Shutterstock
Kathy Sledge Reveals She Recorded the Song ‘We Are Family’ in 1 Take When She Was Just 16
If you don’t think Kathy Sledge is a musical genius, then you’ll surely believe it after hearing this. When the Sister Sledge songstress was just a teenager, she recorded her smash hit “We Are Family” — and what’s even more interesting is the fact that she didn’t need multiple takes to do it.
“I think what people don’t know is when I recorded it at 16, I did it in one take,” Kathy, 60, exclusively admitted to Closer Weekly at the We Are Family Foundation Celebration on Tuesday, November 5. “And I think that’s the whole idea with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. They believe in spontaneity and I think that’s one of the reasons it has stayed for so long. Now, with the foundation, it’s totally taken it to another level.”
The song, which came out in 1979, was sung by Kathy and her sisters Debbie, Joni and Kim. Together, they were known as Sister Sledge. Once their song was released, it quickly rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart. Today, the four sisters are most known for singing that tune.
“I know this sounds cliché, but it’s always different whenever I sing it or, or I sing it with my sisters or we sing it with Nile because it’s always that same feeling,” Kathy admitted.
The lyrics which reads, “We are family, I got all my sisters with me,” has made people all over the world feel even closer to their loved ones. “You know, it’s funny, but that song is always … I’m always being called to just bring people together,” she gushed. “I have to tell you, who knew that long ago it was going to just keep life and it has. I’m never surprised when I’m offered [to sing it again].
As far as the group, Kathy and her sisters are still together even after Joni’s death in 2017. But no matter what happens to them, she says they’ll always be sisters no matter what.
“The song was written about us. So I think, if anything, I think we’ve had that resilience of no matter what we go through, we really are family,” she gushed. “And I think that’s the most important thing.”
For more exclusive content, sign up for our Closer Weekly newsletter!
