Chic - Chic (1977)

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in 1970. They formed a rock band called The Boys (later the Big Apple Band) and played numerous gigs around New York City, but despite interest in their demos, they could not get a record contract when the music companies discovered they were black; the discrimination of the day said black artists couldn't play "rock".

Undeterred, in 1977 Edwards and Rodgers had former LaBelle and Ecstasy, Passion & Pain drummer Tony Thompson join the band. They performed as a trio, doing covers at various gigs for awhile. The trio needed a singer to front the band. That singer was Norma Jean Wright, who sang lead on their demo tape and on all the songs on their first, self-titled album (1977).

But before that, the immediate success of their debut album Chic and the hits "Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Everybody Dance" sent Chic out on the road. They performed as a quartet until February 1978, but Rodgers and Edwards thought that their live performances would improve both in sound and visuals if they added another girl to front the band. Wright suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member in late winter/early spring of 1978.

Right after the sessions ended for their debut album, Chic began to work on Wright's self-titled debut solo album Norma Jean, released in 1978. This album contained club hit "Saturday". To facilitate Wright's solo career, intended to be parallel to her Chic career, the band had agreed to sign her to a separate contract and label. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Wright to leave the band in mid-1978, but not before she took part in the sessions for Chic-produced Sister Sledge album We Are Family. She was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had been on back up vocals on Chic's debut album.

1978–1979: "Le Freak" and "Good Times"
In late 1978 the band released C'est Chic, containing one of their best known tracks, "Le Freak". The famous refrain "Aaa, freak out" was originally intended to be "Aaa, fuck off", conceived as an impromptu protest song after Edwards and Rogers had once tried unsuccessfully to get into the exclusive New York night club Studio 54. The title was changed for obvious reasons after they realized they had a hit on their hands. The single was a massive success, topping the U.S. charts and selling over six million copies. It is still the biggest selling single, ever, of Atlantic's parent company Warner.

For the Sister Sledge project, Edwards and Rogers wrote and produced "He's the Greatest Dancer" (originally intended to be a Chic song) in exchange for "I Want Your Love" (originally intended to be performed by Sister Sledge).

The following year the group released the Risque album and the lead track "Good Times", one of the most important and influential songs of the era. The track formed the backbone of Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop single, "Rapper's Delight", and has been endlessly sampled since by many dance and hip hop acts.

At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and R&B records for both established artists and one-hit wonders, including Sister Sledge's albums We Are Family (1979) and Love Somebody Today (1980) , Sheila and B. Devotion's "Spacer", Diana Ross' 1980 album diana including hit singles "Upside Down", "I'm Coming Out" and "My Old Piano", Carly Simon's "Why" (from 1982 soundtrack Soup For One) and Debbie Harry's debut solo album.

Chic also helped introduce the world to an up-and-coming young vocalist named Luther Vandross, who sang on several of Chic's albums, and helped define the distinctive vocal style of Chic. That style he used on his big breakthrou