Music World Hitmaker Nile Rodgers Celebrates Launch Of ‘The Creative Entrepreneur’ By Carolyn Dailey

Recalling how he had grown accustomed to a tight recording budget for quickly producing “Black music” without the luxury of extra takes, contemporary Renaissance man Nile Rodgers told an intimate group feting the launch of The Creative Entrepreneur by Carolyn Dailey at a private club in Manhattan’s West Village how producing Duran Duran’s 12th single “The Wild Boys” changed his perception of the business of music. The song – based on the ferociously influential 1971 novel The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs – which also inspired the flamboyant costumes, bright red, spiky mullet-bouffant, and lightning bolt makeup of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona – became one of the band’s highest-charting singles, peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, while claiming the top spots on the Cash Box Top Singles chart, in the U.S. and on the charts in Germany and South Africa.

“I grew up by one of my best friends, he played on every single Chic record, but he was in another band called The Simms Brothers Band, and they got a record deal. These guys got a million dollars. Never had a hit record. I think our budget was $35,000 to do a whole album. Everything was on a budget. I never locked out a studio until I did Duran Duran ‘The Wild Boys’. Every record up until then was done like a Black record. We did eight-hour shifts in and out. That meant we had to set up every day and break down. Set up and break down. If you look at my catalog, you’ll see that you don’t hear any alternate versions. We’re a one-take group. I mean, there’s no alternate version of ‘Let’s Dance’. There’s no alternate version of ‘We Are Family’. There’s no alternate version of ‘Like a Virgin’,” Rodgers told a glamorous crowd, including Spike Lee, packing a room during an interview with Dailey at the San Vicente West Village, the elite private members club’s new New York location..

The Simms Brothers collaborated with many musicians, including backing vocals on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” “Modern Love,” and “China Girl,” the first of which was co-produced by Rodgers and Bowie, and recorded in December 1982 with sessions featuring Rodgers’ and members of band Chic, along with then-unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. The first time Bowie only sang and played no instruments on an album led to blockbuster commercial success, with “Let’s Dance” soaring to number one in numerous countries.

Anyone familiar with contemporary music knows Rodgers from his inimitable imprint on a wide array of music through collaborations with a diverse group of artists including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Sheena Easton, Bryan Ferry, Madonna, INXS, Britney Spears, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Avicii, Disclosure, Sam Smith, Pitbull, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Nervo, Laura Mvula, and Keith Urban. From disco king to go-to music world master hitmaker, Rodgers has become synonymous with commercial success.

Rodgers ability to mitigate creative risk-taking as co-founder of The Chic Organization places him in the pantheon of entrepreneurs featured in Dailey’s book, joining: Roksanda Ilincic, founder of fashion label Roksanda; Yinka Ilori, founder of Yinka Ilori Studio; Andy Harries founder of Left Bank Pictures (The Crown); Priya Ahluwalia, founder of fashion label Ahluwalia; Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, Matthew Slotover, co-founder of Frieze; Ruthie Rogers, founder of The River Cafe; Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto), Nick Jones, founder of Soho House.

Duranies have long known that Rodgers’ influence has been indispensable in the seminal band’s rapid evolution from thriving in Britain’s underground glam rock-inspired New Romantic scene to helming the Second British Invasion of the U.S. via MTV in the 1980s.

Infusing his singular funk style by looping a key vocal hook, along with incorporating percussive elements, a distortion on the guitar, and a mono bass line, Nile Rodgers’ remix of “The Reflex” was a pivotal juncture for Duran Duran.

The “fle-fle-fle” chorus and Rodger’s rhythmic scratching sound sent the remix rocketing up the charts. The groundbreaking sound of Duran Duran’s eleventh single released on April 16, 1984, and the last to be taken from their third studio album Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), became the band’s first to grasp the crown of the Billboard Hot 100 and their second to lead the UK Singles Chart.

Rodgers who – as a solo artist and with the disco band Chic he co-founded in 1972 along with late bassist Bernard Edwards – has frequently performed live with Duran Duran, kindling energetic on-stage chemistry. He produced and played guitar on Duran Duran’s Notorious album in 1986. The single of the same name generated another global commercial success, shooting to number seven on the UK Singles Chart, number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the top 10 in several other countries.

Rodgers did it again in 2015, when he co-wrote and co-produced the song “Pressure Off” from Paper Gods (2015) along with Mark Ronson and Mr. Hudson, and Janelle Monae on vocals. His funk infusion helped birth the band’s first top-10 album since Duran Duran (1993), which reprises the title of the band’s first studio album in 1981.

Summarizing Rodger’s impact on one band illustrates how and why he belongs in a book subtitled A Guide to Building a Successful Creative Business from Industry Titans, as few artists can balance business with creative processes and output.

Sharing laugh-inducing anecdotes – from a missed opportunity to work with Grace Jones amid a faux accent fumble to transforming Diana Ross into a gay icon after encountering a gaggle of drag queens paying homage to her haute couture style showcasing sequined dresses, beaded catsuits, voluminous hairstyles, and statement jewelry – Rodgers demonstrated how his captivating personality, along with his tireless work ethic, boundless innovation, and open mind, continue to fuel his career.

“It’s a book, but it is a much bigger movement. It’s a mission to show that creativity and commerce, this whole myth, we want to revolutionize the old school thinking that the two shouldn’t mix. And in the book we do that, hopefully, through interviews with 10 creative icons about how they built their businesses, and also with practical advice, because we want to crush that myth and show that business is how creativity becomes real and gets into the world,” Dailey told the attentive group at San Vicente.