Nile Rodgers who recently teamed up with Daft Punk to create the summer anthem “Get Lucky” has gotten a break himself—the musician announced via Twitter that the’s beat the prostate cancer he was diagnosed with in 2011. While noting that he needs to get one final go ahead for being all clear in six months, Rodgers still seems very optimistic about his health.
Instead of showing gross internal video I’ll show my doctor’s fly examination room. I’M ALL CLEAR AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/Ct4z8ZO1Qr
— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) July 29, 2013
Rodgers also recently teamed with Avicii and Adam Lambert for the track “Lay Me Down,” a sonic stretch for the ex-Chic band leader, but one that shows his willingness to dabble in the current music scene. In an interview with Official Charts Company, he mentions that he’s discovered a “lost Chic album” and names the success of “Get Lucky” as his most important musical accomplishment.
“I think this particular experience rates very high, because two years ago I was stricken with cancer just right out of the clear blue sky,” Rodgers said. “I had no indication it was coming on, I was what is called asymptomatic and when they found it, it was diagnosed as incredibly aggressive. So I went from having no symptoms to ‘you can die any moment and you have to take this very seriously.’ It just didn’t make any sense, it was so completely insane.
And from that moment I decided I was going to work as much as I could, play as many concerts, do as many records, because that’s what I live for. I said to myself, if I had a reason to get up the next day, hopefully I’ll get up the next day because I just love to do my job. Maybe this could feel more special than any other Number 1 record simply because of that. I was facing life and death issues and then to get something so rewarding as a No. 1 record is pretty amazing.”
Rodgers is bringing Chic back for a string of headlining shows in England in support of the forthcoming album, along with a performance at Glastonbury Music Festival. He’s also set to appear on the Rolling Stones’ Hyde Park line up. The new “lost Chic album” he’s currently working on is taken from some old demos Rodgers said he thought he’d lost.
“Oh and the absolute coolest thing is that I finally retrieved some music that I thought was lost when I was getting my first solo record deal,” he said. “Obviously, I had a lot of my Chic bandmates play on some songs that I was working on. So, I basically call it ‘the lost Chic album’, even though it’s really a Nile Rodgers record.
Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson, Alfa and Luci singing on it. They’re just demos, but they’re amazing. So now I get to jam with my best friends and I think that I’m going to complete these songs. They sound really good to me, after being tucked away in a vault for 35 years. I restored the tapes and they sound absolutely brilliant.”
Look for more music from Rodgers over the coming months and for that final all clear statement—luck seems to be with him. Celebrate the good news by watching “Get Lucky” below.
(BBC)
