October 11, 2012

Legendary musician, producer, and composer Nile Rodgers wrote and or produced such megahits as “We Are Family,” “Like a Virgin,” “Le Freak,” “Good Times,”  “Modern Love,” “I’m Coming Out,” “Let’s Dance” and “Rapper’s Delight,” in a career spanning five decades that’s still going strong today. In addition to his band CHIC, Nile has worked with a range of artists, from Diana Ross and Madonna, to David Bowie and Mick Jagger, transforming their music, selling tens of millions of records, and redefining pop culture. Today’s pop music—genre-crossing, gender-bending, racially mixed, visually stylish, and dominated by dance music with global appeal—is a style that Nile Rodgers created. Nile is a warm and witty raconteur, a passionate philanthropist, and will be playing his unforgettable guitar licks and sharing his memorable stories and views on the music business at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24th in a free event at the Mandell Theater.

Nile also composed music for such movies such as Gremlins, Coming to America, Rush Hour 2 and Feeling Minnesota, and for such video games as Halo 2. Nile's recently published autobiography, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny, is a great read and Nile will be signing copies of the book which will be available for purchase at the event.

Nile founded the We Are Family Foundation and Three Dot Dash in order to promote healing in the aftermath of September 11th and Three Dot Dash (http://threedotdash.org/) supports teenage leaders from around the world who are working to address society's biggest problems. Nile was awarded an honorary degree and spoke at this year's Commencement ceremony. This event is supported by the Kal & Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies.