Desert Island Discs Revisited

Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Factual: Life Stories

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Black American Icons: Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers

Black American Icons

Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Desert Island Discs Revisited, Black American Icons, Nile Rodgers

Musician and Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

From The Doors to Sister Sledge. Musician and producer Nile Rodgers shares his choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2018.

Grammy-winning composer, musician and producer Nile Rodgers is castaway by Lauren Laverne

With his own band, Chic, Nile has been enticing people on to the dance floor since the mid-1970s with hits like Le Freak and Good Times. With over 200 production credits to his name, he has worked on many highly successful albums from Sister Sledge’s We Are Family to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance and Madonna’s Like a Virgin.

Born in New York City in 1952 to a teenage mother, he spent his early life immersed in his parents’ bohemian, beatnik, and drug-dominated lifestyle. Drugs played a part in Nile's life too from an early age, and he took his first acid trip with Timothy Leary at the age of 15.  After learning to play the guitar, he got his musical break touring with the Sesame Street stage show and playing in the house band of Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, where he met bassist Bernard Edwards with whom he developed a productive musical partnership and went on to found Chic.   

Following the Disco Sucks movement of the late 1970s, Nile and Bernard turned to production, and sprinkled their magic dust on Sister Sledge and Diana Ross.  When Nile and Bernard went their separate ways in the early 1980s, Nile forged ahead on his own, working with, among others, Madonna, Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Duran Duran.

Nile went into rehab in 1994 and has been clean and sober for the past 24 years and has received successful treatment for cancer twice. 

He won three Grammys for his 2013 collaboration with the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, and has recently released the first Chic album in 26 years.

DISC ONE: Chic - Le Freak
DISC TWO: The Beatles - A Day In The Life  
DISC THREE: The Doors - The End  
DISC FOUR: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?  
DISC FIVE: Sister Sledge - We Are Family 
DISC SIX: David Bowie - Let's Dance 
DISC SEVEN: Daft Punk - Get Lucky 
DISC EIGHT: Chic - Good Times 

BOOK CHOICE: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 
LUXURY CHOICE: His ‘Hitmaker’ guitar and an amp  
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Doors - The End

Desert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley

Producer: Cathy Drysdale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2018.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Black American Icons

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

A collection of castaways of leading figures in Black American cultural history.

Marking Black History Month 2023 - a collection of castaways of leading figures in Black American cultural history.

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