Chic “C’est Chic” 1978. Today, September 19th is Chic founder, über-producer Nile Rodgers’ birthday (b. 1952); Chic’s second album C’est Chic celebrated its 40th release-date anniversary last month and Friday (Sept. 21st) will mark the 40th birthday of the hit single “Le Freak” as well. “Le Freak” was a monster smash, hitting #1 in the US on, like, all the charts including the Hot 100, Hot R&B and Dance/Disco charts; it was also recently selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion onto the National Recording Registry. I love “Le Freak” but also great on C’est Chic are “Happy Man” and “I Want Your Love,” the second single from C’est Chic (#7 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Dance/Disco chart, #5 on the R&B chart).

I’ve been a fan of Nile Rodgers forever, not necessarily just for his work with Chic but mainly because of his production work with some of my favorite artists of all time including David Bowie, Duran Duran and INXS. (In recognition of his work with them, and many many others, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and this past summer he became chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame). In July 2016 I got a chance to see Rodgers perform some of his work, including “Le Freak,” when he opened for Duran Duran while they were on tour for their album Paper Gods.