COLLECTION CHIC

1976–1978: Origins and early singers

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in 1970, as fellow session musicians working around the New York City circuit. They formed a rock band called The Boys and later The Big Apple Band, playing numerous gigs around New York City. But despite interest in their demos, they could not get a record contract, possibly in part because music companies of the time didn't believe that black artists could create saleable rock music.

In 1977, Edwards and Rodgers had former LaBelle and Ecstasy, Passion, & Pain drummer Tony Thompson join the band, performing as a trio doing covers at various gigs. Needing a singer to become a full band, they engaged Norma Jean Wright under an agreement that she wanted to have a dual career between the band and her solo career. Using a young recording engineer Bob Clearmountain, they created a demo tape which included the tracks "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Everybody Dance," which sent the renamed Chic out on the road as a support act. ("Everybody Dance" was later covered by famous drag queen RuPaul on his debut album in 1993)

Now signed to Atlantic Records, in 1977 they released the self-titled debut album Chic which was an extension of the demo tape. But Edwards and Rogers were now convinced that to replicate the bands recording studio sound live in sound and visuals, they needed to add another female singer to front the band. Wright suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member in late winter/early spring of 1978.

Right after the sessions ended for its debut album, the band members began to work on Wright's self-titled debut solo album Norma Jean, released in 1978. This album contained club hit "Saturday." To facilitate Wright's solo career, intended to be parallel to her Chic career, the band had agreed to sign her to a separate contract and label. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Wright to leave the band in mid-1978, but not before she took part in the sessions for Chic-produced Sister Sledge album We Are Family. She was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had been on back up vocals on the band’s debut album. For the Sister Sledge project, Edwards and Rogers wrote and produced "He's the Greatest Dancer" (originally intended to be a Chic song) in exchange for "I Want Your Love" (originally intended to be performed by Sister Sledge).
1978–1979: "Le Freak" and "Good Times"

In late 1978, the band released C'est Chic, containing one of its best-known tracks, "Le Freak." Created from a champagne-fuelled jam session in Edwards apartment, after they had failed on New Years Eve to meet with Grace Jones at New York's exclusive nightclub Studio 54. The original hook line "Aaa, fuck off" aimed at the door men at Studio 54, was replaced that night with "Aaa, freak out" after trying a version with "Aaa, freak off."The resultant single was a massive success, topping the US charts and selling over 6 million copies. It was the biggest-ever selling single ever of Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music, until replaced by Madonna's Vogue in 1990.

The following year, the group released the Risqué album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most influential songs of the era. The track formed the backbone of Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop single, "Rapper's Delight", and it has been endlessly sampled since by many dance and hip-hop acts, as well as being the inspiration for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" and also Blondie's "Rapture" also for the bass line of Daft Punk "Around the World".

At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and R&B records for both established artists and one-hit wonders, 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 hit 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.

Chic also helped introduce the world to an up-and-coming young vocalist named Luther Vandross, who sang on several of Chic's albums, and helped define the distinctive vocal style of Chic. That style he used on his big breakthrough, the disco band Change's debut album "The Glow of Love" in 1980.
1980s–1990s: Disbanding, other projects, a brief reunion

In the early 1980s, in the aftermath of the anti-disco backlash, the band struggled to obtain both airplay and sales, and it eventually disbanded. Rodgers and Edwards produced records for a wide variety of artists separately. Together, they produced the hugely successful Diana album for Diana Ross in 1980, which yielded the number-one single "Upside Down" and the Top-Ten hit "I'm Coming Out." "My Old Piano" was also a Top-Ten single for Ross in the United Kingdom. Rodgers co-produced David Bowie's 1983 album Let's Dance and was also largely responsible for the breakthrough success of Madonna Ciccone in 1984 with her Like a Virgin album. Madonna's first proper hit single, 1983's "Holiday," was just like Blondie's "Rapture" and the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight," both heavily influenced and a tribute to the Chic sound in general and "Good Times" in particular. Madonna's Like a Virgin album reunited Rodgers, Thompson, Edwards, keyboardist Rob Sabino, and collaborators Jeff Bova and Jimmy Bralower. In 1984, Rodgers was involved with Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers project and helped produce that band's only EP. Thompson and Edwards worked with the super group Power Station on its 1985 hit album, as well as Power Station lead singer Robert Palmer's solo smash Riptide that same year (both of which Edwards produced). In 1986, Rodgers produced Notorious, the fourth album from Duran Duran. Bernard Edwards later gave Duran Duran's bassist John Taylor the bass he'd played during on many of Chic's hits. Taylor had long been a huge Chic fan and learned to play bass by studying Edwards' playing.

After a 1989 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards, Paul Shaffer, and Anton Fig played old Chic hits to rapturous response, Rodgers and Edwards organized a reunion of the old band. They recorded new material—a single, "Chic Mystique" (remixed by Masters at Work) and subsequent album Chic-Ism, both of which charted—and played live all over the world, to great audience and critical acclaim.

In 1996, Rodgers was honored as the Top Producer in the World in Billboard Magazine, and was named a JT Super Producer. That year, he performed with Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood, Simon Le Bon, and Slash in a series of commemorative concerts in Japan, which provided a career retrospective. Unfortunately, his longtime musical partner Edwards died of pneumonia at age 43 during the trip on April 18, 1996. His final performance was recorded and released as Live at the Budokan. Chic continued to tour with new musicians.

Thompson died of kidney cancer on November 12, 2003, at age 48.
2000s - CHIC

CHIC has been nominated for inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame five times—2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Rodgers and CHIC continue to perform to sold-out venues worldwide.

CHIC - The Very Best And Remix - 1999

1. Le Freak
2. Good Times
3. Everybody Dance
4. Danc Dance Dance
5. I Want Your Love
6. My Feet Keep Dancing
9. Chic Cheer
7. My Forbidden Lover
8. Stage Fright
10. Hangin'
11. Chic Mystique
12. Dance Dance Dance (Long Version)
13. Everybody Dance (Friscia Glenn Remix)
14. Chic Mystique (Remix)
15. Megachic (Medley)

DOWLOAD-CHIC - The Very Best And Remix - 1999

CHIC - Live At The Budokan - 1999

1. Bernard introduction
2. Band introduction
3. Le freak
4. Dance, dance, dance (Intro)
5. Dance, dance, dance
6. I want your love
7. Sister Sledge (Intro)
8. He's the greatest dancer
9. We are family (Intro)
10. We are family
11. Do that dance
12. Good times (Intro)
13. Good times/Rapper's delight
14. Stone free (Intro)
15. Stone free
16. Chic cheer
17. Backstage
18. Bernard

DOWLOAD-CHIC - Live At The Budokan - 1999

CHIC - Ism - 1992

1. Chic mystique
2. Your love
3. Jusagroove
4. Something you can feel
5. One and only one
6. Doin' that thing to me
7. Chicism
8. In it to win it
9. My love's for real
10. Take my love
11. High
12. M.M.F.T.C.F.
13. Chic mystique (Reprise)

DOWLOAD-CHIC - Ism - 1992

CHIC - Believer - 1983

1. Believer
2. You are beautiful
3. Take a closer look
4. Give me the lovin'
5. Show me your light
6. You got some love for me
7. In love with music
8. Party everybody

DOWNLOAD-CHIC - Believer - 1983

CHIC - Tongue - 1982

1. Hangin'
2. I feel your love comin' on
3. When you love someone
4. Chic (Everybody say)
5. Hey fool
6. Sharing love
7. City lights

DOWLOAD-CHIC - Tongue - 1982

CHIC - Take It Off - 1981



1. Stage fright
2. Burn hard
3. So fine
4. Flash back
5. Telling lies
6. Your love is cancelled
7.Would you be my baby
8. Take it off
9. Just out of reach
10. Baby doll

DOWLOAD-CHIC - Take It Off - 1981

CHIC - Real People 1980



1. Open Up
2. Real People
3. I loved you more
4. I got protection
5. Rebels are we
6. Chip off the old block
7. 26
8. You can't do it alone

DOWNLOAD-CHIC - Real People 1980

CHIC - Risqué - 1979

1. Good Times
2. A warm summer night
3. My feet keep dancing
4. My forbidden lover
5. Can't stand to love you
6. Will you cry
7. What about me

DOWLOAD-CHIC - Risqué - 1979

CHIC - C'est Chic 1978

1. Chic Cheer
2. Le Freak
3. Savoir Faire
4. Happy Man
5. I want your love
6. At last I am free
7. Sometimes you win
8. (Funny) Bone

DOWLOAD-C'EST CHIC 1978

CHIC- Chic- 1977

1.Dance, Dance, Dance
2. Sao Paulo
3. You Can Get By
4. Everybody Dance
5. Est-Ce Que C'est Chic
6. Falling In Love With You
7. Strike Up The Band

DOWNLOAD-Chic- 1977