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Renowned For Sound

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News: Rochester Castle Concerts Confirm Nile Rogers And Soft Cell As First Headliners

3 min read

Among music legends, Nile Rodgers is truly exceptional. He amplifies his legacy as a multiple GRAMMY-winning composer, producer, arranger, and guitarist by constantly traversing new musical terrain and successfully expanding the boundaries of popular music. As the co-founder of CHIC and the Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rodgers pioneered a musical language that generated chart-topping hits like “Le Freak,” (the biggest-selling single in the history of Atlantic Records) and sparked the advent of hip-hop with “Good Times”. Nile transcends all styles of music across every generation with a body of work that’s garnered him inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

His unforgettable live performances with CHIC have been included in “festival best performances” at both Glastonbury and Coachella resulting in a BBC Music Awards nomination for “Best Live Performance”, and the LA Times stating, “Nile Rodgers influence stretches all over Coachella, beaming the sound of a better future”.

Nile’s work in the CHIC Organization and his productions for artists like David Bowie, Diana Ross, and Madonna have sold over 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide while his trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Keith Urban, Disclosure, Sam Smith and Lady Gaga reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. Nile & Chic will be headlining at Rochester Castle Concerts on Thursday 6th July.

When Soft Cell played a spectacular, sold-out show before 20,000 fans 2018, it was deemed to be their grand finale. Billed as One Night: One Final Time, leaving devotees in no doubt that a duo who had done so much to define the sound of British electronic pop in the 1980s were saying hello to wave one last, emotional goodbye. Singer Marc Almond and instrumentalist Dave Ball had originally gone their separate ways in 1984 before reuniting for two years in the early 2000s to make a new album, Cruelty Without Beauty. The intention in 2018 had been to draw a line under a rollercoaster ride that had seen Soft Cell secure three Top Ten albums and six Top Ten singles, including 1981’s all-conquering Tainted Love.

But such was the reaction –and the sense of purpose the pair rediscovered onstage –that the big adieu ultimately turned out to be a brilliant new dawn. The reality is that Marc and Dave bring the best out of one another as performers, both onstage and in the studio, and the sense that there was still plenty of mileage left in their partnership was inescapable. The latest fruits of their bond, first forged in the art department of Leeds Polytechnic in 1977 are here in the shape of their album Happiness Not Included, and a series of subsequent live dates that saw fans treated to a synthetic dream of new material and classic hits, including all of their Non Stop Erotic Cabret album in its entirety. Soft Cell will be headlining Rochester Castle Concerts on Friday 7thJuly, supported by Peter Hook & The Light

Peter Hook is best known as the bassist and co-founder of the seminal and culturally defining rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Peters new band Peter Hook and The Light include Andy Poole (Keys) and Paul Kehoe (Drums) who also performed with hook in the band Monaco. They skirted the Top 10 with their hit single What Do You Want From Me? taken from their album Music For Pleasure in the late 90’s. Singer Rowetta also provides vocals at some of their live shows. Peter Hook & The Light will be performing at Rochester Castle Concerts on Friday 7th July.