Following the late-career success of Chic – with acclaimed festival performances and the world conquering ‘Get Lucky’ with Daft Punk – it seemed the only thing missing from funk legend Nile Rodgers’ catalogue would be an EDM collaboration with Australian country star Keith Urban.
The disco hit-maker has teamed up with Urban, 47, to work on tracks described as ‘EDM-Country’. ‘I really pushed him to sing at the top of his range,’ Rodgers said. ‘Keith was nervous about it; he wanted to do another take. But I told him I loved the way it sounds.’
Rodgers has commented on how this might be received by the country singer’s supporters, stating ‘His fans may have some kind of problem at first, but my biggest records have always been like that.’ The unlikely duo first met at a pre-Grammys event back in February where Rodgers, 62, expressed his admiration for Urban’s guitar playing prowess, ‘And I really like what Keith does on the banjo,’ Rodgers said. ‘I’m a jazz guy, I don’t put a capo on my guitar — to me that’s, like, taboo. But when I watched Keith do it, I was like, ‘Wait a minute! I gotta learn this!’ So I watched him play, and I went home and started practicing.’
As if this news wasn’t strange enough for fans of Nile Rodgers, he recently told The Sun that he’s working in the studio with super-model Cara Delevingne. ‘I would say she’s a rock chick and a really cool one too,’ he said. ‘It’s not helping, it’s collaborating. When she played me her tracks I was shocked, it’s cool.’
