Chic
Chic, one of the most successful and certainly the most influential of all Disco bands, found its center in the revered rhythm section of Bernard Edwards’ bass and Nile Rodgers’ scratchy rhythm guitar. Edwards and Rodgers also served as songwriters and producers for the band and countless others before Bernard Edwards untimely pasing in 1996. Along with Saturday Night Fever and Donna Summer, Chic were instrumental in taking Disco to its commercial peak during 1978 and early 1979. Their biggest hit Le Freak remains one of Atlantic Records’ bestselling singles of all time.
The musical collaboration of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards began with meeting each other in 1970 when both were just out of high school. In the early 70’s they formed the group The Big Apple Band and toured behind Disco pioneers New York City and Carol Douglas. Following confusion with Walter Murphy’s Big Apple Band, one-hit wonders with A Fifth Of Beethoven, The Big Apple Band was disbanded and the pair decided to head in a different direction. After abandoning a flirtation with Punk/New Wave, Rodgers and Edwards signed on drummer Tony Thompson and vocalists Norma Jean Wright and Alfa Anderson under the new name Chic. Their first single Dance, Dance, Dance, recorded in 1977, was offered to and rejected by many major record companies. Finally, independent label Buddah Records decided to release the single as a 12-inch Disco mix. It quickly caught on in New York clubs. Atlantic Records signed Chic and re-released the single more widely. Dance, Dance, Dance topped the Disco charts near the end of 1977 and the single roared into the top 10 of Pop and R&B charts in early 1978. Sales of their first album Chic were strong as well.
Before recording of their second album C’est Chic vocalist Norma Jean Wright left for a solo career and was replaced by Luci Martin. The first single off the new album was released in the fall of 1978 and by the end of the year the massive hit Le Freak was on top of Pop, Disco and R&B charts. Soon Le Freak became the biggest selling single of all time for Atlantic Records. With the wind of Chic’s success at their back, Rodgers and Edwards began lending songwriting assistance to other recording acts. Their first major success was Sister Sledge’s classic We Are Family in the spring of 1979. We Are Family was followed by the next Chic album Risque that featured the classic rhythm track of Good Times. Within 2 years Good Times had spawned a close imitation on the rhythm track of Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust and a wholesale use of the backing tracks for Sugarhill Gang’s rap breakthrough Rapper’s Delight. In the summer of 1980 Diana Ross topped the Dance, Pop and R&B charts with her album Diana and the single Upside Down featuring more stellar songwriting and production work from Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
Chic clearly were riding the final crest of the Disco wave. With the backlash against Disco in full force by the latter part of 1980, Chic’s next album Real People was a disaster in sales. Barely reaching the top 30 of the Dance chart, Real People would be Chic’s final appearance on the Dance chart until 1988. The albums Take It Off, Tongue In Chic and Believer tried in vain to distance Chic from its Disco past. The result not only failed to excite Pop audiences, but also alienated Chic’s core Dance audience as well. Rodgers and Edwards folded the group in favor of their own very successful outside projects. Among their projects were Nile Rodgers’ production work on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance and Madonna’s Like a Virgin as well as Bernard Edwards’ short-term membership in the group Power Station and production work on Robert Palmer’s Riptide.
A New Jack Swing remix of Le Freak called Jack Le Freak broke into the top 20 of the Dance chart in 1988 and a re-formed Chic once again hit #1 on Dance charts in 1992 with Chic Mystique. The album Chic-ism failed to sell to Pop audiences however and the group soon disbanded. Another reunion in the late 90’s produced the live recording Live At Budokan and included Bernard Edwards’ final onstage performances before suffering a fatal bout of pneumonia. Sadly, original drummer
Tony Thompson passed away from cancer in late 2003. Nile Rodgers continues to perform live in concerts and special events with a Chic grouping that is faithful to the classic music.
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