''Chic'' is the debut album by

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

, released on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in 1977. The cover art featured two models, Valentine Monnier (left) and Alva Chinn (right), uncredited in a photograph taken by Frank Laffitte.

Release

It includes the hit singles "

Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" is a song by American R&B band Chic. It was the group's first single, a hit in the United States (reaching number 6 on both the pop and R&B charts), as well as in the United Kingdom and Canada. In ...

" - originally released on

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...

- (US Hot 100 #6, R&B #6, US Club Play #1, UK #6) and " Everybody Dance" (US Hot 100 #38, R&B #12, US Club Play #1, UK #9). Chic's debut album reached #27 on the US Pop charts, #12 on the R&B charts and was certified Gold by the RIAA, selling more than half a million copies. ''Chic'' was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

in 1991. The album was digitally remastered and re-issued by

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists. Most of the Wounded Bird catalogue is licen ...

in 2006 and by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

in 2011.

Track listing

All tracks written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, except "

" and "São Paulo" by Edwards, Rodgers and Kenny Lehman.

Personnel

Norma Jean Wright Norma Jean Wright (born July 15, 1950) is an American singer and was the lead vocalist of the American group Chic, a soul, R&B and disco band, from 1977 to 1978. Early life Norma Jean Wright was born in Ripley, Tennessee. At young age, she relo ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(B1, B2, B3) *

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bassist and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco with musician Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greates ...

(A3),

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Tony Thompson -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

- vocals * Alfa Anderson - vocals * David Lasley - vocals *

Robin Clark Robin Clark is an American vocalist known for her work as a vocalist on David Bowie's 1975 album ''Young Americans'' and Simple Minds' 1985 album ''Once Upon a Time''. Clark was born in New York. In 1967, when Clark was 17, she and future s ...

- vocals *

Diva Gray Diva Gray (September 14, 1952 – November 19, 2024) was an American singer. She was best known as a background vocalist behind the band Chic with Luther Vandross and Robin Clark, as well as in other disco groups, including Change, and Lemon with ...

- vocals * Kenny Lehman -

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

* David Friedman - orchestral

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

s * Raymond Jones - keyboards * Robert Sabino - keyboards * Andy Schwartz - keyboards *

Tom Coppola Thomas Wilkinson Coppola (June 6, 1945 - December 29, 2023)
Obituary for Tom Coppola from Allegr ...

- keyboards * Jeremy Wall - keyboards * George Young -

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Vito Rendace - flute, tenor saxophone on "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" * Jon Faddis -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Jay Beckenstein - saxophone on São Paulo * Barry Rogers -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Gerardo Velez -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Sammy Figueroa -

* Alfred Brown - strings contractor * Gloria Agostini -

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

* Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Lehman - arrangements

Production

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

- producer * Kenny Lehman - co-producer (track B1) *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan A ...

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

* Bob Drake - engineer * Michael Frondelli - engineer * Ron Johnsen - engineer * Tom Savarese - engineer *Marc Kreiner, Tom Cossie - executive producers *Bob Defrin - art direction *Lynn Dresse Breslin - design * Recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York; vocals and mixed at Power Station, New York

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control Chic (band) albums 1977 debut albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Nile Rodgers Albums produced by Bernard Edwards Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Albums recorded at Power Station