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cleanup-date|July 2005
Chic is an United States|American band that was
formed in 1975/76 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and
bassist Bernard Edwards. They are best remembered
for their disco songs, including "Dance Dance
Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (1977), "Everybody
Dance" (1977), "Le Freak" (1978), "I Want Your
Love" (1978), "Good Times (song)|Good Times"
(1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979).

Bernard and Nile had former LaBelle and Ecstacy,
Passion & Pain drummer Tony Thompson join the
band. And they performed as a trio doing covers at
various gigs for awhile. But they needed a singer
to front the band.

And that singer was Norma Jean Wright, who sang
lead on their demo (music) | demotape and on all
the songs on their first, selftitled, album
(1977). Right after the sessions ended for their
debut album Chic began to work on Norma Jean's
selftitled debut solo album released in 1978. This
album contained club hit "Saturday." To facilitate
a separate but parallel (to Chic's) solo career
for their lead singer Chic had agreed to sign her
to a separate contract and label from the band.
Unfortunately the legalities of this contract
eventually forced Norma Jean to leave the band in
mid (1978). But not before taking part in the
sessions for Chic produced Sister Sledge album We
Are Family. 

But before that, the immediate success of their
debut album and the hits "Dance Dance Dance
(Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (1977) & "Everybody
Dance" (1977), sent Chic out on the road. They
performed as a quartet (Nile, Bernard, Tony &
Norma Jean) up until February of (1978) but Nile &
(Ber)Nard thought that their live performances
would improve both in sound and visuals if they
added another girl to front the band. Norma Jean
suggested her friend Luci Martin and she became a
member in late winter/early spring of 1978. 

At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed,
arranged, performed, and produced 
many influential disco and R&B records for both
established artists and one-hit wonders, including
Sister Sledge, Sheila B. Devotion|Sheila and B.
Devotion, Diana Ross, and Debbie Harry. Chic also
helped introduce the world to a up-and-coming
young vocalist named Luther Vandross, who sang on
several of Chic's albums.

In the 1980s, the band struggled to obtain airplay
and sales and eventually disbanded. Rodgers and
Edwards separately produced records for a wide
variety of artists. Rodgers was largely
responsible for the breakthrough success of
Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna in 1985 with her
Like a Virgin album. Thompson and Edwards worked
with the supergroup Power Station on its 1985 hit
LP as well as Power Station lead singer Robert
Palmer's solo smash Riptide that same year (both
of which Edwards produced).

In the early 1990s, Rodgers and Edwards regrouped
and worked on new material (Single Chic Mystique
and subsequent album Chic-ism, both of which
charted). Edwards died in 1996 in Japan, but Chic
continued to tour with new musicians. Thompson
passed away in 2003.

In addition to defining the disco sound, Chic
helped to inspire other artists to forge their own
sound. For example, The Sugarhill Gang used "Good
Times" as the basis for their hit Rapper's
Delight|Rapper's Delight, which helped launch the
Rap music|Rap/Hip-hop music format as we know
today. And the group Queen (band)|Queen got the
inspiration for their hit single "Another One
Bites The Dust" from Chic's familiar bass guitar
riffs.

==Discography==

*Chic     eponymous LP (Atlantic 1977)
**Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah) 12"
(Buddah 1976) (Atlantic 1977)
**Everybody Dance (Atlantic 1977)

*Chic     C'est Chic LP (Atlantic 1978)
**Le Freak (Atlantic 1978)
**I Want Your Love (Atlantic 1978)

*Chic     Risqué LP (Atlantic 1979)
**Good Times (Atlantic 1979)
**My Forbidden Lover (Atlantic 1979)
**My Feet Keep Dancing (Atlantic 1980)

*Chic     Real People LP (Atlantic 1980)
**Rebels Are We (Atlantic 1980)
**Real People (Atlantic 1980)
**Chip Off The Old Block (Atlantic 1980)
**26 (Atlantic 1980)

*Chic     Take It Off LP (Atlantic 1981)
*Stage Fright (Atlantic 1981)

*Chic     Tongue In Chic LP (Atlantic 1982)
*Hangin' (Atlantic 1982)

*Chic     Believer LP (Atlantic 1983)

*Chic     Chic-ism CD (Atlantic 1992)
**Chic Mystique (Single Atlantic 1992)

==Chic produced==

*Norma Jean (Wright)     selftitled LP (Bearsville
1978)
**Saturday (Bearsville 1978)
**Having A Party (Bearsville 1978)
**Sorcerer (Bearsville 1978)

*Norma Jean - High Society/Hold Me Lonely Boy
(Bearsville 1979)

*Sister Sledge     We Are Family LP (Cotillion
1979)
**He's The Greatest Dancer (Cotillion 1979)
**We Are Family (Cotillion 1979)
**Lost In Music (Cotillion 1979)

*Sheila & B. Devotion     King Of The World LP
(Mirage 1980)
**Spacer (Mirage 1979)
**King Of The World (Mirage 1980)

*Sister Sledge     Got To Love Somebody Today LP
(Cotillion 1980)
**Love Somebody Today (Cotillion 1980)
**Reach Your Peak (Cotillion 1980)

*Diana Ross     diana LP (Motown 1980)
**Upside Down (Motown 1980)
**I'm Coming Out (Motown 1980)
**Tenderness (Motown 1980)
**My Old Piano (Motown 1980)

*Johnny Mathis     I Love My Lady LP (Columbia
1981) UNRELEASED!

*Debbie Harry     Koo Koo LP (Chrysalis 1981)
**Backfired (Chrysalis 1981)
**Now I Know You Know (Chrysalis 1981)

*Fonzi Thornton     unknown title LP (1982)
UNRELEASED!, probably contained:
**I Work For A Livin'
**Riding

*Various Artists     Soup For One Soundtrack LP
(Mirage 1982) 
**Chic - Soup For One (Mirage 1982)

*Carly Simon - Why (song)|Why (Mirage 1982)
**Teddy Pendergrass - Dream Girl
**Fonzi Thornton - I Work For A Livin'

*Odyssey - Together on the LP Happy Together
(1982)

==See also==
*List of number-one hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the Hot
100 (US)
*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US
Dance chart

==External links==
* http://www.chictribute.com/ ChicTribute.com:
With news, discography, video, audio, sampling
list, history, interviews, reviews, gallery,
lyrics, midi and more!
* http://www.nilerodgers.com/ CHIC co-creator Nile
Rodgers official site.
* http://www.skierpage.com/chic/ CHIC discography
and reviews