Chic (band)

1970–1978: Origins and early singers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in 1970 as session musicians working in the New York City area. They formed a rock band initially named The Boys, but soon changed it to The Big Apple Band, and played numerous gigs around New York City. During 1977, Edwards and Rodgers recruited drummer Tony Thompson, formerly with Labelle and Ecstasy, Passion & Pain, to join the band; they performed as a trio doing cover versions at various gigs. The resulting single was a great success, reaching No. 1 on the US charts On March 21, 2018 "Le Freak" was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The next year, the group released the Risqué album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most influential songs of the era. The track was the basis of Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and The Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip hop music single "Rapper's Delight". It has been sampled since by many dance and hip hop acts, as well as being the inspiration for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980), Blondie's "Rapture" (1981), Captain Sensible's "Wot?" (1982) and, two decades later, the bass line for Daft Punk’s "Around the World" (1997). At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and R&B records for various artists, including Sister Sledge's albums We Are Family (1979) and Love Somebody Today (1980); Sheila and B. Devotion's "Spacer"; Diana Ross's 1980 album Diana, which included the successful singles "Upside Down", "I'm Coming Out" and "My Old Piano"; Carly Simon's "Why" (from 1982 soundtrack Soup for One); and Debbie Harry's debut solo album KooKoo (1981). In October 2010, Rodgers began his fight with prostate cancer. In October 2011, he released his autobiography entitled Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny. In 2013, Chic with Nile Rodgers headlined the West Holts Stage on Friday night at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, and played a variety of tracks both from Chic and from Nile Rodgers' extensive list of songs he had worked on for other artists. Noel Gallagher noted "My favorite act at this year's Glastonbury, when I went, was not the Rolling Stones, as great as they were; was not the Arctic Monkeys, as good as they were; was not Disclosure, as good as they were; but it was Chic. They were fucking mega. Absolutely out of this world." A compilation album, Up All Night (2013), credited to The Chic Organization and featuring their productions for various artists between 1977 and 1982, was released the following Monday, 1 July, and entered the UK Compilation Albums Chart at number two a week later. Chic and Nile Rodgers played the iTunes Festival in London on September 14, 2013. They opened British The X Factor live show on 2 November 2013 for Disco week. They performed a medley of hits including "Le Freak", "He's the Greatest Dancer" and "Good Times". Rodgers announced in 2013 that he was working on a new Chic album, based on rediscovered tapes of unreleased material from the early 1980s. He also stated that Daft Punk is interested in working on at least one song of the unreleased material with him. Rodgers co-wrote and performed on three songs off Daft Punk's 2013 Grammy Award-winning Album of the Year Random Access Memories including the Grammy Record of the Year "Get Lucky" with the duo and Pharrell Williams. 2014–present: ''It's About Time'' and other things Chic and Nile Rodgers headlined at the 2014 Essence Festival curated by Prince. Special guests performing with Chic during a segment of the show that highlighted Chic's songwriting and production work for other artists, were Kathy Sledge for Sister Sledge's "We Are Family", Janelle Monáe for Sister Sledge's "He's the Greatest Dancer" and Prince for David Bowie's "Let's Dance". Chic and Nile Rodgers headlined Bestival on the Isle of Wight on September 7, 2014. Rodgers played tribute to his guitar technician Terry Brauer at Bestival after learning of his death from cancer. While chatting with Billboard's Kerri Mason, Rodgers announced a new Chic album and shared a never-before-heard new solo track. The upcoming album is set to feature collaborations from David Guetta and Avicii. Rodgers described how a lick he played to test a freshly-repaired guitar caught the ear of DJ Nicky Romero, ending as an important part of a "huge song" on the upcoming album. Rodgers assumed "It sounds like a pop record". In February 2015, it was announced that Nile Rodgers had signed a new record deal with Warner Bros., with the release of a new Chic album for the first time in more than two decades. The lead single from the record, titled "I'll Be There", was released on March 20, 2015. Besides this, Warner Bros. signed a deal with Land of the Good Groove, the label formed by Rodgers and Michael Ostin, son of longtime Warner Bros. head Mo Ostin. Rodgers unveiled the track "I'll Be There" during the vernal equinox and total solar eclipse on March 20 to signify the rebirth of the Chic Organization. Rodgers received a box of lost Chic demos back in 2010, and "I'll Be There" is one of those lost tapes finished. Rodgers gave an update on his new solo material with a new track called "Do What You Wanna Do", and announced that a Chic-inspired musical is in the early stages of production. On December 31, 2017, the band performed at New Year Live at the Methodist Central Hall in London. On June 12, 2018, the band announced its ninth album ''It's About Time'', which was initially scheduled for release on September 7. It was later released on September 28. The lead single, "Till the World Falls" featuring Mura Masa, Vic Mensa and Cosha, was released on June 21, 2018. although it did not eventuate. In September 2018, Chic and Rodgers played as the opening act for BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing. During the second and fourth legs of the American singer-actress Cher's 2019 tour, Chic served as the opening act. ==Influences and awards==

In addition to refining a relatively minimalist disco sound, Chic helped to inspire other artists to create their own sound. For example, The Sugarhill Gang used "Good Times" as the basis for its success "Rapper's Delight" (1979), which helped initiate the hip hop recorded music format that is known today. "Good Times" was used also by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on its hit "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", which was used in the end sequence of the first hip-hop movie, Wild Style, from 1982. Blondie's 1980 US number-one song "Rapture" was not only influenced by "Good Times" but was a direct tribute to Chic, and main singer Deborah Harry's 1981 debut solo album KooKoo was produced by Edwards and Rodgers. Chic was cited as an influence by many successful bands from Great Britain during the 1980s. John Taylor, the bassist from Duran Duran claims the bass part of their top 10 single "Rio" (1982) was influenced by Edwards' work with Chic. Even Johnny Marr of The Smiths has cited the group as a formative influence. Rodgers' guitar work has been so emulated as to become commonplace, and Edwards' lyrical bass is also much-cited in music circles, as is Thompson's recorded drum work. Queen got the inspiration for its single "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980) from Bernard Edwards' familiar bass guitar riff on "Good Times" after John Deacon met the band at the Power Station recording studio. The French duo Modjo used the guitar sample from Chic's "Soup for One", as the basic theme for their single, "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)". Chic influenced the vocal and music style of the Italian-American disco band Change, which had a series of successes during the early 1980s. The two acts also had a couple of things in common: Chic alumnus Luther Vandross was also Change's vocalist upon the latter's formation, and Change, like Chic, were signed to Atlantic through its distributed RFC label. On September 19, 2005, the group was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony in New York when they were inducted in three categories: 1) Artist Inductees, 2) Record Inductees for "Good Times," and 3) Producers Inductees, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Chic has been nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 11 times: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Nile Rodgers for Musical Excellence. The group was not nominated for induction in 2018. Rodgers and Chic continue to perform to major audiences worldwide as Nile Rodgers & Chic. In 2019, Chic received a nomination for the Brit Award for International Group. ==Members==

; Original line-up • Nile Rodgers – guitar, vocals • Bernard Edwards – bass, vocals • Tony Thompson – drums • Norma Jean Wright – lead vocals • Luci Martin – lead vocals ; Current line-up • Nile Rodgers – guitar, vocals • Jerry Barnes – bass, vocals • Ralph Rolle – drums, vocals • Naomi Rodgers – lead vocals • Audrey Martells – lead vocals • Richard Hilton – keyboards • Russell Graham – keyboards, vocals • Brandon Wright – horns • Steve Jankowski – horns • Ken Gioffre – horns ; Former members • Alfa Anderson – vocals • Karen Milne – strings • Marianne Carroll – strings • Valerie Heywood – strings • Cheryl Hong – strings • Karen Karlsrud – strings • Gene Orloff – strings • Jean Fineberg – saxophone, flute • Ellen Seeling – trumpet, flugelhorn • Fonzi Thornton – vocals • Michele Cobbs – vocals • Ullanda McCullough – vocals • Luther Vandross – vocals • Jocelyn Brown – vocals • Sylver Logan Sharp – vocals • Jill Jones – vocals • Jessie Wagner – vocals • Jenn Thomas – vocals • David Lasley – vocals • Cherie Mitchell – vocals, keyboards • Raymond Jones – keyboards • Robert Sabino – keyboards • Andy Schwartz (Barrett) – keyboards • Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr. – keyboards • Selan Lerner – keyboards • Sammy Figueroa – percussion • Gerardo Velez – percussion • Don Harris – horns • Omar Hakim – drums • Mac Gollehon – trumpet • Phillipe Saisse – keyboards • Christopher Max – vocals • Folami – lead vocals • Bill Holloman – horns • Curt Ramm – horns • Kimberly Davis – lead vocals ==Discography==

Studio albums • Chic (1977) • ''C'est Chic'' (1978) • Risqué (1979) • Real People (1980) • Take It Off (1981) • Tongue in Chic (1982) • Believer (1983) • Chic-ism (1992) • ''It's About Time'' (2018) ==Hall of Fame==

Chic has been nominated eleven times for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but has yet to receive enough votes to become an inductee. They officially became the most nominated act in the Hall's history to not earn induction. ==See also ==