*Famed music producer Nile Rodgers is speaking out about he and his late production partner Bernard Edwards collaborating with the legendary Diana Ross.
Rodgers and Edwards are the masterminds behind hits such as “Le Freak” and “Good Times” for their own group Chic, as well as Sister Sledge’s classic track “We Are Family.”
As reported by New York Post, Rodgers and Edwards first teamed with Ross 40 years ago on her “Diana” album, which dropped May 22, 1980. It went on to become the best-selling LP of her career.
The album featured the hits “Upside Down” and the gay anthem “I’m Coming Out,” which was inspired by the Diana Ross drag impersonators at GG’s Barnum Room in midtown Manhattan.
“All of a sudden a lightbulb goes off in my head,” Rodgers tells NY Post. “I had to go outside and call Bernard from a telephone booth. I said, ‘Bernard, please write down the words: ‘I’m coming out.’ And then I explained the situation to him.”
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#LeFreak – #Freakout live played at dj speed. Stay safe until we return. I miss playing live and interacting with folks. #dance #soul #disco pic.twitter.com/qeJeMVGTc0
— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) April 25, 2020
While Ross immediately connected with the empowering lyrics of the song, she had no idea “I am coming out” was a gay thing.
“She didn’t even get that,” he says.
Ross was allegedly hesitant about releasing the track once influential WBLS DJ Frankie Crocker “thought that that would be Diana saying that she was gay,” says Rodgers. But he convinced the singer to stick with the song anyway.
“I said, ‘Diana, this song is gonna be your coming-out song. We think of you as our black queen,’ ” Rodgers says. “And I even wrote a [horn] fanfare. I explained to her that it’s just like when the president comes out and they play ‘Hail to the Chief.’ ”
And he was spot on with his prediction. The song has since become the perfect opener for Queen Diana to make a grand entrance at every live show.
Rodgers said he and Edwards “interviewed” Ross for several days before writing a single note of music for her.
“For two days she told us her life story, as if we were writing a magazine article,” he says.. “And then we went and we wrote the album. Basically, the reason why it’s just [called] ‘Diana’ is it’s a documentary.”
The first single “Upside Down” was inspired by those conversations.
“Those were her words actually. She said that she just wanted to turn her whole career upside down, and that was in our notes. But we thought that it would be more powerful in a romantic setting, so we wrote ‘Upside down, boy you turn me.’ And she flipped when she heard it.”
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