"Le Freak" | ||||
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Single by Chic | ||||
from the album C'est Chic | ||||
B-side |
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Released | September 21, 1978 | |||
Recorded | January 1978 | |||
Studio | Power Station, New York City | |||
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Chic singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Le Freak" on YouTube |
"Le Freak" is a 1978 funk-disco song by American R&B band Chic. It was the band's third single and first Billboard Hot 100 and R&B number-one hit song. [2] [3] Along with the tracks "I Want Your Love" and "Chic Cheer", "Le Freak" scored number one on the disco charts for seven weeks. [4] The single achieved sales of 7 million [5] and also scored number seven in the UK Singles Chart.
Billboard magazine ranked it as the number 3 song for 1979. [6] The song was ranked number 21 on Billboard magazine's top 100 songs of the first 55 years of the "Hot 100" chart. [7] In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [8]
The lyric mentions "Stompin' at the Savoy", a 1933 song composed by Edgar Sampson. It also invites the listener to "Come on down to 54": that is, Studio 54, a popular nightclub in New York City at the time.
This song commemorates Studio 54 in New York City for its notoriously long customer waiting lines, exclusive clientele, and discourteous doormen. According to guitarist Nile Rodgers, the song was devised during New Year's Eve 1977, as a result of his and bassist Bernard Edwards' being refused entrance to Studio 54, where they had been invited by Grace Jones, due to her failure to notify the nightclub's staff. He said the lyrics of the refrain were originally "Fuck off!" rather than "Freak out!"; [10] for the documentary How to Make It in the Music Business, he said that 'beano's socks' was what the doorman had said to him when he slammed the door on them; first it was changed to "freak off" after Rodgers mused that they wouldn't be able to say 'beano's socks' on the radio, but that sounded "terrible", so he changed it to 'freak out'. [11]
"Le Freak" was the first song to score the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 three separate times. It spent a total of six non-consecutive weeks at the position.
In 1987, an acid house-styled re-mix was issued under the title "Jack Le Freak". It reached number 18 in the United Kingdom, becoming Chic's last top 40 hit to date in that country. This remix was done by British producer Phil Harding, who had access to the original DAT tapes for "Le Freak". Due to him producing a similar remix for Mel and Kim's "F.L.M." (known as the "Two Grooves Under One Nation" remix, which samples "Le Freak") that same year, he included acapella samples taken from their songs "Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)", "Respectable" and "F.L.M." during the breakdown. [12]
MC Lyte sampled the song "Woo Woo (Freak Out)" featuring Nicci Gilbert of the group Brownstone, which first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 movie Woo and was also included on her album Seven & Seven , titled "Woo Woo (Party Time)", which released three months later.
In 2024 the instrumental has been sampled by bbno$ in his track "lil' freak".
Cash Box wrote it is "a handclapping disco song bolstered by solid bass work and airy vocals." [13]
In 2015, the 1978 recording of the song by Chic on Atlantic Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [14]
Atlantic 7" 3519, September 21, 1978
Atlantic promo 12" DSKO 131, 1978 / Atlantic 12" DK 4700, 1978
Atlantic 12" DK 4620, 1978 / Atlantic Oldies promo 12" DSKO 178, 1979
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
All-time charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Canada (Music Canada) [43] | 2× Platinum | 448,000 [44] |
France (SNEP) [45] | Gold | 500,000* |
Italy (FIMI) [46] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [47] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [48] | 5× Platinum | 4,000,000 [49] |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 7,000,000 [5] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
This song was used in a 2010 film Toy Story 3 scene in which Ken models his outfits for Barbie. [50] It was also shown in the 2004 film Shrek 2 , when the fairytale creatures were partying in Shrek Swamp. This song also appears in the 1995 film Heavyweights during one of Tony Perkis’ exercise regimens with the struggling campers. used in Walmart commercials.
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide.
"Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip hop track that serves as the debut single of American hip-hop trio the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III ", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip hop music to a wide audience, reaching the top 40 in the United States, as well as the top three in the United Kingdom and number one in Canada. It was a prototype for various types of rap music. The track interpolates Chic's "Good Times", resulting in Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatening to sue Sugar Hill Records for copyright infringement; a settlement was reached that gave the two songwriting credits. It also interpolates Love De-Luxe's "Here Comes That Sound Again". The track was recorded in a single take. There are five mixes of the song.
"Good Times" is a disco soul song by American R&B band Chic, released in June 1979 by Atlantic Records as the first single from their third album, Risqué (1979). It ranks 68th on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and has become one of the most sampled songs in music history, most notably in hip hop music. Originally released with "A Warm Summer Night" on the B-side, it was reissued in 2004 with "I Want Your Love" on the B-side, a version which was certified Silver in the UK.
"Upside Down" is a song written and produced by Chic members Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. It was recorded by American singer Diana Ross and issued on June 18, 1980, from Motown as the lead single from her eleventh studio album, Diana (1980). The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 6, 1980, and stayed there for four weeks. It also hit number one on the Billboard Disco and Soul charts. The single was released a full four weeks after the album was released.
"I'm Coming Out" is a song recorded by American singer Diana Ross. It was written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and released on August 22, 1980, as the second single from Diana’s self-titled eleventh album, Diana (1980).
Diana is the eleventh studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on May 22, 1980, by Motown Records. The album is the best-selling studio album of Ross's career, spawning three international hit singles, including the number-one hit "Upside Down".
We Are Family is the third studio album by the American R&B vocal group Sister Sledge, released on January 22, 1979, in the United States and on April 30, 1979, in the United Kingdom by Cotillion Records. The album was written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic, and includes four hit singles: the title track, "He's the Greatest Dancer", "Lost in Music" and "Thinking of You", all of which have been sampled, remixed, and reissued in the decades after the album's release. The album reached number one on the Top R&B Albums chart and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's most commercially successful album. In 2013, NME named it among the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"We Are Family" is a song recorded by American vocal group Sister Sledge. Composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, they both offered the song to Atlantic Records; although the record label initially declined, the track was released in April 1979 as a single from the album of the same name (1979) and began to gain club and radio play, eventually becoming the group's signature song.
"He's the Greatest Dancer" is a 1979 song by the American vocal group Sister Sledge. Released on February 3, 1979, the song was written and composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and recorded for the group's successful 1979 album We Are Family. Billboard named the song No. 66 on its list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time."
C'est Chic is the second studio album by American band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1978.
Chic, currently called Nile Rodgers & Chic, is an American disco band founded in 1972 mainly by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It recorded many commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " (1977), "Everybody Dance" (1977), "Le Freak" (1978), "I Want Your Love" (1978), "Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979). The group regarded themselves as a rock band for the disco movement "that made good on hippie peace, love and freedom". In 2017, Chic was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the eleventh time.
American disco group Chic released a number of albums in the period 1977 to 1983. After 1983's Believer the group did not record a studio album until 1992's Chic-Ism. The band has since continued to tour and release live and compilation albums. The group's first studio album in 26 years, titled It's About Time was released in September 2018. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards produced for a series of artists in the years 1978 to 1982. They sometimes produced under the name 'The Chic Organization'.
"I Want Your Love" is a song by American band Chic from their second studio album C'est Chic (1978). Featuring a solo lead vocal by Alfa Anderson, the song became a very successful follow-up to their hit single "Le Freak".
"Dance, Dance, Dance " is a song by American R&B band Chic. It was the group's first single, a hit in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and Canada. In addition, along with the tracks "You Can Get By" and "Everybody Dance", the single reached number one on the disco chart. Luther Vandross provided backup vocals. He was working as a session vocalist at the time.
Chic is the debut album by Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1977. The cover art featured two models, Valentine Monnier (left) and Alva Chinn (right), uncredited in a photograph taken by Frank Laffitte.
"Everybody Dance" is a song by American band Chic. The disco song, which features Norma Jean Wright on lead vocals and Luther Vandross, Diva Gray, Robin Clark and David Lasley on background vocals, was released as the second single from the band's self-titled debut album Chic (1977). According to guitarist Nile Rodgers, it was the first song specifically written for Chic, and, due to its historical status and popularity, is usually played as the opening song of the band's live set. It was later heavily sampled by British group Steps on their song "Stomp" and echoed by the Manic Street Preachers on their single "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love".
"My Forbidden Lover" is the second single from Chic's 1979 album Risqué. From the funk/soul genre, and in the style of disco, the song was written and produced by Chic's two frontmen, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers.
"Chic Mystique" is a song by American disco and R&B act Chic. Written and produced by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bass-player Bernard Edwards, it was released in January 1992 by Warner Bros. Records as the second single from their eight album, Chic-Ism (1992). The song was a number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, but didn't reach the Billboard Hot 100. It also achieved moderate success in many European countries where it was a top-25 hit.
I Love My Lady is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was completed in 1981 but not released in its entirety until December 8, 2017, when it was included in the box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection. It was written and produced by Chic founders Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and represented an attempt at shifting away from the easy listening style of music that Mathis had been recording for 25 years to the more contemporary sound of the team behind "Le Freak" and "We Are Family".
Alfa Anderson was an American singer and educator, best known as one of the lead vocalists of the 1970s band Chic.
disco hits like Chic's "Le Freak,"