Prince and Nile Rodgers Cover David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ at Essence Festival (Video)

 

The Essence Music Festival turned into a funk royalty jam on Friday night when Prince and Nile Rodgers teamed up to cover David Bowie. Before taking the stage for his own 24-song headlining set, Prince made an appearance at Rodgers’ show and the two busted out a cover of Bowie’s 1983 hit “Let’s Dance,” from the Rodgers-produced album of the same name.

See Where ‘Let’s Dance’ Ranks Among the 100 Best Albums of the Eighties 

Prince has made no secret of his admiration for Rodgers, and he interviewed the disco legend for the June issue of Essence magazine. Rodgers talked about how his work producing Bowie’s album helped him bounce back from the infamous Disco Demolition Night. He echoed that sentiment on Facebook Saturday in the caption of a photo he posted of himself onstage with Prince. “How Proud Am I at This Moment?” he wrote. “Playing ‘Let’s Dance’ w Prince is so symbolic. That album w Bowie changed my life after Disco Sucks.” He also posted the same photo on Twitter:

Rodgers just dropped his first solo track in quite some time. He recorded “Do What You Wanna Do” in Ibiza last summer, and the song was released by Cr2 Records at the beginning of the month to celebrate the label’s 10th anniversary.

Prince, meanwhile, just celebrated the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain with a surprise concert for his co-star Apollonia Kotero. He’s also got a new album completed that he hopes to release soon.

Rollingstone