Music Legend Nile Rodgers Visits Full Sail
Latest Artist Series event brings celebrated musician and producer to campus.
Nile Rodgers speaks to students at a Full Sail Artist Series event.
Full Sail recently welcomed recording legend Nile Rodgers to campus. As the featured guest for Full Sail’s latest Artist Series event, Rodgers spent an evening talking with students and staff about his 30-year career in the music industry.
With chart-topping singles as a guitarist and songwriter for Chic, and as producer on countless best-selling albums, Nile Rodgers has established himself as one of the defining artists of his generation. Dubbed a “modern soul wizard” by Rolling Stone, his clean productions and creative use of synthesizer and horn arrangements helped define the 70’s and 80’s pop market. “I can’t imagine that anybody in this room tonight has not been affected by what Nile Rodgers has done in the music business,” said Matt Gorney, Full Sail’s Associate Course Director for Music History, and host for the evening’s event. “If you’ve been on the dance floor you have danced to something that he has either played on, produced, or written.”
Exhibiting immense musical talent at an early age, Rodgers was only 19 when he landed a gig as guitarist for the house band at New York’s Apollo Theater. The Apollo has been a world-renowned live venue for artists and entertainers since the 1930’s, and Nile’s yearlong stint had him playing alongside such diverse musicians as Aretha Franklin and Parliament/Funkadelic. “That job was probably one of the most important things to happen in my life,” Nile told the gathered students. “By being there and playing with all of these different artists it was my training ground. You had to learn their style on the spot, and your mind had to be open enough to follow directions so that you could do your job professionally and do it well. It taught me a lot of different things about the industry that would come up later in my life.”
Wanting to break away from the role of backup musician, Rodgers eventually set out to form a vehicle for his own brand of music. After joining up with bassist Bernard Edwards in the mid-70’s, the duo experimented with jazz-fusion and new wave before starting the band Chic, which focused their sound into a commercially viable R&B package. “Chic was a concept,” Nile explained. “In those days originality was the most important thing in our world. Because funk was dominating the whole R&B landscape we had to try to come up with our own unique style. We said ‘How can we do something that reflects a New York urban feel, and still sound funky, and still get on the radio?’” Chic managed to mix the best of funk and dance music into a stylish package, and quickly became one of the hottest groups of the disco era. During their peak, Chic cranked out a string of hits including “Dance, Dance, Dance,” “Good Times,” and “Le Freak,” which became Atlantic Records’ best-selling single of all time. “We knew that we didn’t look chic, and we didn’t act chic, but as musicians and producers we knew how to do our jobs,” Nile said. “That’s what set us apart from other bands.”
After attaining unprecedented chart success with his own band, Rodgers had a desire to expand his role as a producer, and soon turned his attention to working with other artists. In 1983 he scored his biggest early production job with David Bowie, working on the Let’s Dance album. The record spawned three massive hit singles, “Modern Love,” “China Girl,” and “Let’s Dance,” and quickly catapulted Rodgers to the top of the music industry food chain. “To this day, I still honor David Bowie,” Rodgers said. “He was Mr. Rock n’ Roll. Imagine the pressure that he was under when he told people he was going to work with me! Everybody was telling him ‘That’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done, he doesn’t know how to produce rock n’ roll.’ Musician to musician, however, he respected my work. He didn’t care that people said I was wrong for the record. The great thing about David is he’s not afraid of anything. I wish every rock star were like that.”
The Bowie album was a phenomenal success, going multi-platinum, and Rodgers was soon being asked to produce records for other big names. Mick Jagger, Madonna, Duran Duran, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jeff Beck all crafted some of their most popular albums with Rodgers behind the recording console. Harking back to his days at the Apollo, Nile was again able to seamlessly adapt himself to the varying style of each artist he worked with as he jumped from project to project. “Every artist is different,” he explained to the crowd. “Certain artists are known because of their lyrics, some are known for their style and their groove. If you can’t speak the full musical language it’s a hindrance because they need people that can work in every area. There’s no way you can tell that person, ‘I don’t really know what that music is like,’ because I guarantee the next day you come to work somebody else will be sitting in your chair.”
Lately Rodgers has become even more diversified with his range of projects. For the past few years he has been creating soundtracks for video games. He now produces music for a number of titles each year, and has been responsible for the compositions heard in such high profile projects as Halo and its eagerly anticipated upcoming sequel Halo 2. “The video game area to me feels like how I first started in music,” Nile explained. “There’s no rules, you just make it up as you go along. The fact that I was able to develop a relationship with Xbox keeps me excited. We got to do Halo, and another game called Brute Force. In the video game world I can have so much fun.”
After three decades in the industry, Nile Rodgers is one of few artists of his generation who continues to explore and develop different areas of his craft. His creativity and dedication to his art is an inspiration to up and coming musicians, and as he wrapped up the evening’s Artist Series, his final advice to students seemed to resonate to Full Sail’s aspiring young artists. “In your own world and in your own heart you just have to look for that thing, that spark that you just tap into that’s going to make you love this industry,” he told students. “If you’re lucky you’ll be successful, have fun, and have a career that may have an impact on others – but you’ll also have one that, more importantly, has an impact on you.”
* Full Sail’s Artist Series has brought a number of industry professionals to campus over the years, and the inclusion of Nile Rodgers to the list of guests was a unique privilege for students and staff. Stay tuned for the latest news on artists and entertainers coming to campus.
With chart-topping singles as a guitarist and songwriter for Chic, and as producer on countless best-selling albums, Nile Rodgers has established himself as one of the defining artists of his generation. Dubbed a “modern soul wizard” by Rolling Stone, his clean productions and creative use of synthesizer and horn arrangements helped define the 70’s and 80’s pop market. “I can’t imagine that anybody in this room tonight has not been affected by what Nile Rodgers has done in the music business,” said Matt Gorney, Full Sail’s Associate Course Director for Music History, and host for the evening’s event. “If you’ve been on the dance floor you have danced to something that he has either played on, produced, or written.”
Exhibiting immense musical talent at an early age, Rodgers was only 19 when he landed a gig as guitarist for the house band at New York’s Apollo Theater. The Apollo has been a world-renowned live venue for artists and entertainers since the 1930’s, and Nile’s yearlong stint had him playing alongside such diverse musicians as Aretha Franklin and Parliament/Funkadelic. “That job was probably one of the most important things to happen in my life,” Nile told the gathered students. “By being there and playing with all of these different artists it was my training ground. You had to learn their style on the spot, and your mind had to be open enough to follow directions so that you could do your job professionally and do it well. It taught me a lot of different things about the industry that would come up later in my life.”
Wanting to break away from the role of backup musician, Rodgers eventually set out to form a vehicle for his own brand of music. After joining up with bassist Bernard Edwards in the mid-70’s, the duo experimented with jazz-fusion and new wave before starting the band Chic, which focused their sound into a commercially viable R&B package. “Chic was a concept,” Nile explained. “In those days originality was the most important thing in our world. Because funk was dominating the whole R&B landscape we had to try to come up with our own unique style. We said ‘How can we do something that reflects a New York urban feel, and still sound funky, and still get on the radio?’” Chic managed to mix the best of funk and dance music into a stylish package, and quickly became one of the hottest groups of the disco era. During their peak, Chic cranked out a string of hits including “Dance, Dance, Dance,” “Good Times,” and “Le Freak,” which became Atlantic Records’ best-selling single of all time. “We knew that we didn’t look chic, and we didn’t act chic, but as musicians and producers we knew how to do our jobs,” Nile said. “That’s what set us apart from other bands.”
After attaining unprecedented chart success with his own band, Rodgers had a desire to expand his role as a producer, and soon turned his attention to working with other artists. In 1983 he scored his biggest early production job with David Bowie, working on the Let’s Dance album. The record spawned three massive hit singles, “Modern Love,” “China Girl,” and “Let’s Dance,” and quickly catapulted Rodgers to the top of the music industry food chain. “To this day, I still honor David Bowie,” Rodgers said. “He was Mr. Rock n’ Roll. Imagine the pressure that he was under when he told people he was going to work with me! Everybody was telling him ‘That’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done, he doesn’t know how to produce rock n’ roll.’ Musician to musician, however, he respected my work. He didn’t care that people said I was wrong for the record. The great thing about David is he’s not afraid of anything. I wish every rock star were like that.”
If you can’t speak the full musical language it’s a hindrance because they need people that can work in every area.
Nile Rodgers
Lately Rodgers has become even more diversified with his range of projects. For the past few years he has been creating soundtracks for video games. He now produces music for a number of titles each year, and has been responsible for the compositions heard in such high profile projects as Halo and its eagerly anticipated upcoming sequel Halo 2. “The video game area to me feels like how I first started in music,” Nile explained. “There’s no rules, you just make it up as you go along. The fact that I was able to develop a relationship with Xbox keeps me excited. We got to do Halo, and another game called Brute Force. In the video game world I can have so much fun.”
After three decades in the industry, Nile Rodgers is one of few artists of his generation who continues to explore and develop different areas of his craft. His creativity and dedication to his art is an inspiration to up and coming musicians, and as he wrapped up the evening’s Artist Series, his final advice to students seemed to resonate to Full Sail’s aspiring young artists. “In your own world and in your own heart you just have to look for that thing, that spark that you just tap into that’s going to make you love this industry,” he told students. “If you’re lucky you’ll be successful, have fun, and have a career that may have an impact on others – but you’ll also have one that, more importantly, has an impact on you.”
* Full Sail’s Artist Series has brought a number of industry professionals to campus over the years, and the inclusion of Nile Rodgers to the list of guests was a unique privilege for students and staff. Stay tuned for the latest news on artists and entertainers coming to campus.
