Nile Rodgers has revealed he once quit working on Madonna’s landmark Like a Virgin album after a heated row over how she treated a studio assistant.
The Chic co-founder recalled one of his biggest clashes with the Queen of Pop while appearing on the Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, admitting their working relationship was far from smooth during the making of the 1984 hit record.
Asked whether he and Madonna ever argued, Nile did not hesitate.
He said: “Yeah, all the time.”
The producer then recounted what he called his favourite argument with the superstar, which ended with him walking out of the recording studio.
Nile explained: “So, my favourite argument with Madonna. Everybody at the recording studio treated me like the boss because I just went from record to record to record to record to record. But now this was her record and she was paying.
“So, one of the guys who was just an assistant was going to the bathroom, and she says, ‘uh, where’s he going? Why is he leaving the studio?’ I said, ‘oh, Madonna, he’s just going to the bathroom’.
“She responded, ‘well, he didn’t ask me … if a person wants to go to the bathroom, they need to ask me before they go to the bathroom’.”
The 74-year-old star was stunned by her response and immediately decided he had had enough.
He continued: “I said, ‘you know what, Madonna, I quit. You can’t treat people like that. These people are all here working on your behalf. They all care about you, and you just can’t treat people like that’.”
The legendary producer then headed for the lift, convinced he was finished with the project.
However, Madonna quickly followed him out.
Nile recalled: “So, I walked out of the studio, and I was standing there waiting for the elevator to come. And she opens the door and she goes, ‘Nile, does that mean you don’t love me anymore?’
“And I started laughing, and I came back into the studio. We finished the album. It wound up being the biggest record of the year.”
Despite their explosive disagreements, Nile insisted he has nothing but admiration for Madonna and even described her as the most “focused” artist he has ever worked with.
He said: “She was fantastic.”
Asked what made the 68-year-old singer so special, he replied: “Because when I worked with her, she was just starting out in her career, and she was more focused than any artist I have ever worked with.
“When people try and get me to say bad stuff about Madonna, I go, really? Are you kidding me?
“Whatever she does with people now, she never once said, ‘okay, Nile we’re finished’. I would say, okay, ‘Madonna, let’s try it again’. She’d try it again.”
Nile added that Madonna never questioned his decisions in the studio and was completely committed to getting every track right.
He said: “If I said to her 50 times, ‘I want you to do a song’, she would do it, never questioned me.
“The only thing that she had was like, she wanted to let everybody know she was the boss because I was the boss.”
The studio wizard also looked back on their friendship before Madonna became one of the biggest stars on the planet, remembering how he would pick her up from her apartment and take her out around New York.
He laughed while recalling one long-running disagreement.
Nile said: “She was convinced it was a Rolls-Royce. And to this day, I was with her on her birthday a couple of years ago and she’s like arguing with me, telling me my car was a Rolls-Royce.
“And I’m going, ‘Madonna, I’ve never owned a Rolls-Royce.’
“I’ve never owned a Rolls-Royce, and it was a damn Chrysler.”
He also shared a candid story about a conversation regarding their strictly platonic relationship.
Nile recalled: “She comes out to me one day and, she says, ‘Nile, do you think I’m sexy?’
“I said, ‘Madonna, I can’t believe you’re asking me that question. I think you’re like one of the sexiest women I’ve ever met’.”
According to Nile, Madonna then asked him why he had never tried to bed her before.
He said: “And she went, ‘well, why don’t you want to f*** me then?’
“And I said, ‘because I’m your producer’.
“And she said, ‘that didn’t stop the rest of them’.”
Ruthie’s Table 4 is available wherever you get your podcasts.
