Legendary producer and co-founder of Chic, Nile Rodgers wrote 'We Are Family' for Sister Sledge and 'I'm Coming Out' for Diana Ross before producing Let's Dance for David Bowie and Like a Virgin for Madonna. So many of my "embarrass the kid" songs - the ones I can't help singing all the words to while I get my groove on no matter where we are or who is watching - are Nile's. The suave appearance of himself and musical partner Bernard Edwards always gave off well-heeled vibes of the black urban professional making a name within the sophisticated world of disco culture of the late 70’s, Nile, however, was pretty much a street kid. He tells only one drug-related story which names names, and he notes that he did so with permission.

Nile Rodgers was someone in the music business I had been aware of since 1977, when I --- who had just crossed the threshold into adolescence --- first heard on the radio the song "Dance Dance Dance" from his group Chic, with whom he would enjoy a dizzying and intoxicating run of success over the next 2 years with hits like "Le Freak (C'est chic)", "Everybody Dance", "I Want Your Love", and "Good Times. Rodgers has worked with Madonna, Bowie, Diana Ross and scores of other legends, as well as making history with his own hits as part of Chic. During pop’s most glamorous and decadent age, Nile Rodgers wrote the biggest records and lived behind the velvet rope—whether he was holding court in the bathroom stalls at Studio 54, club hopping with Madonna, or scarfing down White Castle burgers with Diana Ross.After the disbanding of NYC, they'd soon become involved with Tony Thompson, and the Chic trio formed.

He jammed with Jimi Hendrix, rocked out at Max’s Kansas City, toured with Big Bird on Sesame Street’s road show, and played in the legendary Apollo Theater house band behind history’s greatest soul singers. but as this diagnosis was some time ago - 2010 - I'm surprised there was nothing more after this, maybe an afterword, or an extra bit added to the text to say what happened next, but that aside it was a thoroughly entertaining read. Legendary producer and co-founder of Chic, Nile wrote ‘We are Family’ for Sister Sledge and ‘I’m Coming Out’ for Diana Ross, and then produced Let’s Dance for David Bowie and Like a Virgin for Madonna. Rodgers, who was the core of the disco band Chic along with bassist Bernard Edwards, realized that the Motown diva could speak to her gay fans with a knowing wink—and the Ross classic “I’m Coming Out” was born. If I was to criticise the book does seem to end rather suddenly, with Nile's cancer diagnosis (literally on the last page, along the lines of "yesterday I was told I had cancer, and I'm going to see the doctor today.Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Jarreau, Mariah Carey, Robert Plant, the B-52s and David Lee Roth are only mentioned in passing, and it would be good to get the full story of Chic’s live renaissance. His stepfather Bobby, a heroin-addicted beatnik, nicknamed the asthmatic Rodgers ‘Pud’, short for ‘pudding pie’, and used to reprimand him thus: ‘Pud. Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections—they may also appear in recommendations and other places.