Im stephen sackur. My guest today is a legend in the music business. He has written and performed some of the most memorable tracks of the last four decades. Nile rodgers co founded chic, the band which defined the late 70s disco generation. From his own band to his collaborations with everyone from madonna to daft punk, his beat goes on. Now he is releasing another chic album. So what makes his sound and his spirit so special . Nile rodgers, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. For four decades you have found a way to reach out to every successive generation of music lovers. What is the secret to that success . I am not really sure. Or else, every record i put out would be a hit. Ijust do what feels natural to me. And i have to admit that when it was earlier in my career, i knew that i wanted to make a living doing music. So when i was younger, it was a little bit more calculated. I was actually trying to make hits. Before we get going on your career, i want to talk about your childhood. I
The late 70s disco generation. From his own band to his collaborations with everyone from madonna to daft punk, his beat goes on. Now he is releasing another chic album. So what makes his sound and his spirit so special . Nile rodgers, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. For four decades you have found a way to reach out to every successive generation of music lovers. What is it thats the secret to that success . I am not really sure. Otherwise, every record i put out would be a hit. Ijust do what feels natural to me. And i have to admit that when it was earlier in my career, i knew that i wanted to make a living doing music. So when i was younger, it was a little bit more calculated. I was actually trying to make hits. Before we get going on your career, i want to talk about your childhood. I have read enough to know there was lots of music in your childhood, a lot of creativity, but also an awful lot of chaos as well. And ijust wonder, when you reflect on it now, thinking about your mum
Lyle lovett, welcome. Evan, thanks for having me. Nice to be back with you. Congratulations on 16 years of the show well, thanks very much. Cant believe it, time goes fast. It was first season that we first spoke. Yeah, thats right, you came back again one more time, and now here you are again, so see you in eight years. Thats how that goes, i think, right . Or Something Like that. Yeah. So were sitting here today against the backdrop of this awful weather in houston, flooding. A community that you know well, care enormously about. You were born in memorial hospital, right, in houston . In methodist hospital. Methodist hospital, pardon me, in houston, and you grew up in houston and around houston, and you still live in the still live here, still live right where i grew up. Yeah, i know its, ive been keeping an eye on the, and been on the phone all day back home. Lots of folks are underwater, where we are in north Harris County, were on high enough ground that were okay, but things are
Talk . And how many have never been to read emmas . Cool if you like we are seeing, please check us out in the back at that table also we have a location on north avenue. And we are a radical bookstore we also have a vegan and vegetarian restaurant. We also have a copy house and dedicated ourselves for a few years creating a community space. One that is supportive of new ideas in term of business structures, relationships, cultural ideas and resisting the status quo. Some of our greatest events have happened over the past two years with one of the people that will be speaking today. D. Watkins, someone who after one of the book festivals he was at the time just beginning his journey into writing and he sent me an essay about pop culture and it was the first time they sent it to me and i kind of glanced at it and did not really look at it. And then he said did you check that out . And he was very serious about this or is it a better check it out. And i looked at it and i was completely
Where it was and its kind of become even better now. Ron it has been, you know. Its hard to believe this, but ive been there now 8 years. Damian wow. Ron and its been a slow, steady progress as weve created new programs, implemented those programs to serve more latino students and their families, all with the mission of trying to get more latino students properly prepared to be successful in high school, and then in college, and out the door of college with a degree, and hopefully a stemrelated degree so we can get them into some of the local high tech jobs where theyre desperately needed to help diversify the workforce. But its been a tremendous 8 years of success and i think it has a lot to do with the fact that we spent a lot of time listening to our community, understanding our needsthe needs of our community, looking for solutions, and then finding partners that can help, you know, bring programs and services to those problem areas. Damian because you know most, if not all, of the