Going For The Gold: Chic

Nile Rodgers, 2006 (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

The seeds of Chic were planted in 1970 when Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers crossed paths while working in New York as session players. A couple of bands and a lot of demos later, they would become one of pop music’s most successful bands of the late ’70′s. Four of their songs cracked the half-million mark and won them gold records. Know which ones they are?

Chic’s first gold record was released in October 1977. “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” had been on one of their most recent demo tapes, helped get them on the road as a support band and won them a contract at Atlantic. It stormed to Number 6 on the pop chart and became gold record Number 1.

The following year, a jam session at Edwards apartment yielded “Le Freak.” The signature shout, “aah, freak out,” was originally written as “aah, f*** off,” a salute to the doormen at Studio 54 who had barred their entry at the club that night. Chic got the last laugh as “Le Freak” became a Number 1 hit and their signature song.

The pair wrote “I Want Your Love” for Sister Sledge for their We Are Family album but decided to keep it for themselves (instead giving the Sledge’s “He’s The Greatest Dancer”). They both became hits, the former landing at Number 7 for Chic in 1979 and winning them gold record Number 3.

Their last gold disc was the disco classic “Good Times,” one of the most sample dance songs of all time. It was a Number 1 record in 1979 and the last of Chic’s gold records. Though they continued to release singles into the 90′s and became hit producers in their own right, all of Edwards and Rodgers gold records as Chic took place in the short span of only 24 months.

Want to know more about some golden oldies (and not-so-oldies)? Read more about them here…