Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and arranger. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on albums that have sold more than 500 million units and 75 million singles worldwide. He is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a three-time Grammy Award-winner, and the chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Known for his “chucking” guitar style, Rolling Stone wrote in 2014 that “the full scope of Nile Rodgers’ career is still hard to fathom”.
Formed as the Big Apple Band in 1972 with bassist Bernard Edwards, Chic released their self-titled debut album in 1977, including the hit singles “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” and “Everybody Dance”. The 1978 album C’est Chic produced the hits “I Want Your Love” and “Le Freak”, with the latter selling more than seven million singles worldwide. The song “Good Times” from the 1979 album Risqu was a number one single on the pop and soul charts, and became one of the most-sampled songs of all time, “ushering in” hip-hop via the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”, inspiring Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”, and anchoring the Daft Punk hit “Around the World”.
With Edwards, Rodgers wrote and produced music for other artists, including the songs “He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “We Are Family” for Sister Sledge and “I’m Coming Out” and “Upside Down” for Diana Ross. After Chic’s breakup in 1983, Rodgers produced several major albums and singles for other artists, including David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, “Original Sin” by INXS, Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” and “Notorious”, and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. He later worked with artists including The B-52s, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, The Vaughan Brothers, Bryan Ferry, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, and Daft Punk, winning three Grammy Awards in 2014 for his work on their album Random Access Memories.