Nile Rodgers Wild Tales About Walking Out on Madonna
In a far-reaching, nearly 100-minute interview with Variety‘s Jem Aswad for New York Music Month — presented by Variety and Berklee NYC School of Music — recorded at his longtime home base, Power Station Studios in NYC, Nile Rodgers, co-founder and leader of Chic, one of the greatest producers and guitarists of the last 50 years, and a legendary songwriter as well, shares stories about walking out on Madonna, meeting David Bowie, advice From Frank Sinatra and more.
Here is an excerpt where Rodgers, who’s not only a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he’s been its chairman for eight years and is also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category talks about his work with Madonna on what became her Like a Prayer album.
“Madonna was heaven to me — I’ve never worked with an artist who worked that hard in my life. And she didn’t even really have to work that hard. We had only met once — just like with Bowie — and just from that one meeting, she decided ‘This guy is going to make my record.’ She came to my apartment and played all these demos and said, ‘Nile, if you don’t love all these songs, we can’t work together.’ I listened to all the songs, and I said, ‘Well, Madonna, I don’t love all these songs, but when I finish with them, I will.’
“So I guess I didn’t say the wrong thing because I didn’t get fired! She was great — the only negative thing I could say about Madonna… because I did quit the record, but I’ll show you how quickly I was re-hired. Every time an assistant would have to go to the bathroom, she wanted to make sure she was the boss — ‘Time is money and the money is mine!,’ she’d say — she said, ‘Well make sure he asks me before he goes!’ ‘Madonna, the guy has to go to the bathroom!’
“Finally she was mistreating the guy so much that I got really upset and just said, ‘Forget it, I can’t work with you anymore.’ I was walking out of the studio, and she comes to the door and goes ‘Nile, do you think I’m sexy?’
“‘Yeah Madonna, you’re one of the sexiest people I’ve ever met.’
“‘Well why don’t you wanna fuck me?’
“‘Because I’m you’re producer!”
“Then she comes with a brilliant answer: ‘Well, that didn’t stop the rest of them!’ (Laughter)
“I mean, I thought I’d be making Madonna records for the rest of my life. I only made one, but our relationship has always been fantastic. A couple of years ago, she celebrated her birthday — I built a little roller-skating rink in Central Park and we skated together. We had so much fun — she said, ‘You just got me out here because you want me to fall on my ass!’ I said, ‘No, Madonna. All the other skaters work for me, so if you fall on your ass, we’re all going to fall on our asses!'”
Read the full story on Variety.com.
