Musician Nile Rodgers reflects on the roots of his artistry

Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz: All right, we end tonight with something, well, a little different that we’re going to be bringing you from time to time.

Legendary photographer Platon has been taking portraits of some of the world’s most prominent people for decades, from heads of state to movie stars and everything in between. He recently started filming his photo shoots in which he gets his subject talking in a most disarming way. Call it Platon’s Dialogues.

And, tonight, his dialogue is with Nile Rodgers, singer, songwriter, and producer whose many hits are like a playlist of some of the most memorable pop music we have.

It’s all part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

Nile Rodgers, Musician: So I was a child when I found out what an artist is. I was taking private lessons with a jazz tutor.

And I was proficient enough on the guitar to do cover songs. One day, my teacher noticed that I was not my normal happy-go-lucky self. He said: “Nile, what’s wrong?”

And I said: “Well, tonight I have to play these bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED) songs.”

And he said: “What are you talking about?”

I said: “Well, look at my set list. I got to start with this song called ‘Sugar Sugar’ by The Archies.”

(Singing)

Nile Rodgers: He said: “You know that ‘Sugar Sugar’ has been number one for about three or four weeks now. In order for it to be number one, millions and millions of people have to love that song. So are you trying to say that those millions of people are wrong, but you, Nile Rodgers, you’re right?”

He grabbed me by the back of my head, looked me directly in my eyes, and said: “‘Sugar Sugar’ is a great composition because it speaks to the souls of a million strangers.”

I almost want to cry. I almost want to cry. I thought to myself, he just showed me what an artist was, that I was not an artist before that. I was a composer. I was trying to be the smartest guy in the room. What I wasn’t trying to do was to speak to the souls of a million strangers.

(Singing)

Nile Rodgers: My name is Nile Rodgers. I am an individual who speaks to the souls of a million strangers.