Nile Rodgers

One of the most prolific and successful songwriter-guitarist-producers of the late 20th century and beyond, Nile Rodgers first rose to fame in the mid-1970s as co-architect of the funk-R&B group Chic, which produced such defining hits of the disco era as "Le Freak" and "Good Times." Chic's music would, for a period, wield enormous influence over the pop and rock worlds while serving as a cornerstone of the rap movement when the Sugarhill Gang adopted "Good Times" as the backing track for their pioneering hit "Rapper's Delight." The collapse of disco also brought Chic to an end, but Rodgers segued smoothly into production work, where he shepherded some of the biggest hit records for David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran, the B-52's, Diana Ross, INXS and countless others. The 1990s saw Rodgers move into soundtrack work for features while briefly reviving Chic before the death of the band's co-founder, his longtime partner Bernard Edwards, in 1996. Rodgers soon added soundtrack work for blockbuster video games like "Halo" to his expansive résumé while creating the We Are Family organization to support cultural diversity in the wake of the September 11th attacks. As an influential songwriter, musician and producer, Nile Rodgers was among the top echelon of talent in the history of popular music.