We hope that 2026 is providing you with some 'good times' - to add to them, why not read about this unexpected link between Nile Rodgers and Nottingham...
Though I am unfortunately severely underqualified to be rambling on about the good old days, the 70s provided innumerable amounts of material for pop culture nerds and musos alike. With your mam’s favourite karaoke songs being born, and a rise in fascination with the macabre, as seen with Burgess’ and Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Psycho Killer from Talking Heads, there is simply too much to unpack from this decade. But a certain Nile Rodgers, who co-founded the band CHIC, had a rather pivotal experience in Nottingham in the 70s.
Before the group’s sound infiltrated every nightclub and Popworld in the country, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards both lived in New York’s Greenwich Village, completely unbeknownst to each other. Rodgers always thought his life and future career would revolve around politics, given that he joined the Black Panther movement when he was sixteen. That was an attempt to overturn the segregation and abuse the black community suffered under social restrictions and a blatantly racist police force. These experiences later fed much of the lyrics in CHIC’s tunes.
Rodgers and Edwards came together in the early 70s, but their initial interaction is believed to have been rather uncomfortable. Rodgers managed to get a hold of Edwards’ number and began to ramble on about grand plans regarding a band with instruments I struggle to pronounce. After a long one-sided conversation, Edwards responded with, "Yo brother, do you want to do me a favour? Lose my number.” - providing us with one of the coldest one liners I’ve ever read.
Thankfully, the pair’s paths crossed again at a future rather informal “pick-up” gig – which I can only assume to be a fancy name for a Tuesday night open-mic. After this, the two were inseparable and Edwards brought Rodgers along to join The Big Apple Band which were soon going on a UK tour, leading them straight to the East Midlands.
Towards the end of the 1975 tour, the band went out to party, clearly carrying out the Nottingham tradition – supposedly ending up in Mega Munch in the early hours of the morning. Rodgers, kebab in hand, arrived at the hotel to discover that all his money and his passport had been nicked.
The rest of the group returned to the States, leaving Rodgers to travel down to the American Embassy in London to get a new passport. While residing in London, he saw some big names at the time like Roxy Music and Alvin Stardust, back when gig tickets were £5 with a Snickers included. These acts struck Rodgers – making way for his new inspiration to form a band with the tagline ‘Kiss meets Roxy Music with black people up front.’ Following his return to the States – freshly printed passport in hand and a strange yearning for a Notts kebab – Rodgers embarked on his CHIC journey.
In a rather roundabout way, a random thief in Nottingham is responsible for Rodgers’ extended stay in the UK, allowing him to be inspired by our music scene. So, for any of you budding thieves out there, please stop stealing people’s wallets and passports, but if you can’t resist the urge, just hand the victim a guitar first, and if they can play Good Times without missing a beat, the coppers may let this one slide.
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