I spoke with Nile Rodgers on the day it was announced that he and Lady Gaga would perform a tribute to the late David Bowie at the Grammys. Rodgers, the legendary guitarist, composer, and producer, has one of the best reasons to celebrate the life and work of the eccentric limey. There is a very good chance that his own career might have been completely locked up in the disco period of the late-1970s had he not produced Bowie’s Let’s Dance in 1983. After that spectacular success, the scale of which took even Bowie by surprise, Rodgers ruled the world for five straight years, producing one pop landmark after another: Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Duran Duran’s Notorious, the B-52s’ “Roam,” and so on…
