koo, 1981.
Madonna, Like a Virgin, Sire, 1984.
Jeff Beck, Flash, CBS, 1985.
The Power Station, The Power Station, Capitol, 1985.
Thompson Twins, Here’s to Future Days, 1985.
Duran Duran, Notorious, Capitol, 1986.
Grace Jones, Inside Story, 1986.
The B-52’s, Cosmic Thing, Reprise, 1989.
Vaughan Brothers, Family Style, CBS, 1990.

In regards to this board, he teamed up with Bowie and Stevie Ray Vaughan for Bowie’s monster Let’s Dance. Now, Bowie had been thinking he was black during the Young Americans genre, but Rodgers made him black, just for one day. What made this work is Bowie let Rodgers, Vaughan, and the myriad of performers on this collection do the talking, he just sang. Bowie didn’t even try to act like the star on this one. And it worked. It gave Rodgers and Vaughan especially the spotlight they earned. And, it gave Bowie the comeback album he needed to prove he was still a viable force in creating music. It was a big deal in the career of Bowie.

So, what is Nile doing now?

Nile has been attacked by Dr. Charles Dobson for making a gay-leaning Spongbob Squarepants video featuring “We Are Family”. I kid you not.

Nile is apparently doing just fine 20 years after Let’s Dance. Which, given the fate of most of Bowie’s famous recording partners, is a very, very, good thing.