Debbie Sledge swears she never gets tired of talking about “We Are Family,” the glittering 1979 disco phenomenon that’s been played at countless weddings, bar mitzvahs, sporting events, political conventions, and social-justice rallies since, well, 1979. Kelly Clarkson has sung it. Eddie Murphy has sung it. Sponge Bob has (controversially) sung it. In 2017 the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant.” Yet Debbie Sledge—one of the four founding members of gold-and-platinum-selling group Sister Sledge—says it’s joyfully impossible to move on from the track’s unfathomable legacy. “The song goes beyond us. It really does,” she says.
General everywhere-ness and lyrical earnestness aside, “We Are Family” is a pretty heavenly 3 minutes and 37 seconds that’s sonically complex and encapsulates the sound of pure, uncut disco. Go to your Spotify right now and listen to the iconic opening notes, the funk-driven backing bass line, the inherently danceable four-on-the-floor tempo, and the deceptively airy vocals that are tinged with surprising grit. I’ll wait.
As a band, Sister Sledge got its start in the early 1970s, a family outfit from Philadelphia that had some mild success throughout the decade but didn’t hit it big until 1979 when the singers were paired with two members of formative disco band Chic—Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards—who were trying to make it as producers. Before they were famously crooning about the importance of family, the Sledge band lived by the message: its members—Debbie, Kim, Joni, and Kathy—were trained by their grandmother, Viola Williams, a former opera singer and protégé of civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, “The First Lady of the Struggle."
“We always sang,” Sledge says, “but my grandmother taught us about breath control, vocal ability, being able to build, and diction.”
Grandma might have educated them about the fundamentals of their craft, but it was their mother, Florez, who navigated the murky waters of the entertainment industry to make sure her daughters got a shot once the sisters—still teenagers—starting playing paid gigs. “My mom took it very seriously at the time because she was struggling,” says Sledge. “She was rotating three jobs at a time. She learned how to maneuver agents, record execs, tour managers.” The word momager inevitably comes up, but Sledge uses it proudly, not bitterly.
Almost five decades after getting their start in Philly, the remaining Sledge sisters are taking cues from their grandmother and mother. Led by Debbie, 67, Sister Sledge ft. Sledgendary is a new iteration of the original group that includes her daughter Camille; son David; nephew Thaddeus, son of original Sledge member Joni, who died in 2017; and friend and vocalist Miss Tanya Ti-et. Their first single, “Free,” is out today, a disco-flavored dance song Debbie says lives up to its name. “There’s complete freedom in the track. Nobody is holding back at all. It’s not allowed.”
In anticipation of the single, I was eager to Zoom with Debbie—I’m deeply fascinated by and appreciative of classic disco music and the genre-defining work of Sister Sledge—to discuss collaborating with your family for more than 50 years, coming up as young women in the freewheeling 1970s and ’80s, and of course, how “We Are Family” became an integral piece of American pop culture.
Glamour: So you really never get tired of “We Are Family”?
Debbie Sledge: Oh, my goodness, no. The longevity of that song, it’s still going. It touches all generations. I don’t get tired of that. And I don’t get tired of performing it. I’m amazed by it.
In his autobiography, legendary producer Nile Rodgers called the song his finest collaboration, and he’s worked with—no exaggeration—pretty much everybody in the music business. What was it like working with him and the late Bernard Edwards?
We were sort of a new group and had just signed with the record company Warner Music. We took a train to New York with our little suitcases, and we went straight to the studio. We walk in, and the first thing that we hear is, “You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow.” That was the first introduction to this famous studio!
We met Nile and Bernard—we were a new project for them and they were up-and-coming producers—so we were excited. But their way of working was different than what we were used to. They would teach us the songs in the studio as we went. We were used to learning songs before going into the studio so that there was no time wasted. We would go in very prepared. Nile and Bernard let the artist do something very fresh so that their interpretation is caught on that recording. It worked.
So did they they hand you “We Are Family” sight unseen and you just starting singing?
No. When we first heard the track there were no words. Nile and Bernard were actually writing words with us in the studio. And when we heard those lyrics, oh, we knew. “Everyone can see we’re together as we walk on by….we flock like the birds I can tell no lie…. All people around us, they say, ‘Can they be that close?’” We were very close and we knew those words were about us, they told us that. And that was a great feeling. To this day, it’s always very important for us to sing songs that mean something and are true to the core of who we are.
So the song comes out in January of 1979. Was it instantaneously successful, or was it a slow burn?
It was instantaneously successful, and we were amazed. I think even Nile and Bernard were amazed. They were like, “Wow.” Because they didn’t expect these four sisters from Philly…they had never seen us perform! But maybe that’s what helped it, because it was true. And we were speaking about ourselves and we were so excited.
[“We Are Family” rose to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1979, and Sister Sledge was in high demand, regularly performing live.]
You’re all young, attractive, talented; it’s the ’70s and early ’80s. How did you navigate what easily could have been, I imagine, a number of uncomfortable situations so endemic to the entertainment industry?
Sometimes we weren’t allowed into the actual venue because [we were underage] and there was liquor being served. But as an act, we could be there to perform. So we had to stay closed up, sometimes in a closet. It was exciting, we had no complaints. [But] my mom got pretty tough with us because she wanted us to take it seriously. And then you had all these personalities she had to deal with, and we were starting to get interested in boys. So we had a rule and that was, Never go anywhere without a partner. If you were wanted to go somewhere, you had to take one of your sisters with you. It was the buddy system.
Did you ever feel like you were in over your head?
We were aware of the environment we were in. But we were also very protected in the sense that we had grandmothers, aunts, uncles. I don't think we ever got into a place where we were in over our heads, except we did have challenges. I’ll say that. We did have to learn to discern somebody’s intentions. But we were pretty naive. I remember somebody I just met looked at me and said, “I love you.” And I said, “What? You do?”
I’m curious about “Lost In Music,” which obviously isn’t as well known as “We Are Family” but it’s on the same album. To me the song encapsulates everything great about the disco genre, right down to the convention-bucking lyrics.
That song was another one of the great tracks that Nile and Bernard introduced to us in the studio. And the way our group works is [we ask], Whose voice is going to deliver the song, what is the song asking? That’s how we determine whose voice is going to do it. And definitely it was Joni. She did such an awesome job on that song, and she was lost in music, actually. She was a total energizer in the group. I wonder if they wrote that song looking at her. Serious business person, but the drive was music. And those lyrics. “Have you ever seen some people lose everything? / The first that goes is their mind. / Responsibility to me is a tragedy. / I’ll get a job some other time.”
That line really just gets me every time.
Right? And what she’s saying is, When you find you’re in your element, there’s no more work. You’re just having a ball. She’s saying, “I want to join a band,” and she’s living her dream right there.
Tell me about what it’s like reforming Sister Sledge for a new generation. To have your grown kids want to work with you feels like a testament to your parenting but also to your band’s legacy. How did this come about?
It’s something I’ve always wanted because my kids grew up at the height of the demand on our musical life. But as far as music goes, I didn’t know that behind the scenes they were pursuing their own musical journey. And they didn’t ask me for help. They wanted to explore their own music and their own creativity, but it’s time for them to be heard. I’m pleasantly shocked at how great they are. We are now performing. We are doing rehearsals together. And at every turn I’m so impressed. Our live performances are a blast.
What’s the message of your first Sister Sledge ft. Sledgendary single, “Free”?
The song is about the complete freedom that we all have, or we all can have, in the arms of love. That’s the message we want to promote. And that there’s power in family, guys. There’s just power in family, period.
Perrie Samotin is Glamour’s digital director and host of Glamour’s What I Wore When podcast. Follow her@perriesamotin.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
