It’s not such an ordinary world when Duran Duran hunker down on recording sessions with Nile Rodgers at Abbey Road Studios.
That’s happening.
The Rock Hall inductees are ready for another tilt with Rodgers, continuing a partnership that spans four decades and yielded some of the biggest hits of the ’80s.
“Working with our good friend Nile at Abbey Road Studios this weekend. Stay tuned…”, reads a social post shared by Duran Duran. It’s accompanied by a picture of frontman Simon Le Bon, drummer Roger Taylor, and Rodgers, the legendary guitarist, producer and co-founder of seminal disco-era R&B band Chic, flanked by DD’s keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bass player John Taylor.
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Legend has it, the British new wave band heard INXS’ “Original Sin” on rotation at a party hosted in Melbourne by former Countdown host Ian “Molly” Meldrum. Rodgers produced “Original Sin”, and, after that night, he was invited to work on Duran Duran’s 1984 single “The Reflex”. The result was a smash that led sales charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Rodgers and Duran Duran have been, at times, unstoppable on stage and in the studio, their collaborations including “Wild Boys”, plus the Notorious, Astronaut and Paper Gods albums, and contributions to the band’s 16th and latest album Danse Macabre (Tape Modern via BMG), which peaked at No. 4 on the Official UK Albums Chart in November 2023.
History has been repeating for the band who, more than 40 years after forming in Birmingham, England, are dishing up another round of ‘Duranmania’.
Ahead of induction into the Rock Hall at a ceremony in Los Angeles in 2022, they headlined London’s Hyde Park for 70,000 fans, performed at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, closed the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on home soil, and saw their 15th studio album, Future Past, debut at No. 3 in the UK, their best chart performance since 2004.
Last year, Le Bon was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by King Charles, a salute to his services to music and charity.
Rodgers is also in the Rock Hall. He received the award for musical excellence in 2017.
