Nile Rodgers praised his collaborators as he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday (07.04.17).
The Chic lead guitarist was honoured for his solo work, as he picked up the Hall’s Award For Musical Excellence, but he insisted that he owes his success to many of the people he has worked with over the years.
Nile said: "When people work with me, they think that I’m the boss. But believe me, every record I do I join the band. I try and make every artist believe that all I have is their best interest at heart. I remember saying to Madonna, when we finish [‘Like a Virgin’] it’s going to say MADONNA, produced by Nile Rodgers. My name doesn’t mean s**t; it’s going to be this big.
"This award, which is amazing to me, is really because of all the people that have allowed me to come into their lives and just join their band. Be it Mick Jagger, be it Madonna, be it Duran Duran, be it Daft Punk, be it Pharrell Williams, be it Diana Ross, be it Sister Sledge. I mean it just goes on and on and on. Thank you all."
Nile also spoke about the influence that Chic’s bassist and founding member Bernard Edwards has had on him.
He said: "When I met this gentleman named Bernard Edwards, a bass player who started out as a guitar player who had this interesting style of playing and he told me about chucking and he just said, ‘Man, you need to change your s**t up. You got all this jazz knowledge but if you learn how to play this thing, we could change music.’ I didn’t believe him until this young kid plugged into my amp that was our opening act and he sounded 10 times better than me but I knew that harmonically I had more knowledge than he did."
Pharrell Williams inducted Nile into the Hall of Fame and spoke about the effect his songs have had on "the people who have danced around the world to a Nile Rodgers song; who won contests at a club while ‘Le Freak’ was playing; who hugged a family member while ‘We Are Family’ was blasting in the background; who discovered hip-hop through a ‘Good Times’ sample; who jumped around in their bedroom to ‘Like a Virgin,’ or ‘Let’s Dance’ or ‘Notorious’; who felt empowered and more confident after hearing ‘I’m Coming Out’ or who had a fun night to ‘Get Lucky.’"
Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, Pearl Jam, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Journey and Yes were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center.
During the ceremony, tributes were also paid to 1986 Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Berry, who died last month aged 90, while ELO played his song ‘Roll Over Beethoven’.
Nile Rodgers praises collaborators as he is inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
