CHIC (band)
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CHIC [IPA: ʃiːk] is an American disco/funk band that was formed in 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. They are best known for their commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (1977), "Everybody Dance" (1977), "Le Freak" (1978), "I Want Your Love" (1978), "Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979).
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[edit] History
[edit] 1976-1978: Origins and early singers
Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in 1970. They formed a rock band called The Boys (later the Big Apple Band) and played numerous gigs around New York City, but despite interest in their demos, they could not get a record contract when the music companies discovered they were black; the discrimination of the day said black artists couldn't play "rock".
Undeterred, in 1977 Edwards and Rodgers had former LaBelle and Ecstacy, Passion & Pain drummer Tony Thompson join the band. They performed as a trio, doing covers at various gigs for awhile. The trio needed a singer to front the band. That singer was Norma Jean Wright, who sang lead on their demotape and on all the songs on their first, self-titled album (1977).
But before that, the immediate success of their debut album and the hits "Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Everybody Dance" sent CHIC out on the road. They performed as a quartet until February 1978, but Rodgers and Edwards thought that their live performances would improve both in sound and visuals if they added another girl to front the band. Norma Jean suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member in late winter/early spring of 1978.
Right after the sessions ended for their debut album, CHIC began to work on Norma Jean's self-titled debut solo album, released in 1978. This album contained club hit "Saturday". Unfortunately, to facilitate Norma Jean's solo career, intended to be parallel to her CHIC career, the band had agreed to sign her to a separate contract and label. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Norma Jean to leave the band in mid-1978, but not before she took part in the sessions for CHIC-produced Sister Sledge album We Are Family. She was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had been on back up vocals on CHIC's debut album.
[edit] 1978-1979: "Le Freak" and "Good Times"
In late 1978 the band released C'est CHIC, containing one of their best known tracks, "Le Freak". The single was a massive success, topping the U.S. charts and selling over six million copies.
The following year the group released the Risqué album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most important and influential songs of the era. The track formed the backbone of Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop single, "Rapper's Delight", and has been endlessly sampled since by many dance and hip hop acts.
At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and R&B records for both established artists and one-hit wonders, including Sister Sledge, Sheila and B. Devotion, Diana Ross, and Debbie Harry. CHIC also helped introduce the world to an up-and-coming young vocalist named Luther Vandross, who sang on several of CHIC's albums. For the Sister Sledge project, CHIC swapped songs with "He's the Greatest Dancer" (originally intended as a CHIC song) exchanging for "I Want Your Love" (originally due to be performed by Sister Sledge).
[edit] 1980s - 1990s: Disbanding, other projects, a brief reunion
In the 1980s, the band struggled to obtain airplay and sales, and they eventually disbanded. Rodgers and Edwards separately produced records for a wide variety of artists. Rodgers was largely responsible for the breakthrough success of Madonna in 1984 with her Like a Virgin album. Thompson and Edwards worked with the super group Power Station on its 1985 hit LP as well as Power Station lead singer Robert Palmer's solo smash Riptide that same year (both of which Edwards produced).
After a 1992 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards, Paul Shaffer and Anton Fig played old Chic hits to rapturous response, Rodgers and Edwards organized a reunion of the old band. They recorded new material -- a single, "CHIC Mystique" and subsequent album CHIC-ism, both of which charted -- and played live all over the world, to great audience and critical acclaim.
In 1996 Rodgers was honored as the "Top Producer In the World" in Billboard Magazine, and was named a JT Super Producer. That year, he performed with Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood, Simon Le Bon and Slash in a series of commemorative concerts in Japan which provided a career retrospective. Unfortunately, his longtime musical partner Edwards, died of pneumonia at age 43 during the trip on April 18. His final performance was recorded. The recording was released as "Chic Live At The Budokkan" CHIC continued to tour with new musicians.
Thompson died of kidney cancer on November 12, 2003 at age 48.
[edit] Influence and awards
In addition to defining the disco sound, CHIC helped to inspire other artists to forge their own sound. For example, The Sugarhill Gang used "Good Times" as the basis for their hit "Rapper's Delight", which helped launch the rap/hip hop music format as we know today. "Good Times" was also the basis for Gabriel o Pensador's song "2345MEIA78." Queen got the inspiration for their hit single "Another One Bites The Dust" from CHIC's familiar bass guitar riffs after John Deacon met the band in the same studio.[citation needed]
On September 19, 2005 the group was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony in New York when they were inducted in 3 different categories: 1) Artist Inductess 2) Record Inductees for "Good Times" and 3) Producers Inductees, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
CHIC has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, in 2003, 2006 and 2007, but has not yet received the requisite number of votes for induction.<ref>Future Rock Hall. Future Rock Hall entry for Chic. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.</ref>
[edit] Discography
[edit] CHIC albums
| Image:Chiclp.gif | CHIC LP (Atlantic 1977)
| Pop Albums: #27 R&B: #12 |
| Image:Cest.gif | C'est CHIC LP (Atlantic 1978)
| Pop Albums: #4 R&B: #1 UK Albums Chart: #2 |
| Image:Risque.gif | Risqué LP (Atlantic 1979)
| Pop Albums: #5 R&B: #2 UK Albums Chart: #29 |
| Image:Real.gif | Real People LP (Atlantic 1980)
| Pop Albums: #30 R&B: #8 |
| Image:Takeit.gif | Take It Off LP (Atlantic 1981)
| Pop Albums: #124 R&B: #36 |
| Image:Tongue82.gif | Tongue In CHIC LP (Atlantic 1982)
| Pop Albums: #173 R&B: #47 |
| Image:Believer.gif | Believer LP (Atlantic 1983)
| Failed to chart on the U.S. Pop Albums chart or in the UK |
| Image:Chicism.gif | CHIC-ism CD (Warner 1992)
| Pop Albums: Failed to chart R&B: #39 |
NOTE:
- In late 1979, a CHIC compilation album also charted in both the US and UK. In the US, the compilation reached #88 as Les Plus Grands Succes de Chic: Chic's Greatest Hits. In the UK, where it was titled simply The Best Of Chic, it peaked at #30.
[edit] Produced by CHIC
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[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||
| US Hot 100 | US R&B | US Club Play | US A/C | UK | |||
| 1977 | CHIC - Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) | 6 | 6 | 1 | - | 6 | CHIC |
| 1977 | CHIC - Everybody Dance | 38 | 12 | 1 | - | 9 | CHIC |
| 1978 | Norma Jean Wright - Saturday | - | - | 10 | - | - | Norma Jean |
| 1978 | CHIC - Le Freak | 1 | 1 | 1 | 48 | 7 | C'est CHIC |
| 1978 | CHIC - I Want Your Love | 7 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 4 | C'est CHIC |
| 1979 | Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer | 9 | 1 | 1 | - | 6 | We Are Family |
| 1979 | Sister Sledge - We Are Family | 2 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 7 | We Are Family |
| 1979 | Sister Sledge - Lost In Music | - | 35 | - | - | 17 | We Are Family |
| 1979 | Norma Jean Wright - High Society | - | - | 92 | - | - | - |
| 1979 | CHIC - Good Times | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 5 | Risqué |
| 1979 | CHIC - My Forbidden Lover | 43 | 33 | 3 | - | 15 | Risqué |
| 1979 | CHIC - My Feet Keep Dancing | - | 42 | - | - | 21 | Risqué |
| 1980 | Sheila & B. Devotion - Spacer | - | 28 | 44 | - | 18 | King Of The World |
| 1980 | Sister Sledge - Got To Love Somebody Today | 64 | 6 | 34 | - | 34 | Love Somebody Today |
| 1980 | Sister Sledge - Reach Your Peak | - | 21 | 34 | - | - | Love Somebody Today |
| 1980 | Sister Sledge - Let's Go On Vacation | - | 63 | - | - | - | Love Somebody Today |
| 1980 | Diana Ross - Upside Down | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 2 | diana |
| 1980 | Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out | 5 | 5 | 1 | - | 13 | diana |
| 1980 | CHIC - Rebels Are We | 61 | 8 | 29 | - | - | Real People |
| 1980 | CHIC - Real People/Chip Off The Old Block | 79 | 51 | - | - | - | Real People |
| 1981 | Debbie Harry - Backfired | 43 | 71 | 29 | - | 32 | Koo Koo |
| 1981 | Debbie Harry - The Jam Was Moving | 82 | - | - | - | - | Koo Koo |
| 1981 | CHIC - Stage Fright | - | 34 | - | - | - | Take It Off |
| 1982 | CHIC - Soup For One | 80 | 14 | - | - | - | Soup For One Soundtrack |
| 1982 | CHIC - Hangin' | - | 48 | - | - | 64 | Tongue In CHIC |
| 1983 | CHIC - Give Me The Lovin' | - | 57 | - | - | - | Believer |
| 1987 | CHIC - Jack Le Freak | - | - | 15 | - | 19 | |
| 1992 | CHIC - CHIC Mystique | - | 48 | 1 | - | 48 | CHIC-ism |
| 1992 | CHIC - Your Love | - | - | 3 | - | - | CHIC-ism |
NOTE:
- A second CHIC medley (after "Jack Le Freak"), titled "MegaCHIC - CHIC Medley," reached #58 UK in July 1990.
- Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" and "Lost In Music" re-charted in the UK in 1984 (#33 and #4, respectively) and in 1993 (#5 and #14, respectively).
[edit] See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
[edit] References
- "Everybody Dance: CHIC and the Politics of Disco", book by Daryl Easlea, Helter Skelter Publishing (24 Oct 2004), ISBN 1-900924-56-0 [1]
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