George Ezra & Friends

018. Nile Rodgers

Among music legends, Nile Rodgers is truly exceptional. He amplifies his legacy as a multiple GRAMMY-winning composer, producer, arranger and guitarist by constantly traversing new musical terrain and successfully expanding the boundaries of popular music. His work in the CHIC Organization and his productions for artists like David Bowie, Diana Ross, and Madonna have sold over 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide while his innovative, trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Sigala, Disclosure, and Sam Smith reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. This podcast was edited by Warren Borg. The animations and visuals are thanks to Oisin Griffin. Thank you to Josh Sanger and the Closer Artists team. Thanks to Nile for chatting with George. And of course, thank YOU for downloading and supporting this podcast.
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Had it not been for the introduction of podcasts into my life, my second album could well have been ready six months sooner. Who knows, maybe even seven. The world of podcasts has been an extremely welcome and comforting distraction from reality. Listening to interesting people talk to other interesting people about interesting things. New ideas, old ideas, thinkers and dreamers.

A lot of the shows I enjoy are comedians talking to other comedians, candid accounts of their experiences in the industry they work in. I find them inspiring and often relieving. To hear entertainers, talk so openly about the highs and the lows of performance feels like something that hasn’t really happened before and, personally, as a performer, it’s something that really helps me.

I began looking for musical equivalents: honest, long form conversations between two musicians, the unquestionable highs of creating and performing, alongside honesty regarding things they have struggled with along the way. At the time of digging, nothing jumped out at me. I sat on the idea for some time before finally plucking up the courage to try and do it myself and went out and purchased the gear necessary for me to travel and record at the drop of a hat.

So far it has been better than I could have ever imagined. I travel to my guests wherever they may be and it is just the two of us in the room. After the initial ten minutes of chat we both loosen up and start to share stories and experiences from our time on the road.

What started as a labour of love and somewhat of a passion project is shaping up to be one of the best and fulfilling projects I’ve ever been a part of. I hope you find it as interesting and fun to listen to, as it was to make.