- Music
- 10 Oct 17
Nile Rodgers will take viewers through his musical legacy in a three-part series which will air on BBC4 this October.
The series will take a look at the career of the multiple Grammy-award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, as Nile Rodgers shares the secrets of his success, what it takes to make it to the very top of the music industry and how to stay relevant decade after decade.
The first episode was broadcast on Friday, October 6. Nile revealed the source of inspiration for many of his songs, including the story of how the iconic nightclub Studio 54 turned him away at the door, prompting him to write the classic disco hit, 'Le Freak'.
Speaking about his early career, he says: “When I was learning my craft I was happy to pick up every nugget of knowledge that would help me develop into a professional. I quickly realised that I needed to figure out what worked for me. Understanding risks, rewards, benefits and failures was imperative to have a lifelong career in music. For myself, nothing was a better teacher than failure, and success wasn't as satisfying as I'd thought, because I needed to do it over and over again to know whether it was real - or just a fluke.”
Throughout the three episodes, Nile discusses success and how to embrace failure, which he experienced in the '80s when the ‘death of disco’ forced him off the stage and into the recording studio. Nile also reveals how he survived the downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and overwork, and reinvented himself - which led to him working with a new generation of artists, including Daft Punk, Laura Mvula and Keith Urban.
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The final episode exclusively features the new and unreleased Chic record, 'I Believe In Music', from Chic’s forthcoming new album It’s About Time. Viewers can hear it for the first time on BBC Four.
Also in the series: viewers can expect to see several interviews with Nile’s collaborators, including the iconic DJ and producer Mark Ronson, award-winning singer/songwriter Carly Simon and former Tamla Motown Executive, Keith Harris.