Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny

Product Information

It's possible the name Nile Rodgers doesn't ring a bell, but if you've been a fan of popular music during the last 35 years it's certain you've heard his work.

Le Freak is the fascinating inside story of pop and its tangled roots, narrated by the man who absorbed everything in his topsy-turvy life—the pain and euphoria and fear and love—and turned it into some of the most sparklingly ebullient pop music ever recorded. his natural father is reintroduced several times through the book in various states of incredibly sad states: as a wino at the Port Authority, and later homeless sprawled out in a New York City toll booth. I loved discovering, over and over again, that he was partially responsible for so many of the songs I've loved, and which continue to give me great joy.Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny is one of the most engaging, entertaining, profound, and relatable memoirs that I've yet read. Then of course there was a well-received guest spot on Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ and a glorious concert reboot of the Chic brand, which went from strength to strength as the decade progressed. Yet he did take an interest in music and by the time he was in high school he was an enthusiastic participant in music classes.

At the age of 13 he was already sniffing glue and had been turned on to acid by Timothy Leary himself.The stuff I found the most interesting is when he becomes an in-demand producer, and the experiences working with David Bowie at the end of his Imperial Period and Madonna at the start of hers. Niles couldn't handle it all with out dangerous, rampant drug-use and the narrative comes across as if it's been therapeutic for him.

Rodgers, best known as the founder of Chic who went on to produce landmark albums for Madonna and David Bowie, was raised by downtown heroin junkies in the 1950s and ’60s, and it's fascinating to see how profoundly his worldview was shaped by the ups and downs of this experience.As his wandering childhood melds into his late 1970s music success, he gives us a glimpse inside the inner circle of Studio 54 and the ’80s party scene as he develops his 15 year cocaine addiction. He became a Black Panther, was hospitalised at the same time as Andy Warhol, after being spiked with hallucinogens, and jammed with Jimi Hendrix. First, I can't think of anyone who loves music who wouldn't be interested in an interview/look at Nile and the little nuggets he talks about regarding his career, producing the likes of Diana Ross and Madonna. Dark-skinned via his dad’s genes in a mostly beige family, an insomniac who says he hasn’t slept through the night since being sent to a state convalescent home for his asthma around the time he was 5 1/2, Rodgers was an outsider among outsiders. Great singles like "Everybody Dance," "Le Freak," "I Want Your Love," "Good Times," and "Rebels Are We" were among the most popular songs in the country during the late 1970s, distinguished by the core elements of Chic's sound: Edwards' fluid and highly melodic bass lines, Rodgers' jazz-influenced guitar work, the muscular drumming style of Tony Thompson, and a host of vocalists including the late Luther Vandross.