Nile Rodgers

Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American guitarist. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 100 million singles worldwide.

Formed as the Big Apple Band in 1972 with bassist Bernard Edwards, Chic released their self-titled debut album in 1977; it featured the hit singles "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Everybody Dance". The 1978 album C'est Chic included "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 Risqué was a number one single on the pop and soul charts, and became one of the most-sampled songs of all time.

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 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 also worked with artists including Kylie Minogue, the B-52s, Keith Urban, Jeff Beck, Avicii, Kygo, Daft Punk, Mick Jagger, Coldplay, Bryan Ferry, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, George Michael and Beyoncé. He won three Grammy Awards in 2014 for his work on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, and two in 2023 for his work with Beyoncé on her album Renaissance. He is the co-founder of We Are Family Foundation, a nonprofit founded following the September 11 attacks.

Rodgers is a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame via the Award for Musical Excellence. He has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement/Special Merit Award. Known for his chucking guitar style, Rolling Stone placed Rodgers 7th on a list of the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, writing: "There's 'influential,' then there's 'massively influential', then there's Nile Rodgers… a true innovator who never slows down, still making history with his guitar." He appeared on the New York Times list of the greatest living American songwriters in 2026.

Rodgers was born on September 19, 1952, in New York City on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to Beverly Goodman. She gave birth to Rodgers when she was 14. His biological father, Nile Rodgers Sr., was a travelling percussionist who specialized in Afro-Cuban beats and was rarely present as Rodgers grew up; although influential in his life, Rodgers saw his father only a "handful" of times prior to his death in 1970. In 1959, Goodman married Bobby Glanzrock. Rodgers described Glanzrock in his 2011 autobiography as a "beatnik PhD, whose observations had angles that would make Miles Davis contemplate his cool." Richard Pryor, Thelonious Monk, and Lenny Bruce often visited their home in Greenwich Village. Glanzrock and Goodman were addicted to heroin, and Rodgers began using drugs at 13.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.