Beyonce was undoubtedly the big winner at the Grammys 2023 - though her failure to scoop an award in any of the ‘top’ categories has raised eyebrows - but her late arrival at the ceremony gave one of her collaborators the chance to reveal an interesting nugget of information.
The moment came when Beyonce’s Cuff It was announced as the winner of the Best R&B Song award. Grammys host Trevor Noah quickly stepped in to confirm that the star was indeed stuck in traffic on the way to the ceremony, which gave none other than Nile Rodgers, who played guitar on Cuff It, the chance to step in and accept the prize on her behalf.
And, Nile being Nile, he had an anecdote all ready to go.
“When I got called to play on this song, it was the most organic thing that ever happened to me,” said the Chic Organisation CEO, as he stood alongside Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, one of Cuff It’s producers. “I heard the song and I just said ‘I wanna play on that. Right now’. And it was one take, I promise. I played it, it was one take and I never even got ‘Well Nile, maybe you should do this, maybe you should do that?’ It was just what I felt in my heart.”
So, there you have it: one take and out.
Despite not being in the studio for long, Rodgers is credited as a writer on Cuff It, so should be in line for a nice share of the royalties. He previously won three Grammys in 2014 for his work with Daft Punk on their Random Access Memories album.
