Nile Rodgers' 10 greatest songs, ranked

4 March 2025, 09:44

With Chic and as a player and producer, Nile Rodgers is a hit machine.

Did you know Chic have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a record 11 (ELEVEN) times without being inducted?

At some point someone behind the scenes took matters into their own hands and inducted surviving founding member Nile Rodgers in the Musical Excellence category in 2017. It was long overdue.

• Remember this Donny Osmond cameo in the video for a Nile Rodgers-penned Jeff Beck track?
• Listen to a previously unreleased David Bowie demo of 'Let's Dance'
• Listen to the Gold Radio 70s Live Playlist on Global Player, the official Gold app

Whether he was with his Chic sparring partner Bernard Edwards, who sadly died in 1996 aged just 43, or on his own, nobody can craft a hit quite like Nile Rodgers.

As well as doing his own thing and playing as Chic feat Nile Rodgers, he's always been incredibly generous with his time and talent, racking up hits as a writer, player or producer for countless other artists.

Restricting ourselves to a maximum of one song per artist (apart from Chic themselves, of course) we've rounded up just ten of Nile Rodgers's biggest hits.

1. Backfired (Debbie Harry)

   

   Debbie Harry - Backfired (Official Music Video)

   Some underinformed people in the 1970s thought that Blondie was a Debbie Harry solo project. "BLONDIE IS A GROUP!" hollered the badges you could buy, to set them right.

   But in 1981, between Blondie's Autoamerican and The Hunter, Debbie Harry actually did go solo, launching her standalone career with the quirky KooKoo.

   Well, sort of standalone. As well as boyfriend and Blondie bandmate Chris Stein on guitar among the hired help, there was Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale on backing vocals. And producing the whole album, playing bass and guitar and even writing or co-writing six of the album's ten songs were Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards

   The lead single was 'Backfired', and while it wasn't a massive hit, like the album as a whole it was a superb, groundbreaking fusion of funk, rock, disco and punky new wave.

2. Everybody Dance

   

   CHIC - Everybody Dance (Official Music Video)

   1977 was the year of punk and the year of disco.

   'Everybody Dance' was the ultimate glitterball song, but also one that matched the punk rockers for sheer energy. No cold disco detachment here.

   It was the group's second single after 'Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)', but was apparently the first one ever written for the group.

   A regular set-opener for Chic, the song featured Norma Jean Wright on lead vocals, with Luther Vandross among the backing singers.

3. We Are Family (Sister Sledge)

   

   Sister Sledge - We Are Family (Official Music Video)

   From right at the start of their relationship, Nile and Bernard decided to write for other people, being encouraged to do so by Atlantic Records boss Jerry L. Greenberg.

   It's claimed that Rodgers and Edwards asked to work with one of the smaller groups to build their rep (and not be overshadowed or exploited), and that's how they ended up writing this anthem of soldarity and sisterhood for the Sledge siblings.

   On its release in 1979, it went to number 8 in the UK and number 2 in the US. After two flop albums, it helped establish Sister Sledge as stars by becoming the title track of their hit third.

4. Get Lucky (Daft Punk)

   

   Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Official Audio) ft. Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers

   A generation-straddling megahit. Released as a Daft Punk single, guest singer Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers guitar riffage are crucial to making this the masterpiece that it is.

   It's the only song on this list that Nile didn't have a hand in producing, but given how important his guitar sound is and the fact that he earned a co-writing credit, it still counts.

   The Sound of the Summer in 2013 and to be honest, pretty much every summer since.

5. Like A Virgin (Madonna)

   

   Madonna - Like A Virgin (Official Video)

   After his stunning work with David Bowie on Let's Dance (more on that later), Madonna got in touch with Nile Rogers to lend a hand with her second album, Like A Virgin... the record that would really do as much as any of he work in making her a generational star.

   As with Let's Dance, Rodgers didn't write a single song on the album, but as with that Bowie record, you can hear his input on every note.

   As well as playing guitars and keyboards across the record, the whole thing is imbued with his classic funky dynamics. That was true on this title track, written by Thomas Kelly and William Steinberg and with a stellar vocal from Madonna herself. It had Nile on guitar, with Chic pals Bernie on bass and Tony Thompson on drums.

6. Notorious (Duran Duran)

   

   Duran Duran - Notorious (Official Music Video)

   Nile Rodgers had already worked with Duran Duran on the stellar remix of 'The Reflex' in 1984, before he was enlisted as a co-producer on their fourth album Notorious.

   The album was a smash, as was this lead single and title track, which showcased that classic funky Nile Rodgers guitar sound that had dominated the decade to that point. A classic.

7. I'm Coming Out (Diana Ross)

   

   I'm Coming Out

   Diana Ross was a long-established superstar by the time of 'I'm Coming Out'. She had already conquered the world twice over, first as the lead singer in Motown legends The Supremes, and then as a solo icon.

   So it wasn't as though Diana Ross needed the boost, but when she got together with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, everything went up a notch further.

   The Chic duo produced and wrote every single song on her 1980 album Diana. It became her biggest yet, and spawned the massive singles 'Upside Down' and 'I'm Coming Out'.

   The second of those is a joyous celebration, and that "Coming Out" pun is very much an intentional one.

   "One particular night I went to a club, The Gilded Grape, and I happened to notice that there were at least 6 or 7 Diana Ross impersonators," said Nile.

   "I went outside to call Bernard and said, 'You know, Diana Ross is revered by the gay community. If we wrote a song called "I'm Coming Out" for Diana Ross it would have the same power as James Brown's "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".'"

8. Good Times

   

   Good Times

   By the time of their third album Risqué in 1979, Chic were well established as one of the pre-eminent groups in disco. The lead track from that record, 'Good Times' would be one of their many genre-defining masterpeices.

   The swinging funky vibe disguised lyrics inspired by Great Depression-era hit 'About a Quarter to Nine' and alluding to the economic troubles in the late '70s, not that you'd be thinking about any of that as Alfa Anderson's cool vocals wash over you.

   A top 5 single in the UK and number one in the US, and also one of the most sampled songs in the history of pop.

9. Let's Dance (David Bowie)

   

   David Bowie - Let's Dance (Official Video)

   David Bowie had worked extensively with the likes of producers Ken Scott and Tony Visconti for his first stunning decade, before leaping off in a brand new direction in 1983 with Let's Dance.

   In hooking up with Nile Rodgers, Bowie went from cult superstar to the most mainstream of figures while still retaining absolute cool. He may have regretted his slide into more mediocre material as the decade continued, but the Let's Dance album itself is still unimpeachable.

   The title track is its crowning glory, as David Bowie puts on his red shoes and dances the funkiest blues ever for a song that went number one in the US, UK and pretty much everywhere.

10. Le Freak

    

    CHIC - Le Freak (Official Music Video)

    Plenty of disco hits are fun enough on the dancefloor but when you get home and put them on the stereo are that bit too flimsy and forgettable to really stand the test of time.

    Chic's power at their peak came from making the most dancetastic anthems that were at the same time immaculately created balls of pure electric energy.

    Best of all was 'Le Freak', supposedly inspired by Nile and Bernard being turned away at the doors of Studio 54 when Grace Jones had forgotten to pass word to the dooman to let them in. The working title 'F**k Off!'.

    As well as top notch singing from Alfa Anderson and backing vocals from Luther Vandross, it's all about that Bernie bassline and funky Nile Rodgers guitar.

    "Have you heard about the new dance craze?" well, we have now. In 1978 it went to number seven in the UK, number one in the US, and has been a movie, TV and radio ever-present ever since.