It started off as just another album track, but We Are Family has become so much more, and not for just Sister Sledge.
Written by producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (aka Chic) in 1978 for four Philadelphia sisters who'd been performing together for as long as they could remember, the song has become an anthem of togetherness, of strength, of kinship, adored by clubbers, hollered at sporting events, and presented in protests.
Looking back, Kim Sledge remembers when she first noticed the song take on a new power, a new meaning, and become more than just another good tune.
"It was interesting. I remember when that song was first released, it was the B-side of He's The Greatest Dancer, it was a vinyl 45.
"I showed it to a dear friend and she said 'I really love the B-side! I think that side's really great!' I thought that was nice too, but we were really excited by Greatest Dancer.
“But then DJs started flipping it, to play We Are Family. That's the first time we noticed people were really liking it."
Another incident came when the four sisters - Kim, Kathy, Debbie and Joni - began touring.
"When we first started performing it, I remember we were in Germany and we were on our way to do a television show with Phil Collins and Sting, we were in a car and there was the radio on, and the announcer was saying that there were thousands of people in a baseball stadium singing it for the Pittsburgh Pirates - we were like, 'what?'
"It was the World Series and they'd adopted this song!
"When we got back to the hotel we got a newspaper, the International Herald, and we were able to see what was going on.
"That’s when we realised that song was infectious and it was being adopted everywhere.
"From there we started to get fan mail and invitations to different things that involved the theme of the song.
"It's pretty amazing because even today, people are still asking us to come and perform that song and represent nations, internationally and nationally, family effort.
"We are so blessed with that song," she says.
Daughters of a dancer father and actress mother, the sisters were mentored by their opera singer grandmother, Viola Williams. Performing music and skits at social events, offers to play clubs and venues soon followed, and they found themselves opening for such established acts as Aretha Franklin and Bill Withers. They released their first single in 1971, and The Jackson 5 sounding Mama Never Told Me became a UK Top 20 hit in 1975, but it was 1979's Chic-produced We Are Family album - also featuring Lost In Music and Thinking Of You - which was their real breakthrough.
Nearly 40 years on from those hits, the group continue to perform to huge crowds, though now - following the sudden death of Joni in March 2017, aged 60 - with just Debbie and Kim at the helm.
"Her spirit is always with us, always, every time, whether it's a family event or a show, we always feel her presence, there's always that reminder, there's always that place for her set at dinner," Kim says of Joni's passing.
"We have her son touring with us - Thaddeus - which is great, he's an amazing artist, so talented.
"Just him singing some of her songs, and being there, is another way of having her there, and at the same time, honouring what her desire was for him. Because he'd been touring with us, he'd just started, while she was still alive, she was so delighted to have her there, he has such a gift.
"But," she pauses," "... it is different. Hard sometimes. Sometimes you get overwhelmed, because it's real. Joni and I used to kick back, we never went to bed, we'd hang out, right from day one, because there was always something to see, something to do. She was very spontaneous and full of life. I miss her. I miss that ..."
Performing in Joni's honour, Kim says that they're also in the process of completing a new album - some of which may get at airing at Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival.
"We've got some new, absolutely new, material, including some of the things Joni was working on before she passed. We're picking up some of those things and including them."
And the album could be out within the next 10 months.
"We're shooting for the end of the year, but I think it's safer to say spring [2019] because what happens is that after you finished it, you do a test, make sure it's exactly what you want to express. Make sure that people like it!
“And we have to like it, believe in it."
Sister Sledge play Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Sunday 8 July 2018.
Other acts appearing over the three days (6-8 July 2018) include Jimmy Cliff, The Jungle Brothers, Roy Ayers, Candi Staton, Fred Wesley and The New JBs and Craig Charles.
It started off as just another album track, but We Are Family has become so much more, and not for just Sister Sledge.
Written by producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (aka Chic) in 1978 for four Philadelphia sisters who'd been performing together for as long as they could remember, the song has become an anthem of togetherness, of strength, of kinship, adored by clubbers, hollered at sporting events, and presented in protests.
Looking back, Kim Sledge remembers when she first noticed the song take on a new power, a new meaning, and become more than just another good tune.
"It was interesting. I remember when that song was first released, it was the B-side of He's The Greatest Dancer, it was a vinyl 45.
"I showed it to a dear friend and she said 'I really love the B-side! I think that side's really great!' I thought that was nice too, but we were really excited by Greatest Dancer.
“But then DJs started flipping it, to play We Are Family. That's the first time we noticed people were really liking it."
Another incident came when the four sisters - Kim, Kathy, Debbie and Joni - began touring.
"When we first started performing it, I remember we were in Germany and we were on our way to do a television show with Phil Collins and Sting, we were in a car and there was the radio on, and the announcer was saying that there were thousands of people in a baseball stadium singing it for the Pittsburgh Pirates - we were like, 'what?'
"It was the World Series and they'd adopted this song!
"When we got back to the hotel we got a newspaper, the International Herald, and we were able to see what was going on.
"That’s when we realised that song was infectious and it was being adopted everywhere.
"From there we started to get fan mail and invitations to different things that involved the theme of the song.
"It's pretty amazing because even today, people are still asking us to come and perform that song and represent nations, internationally and nationally, family effort.
"We are so blessed with that song," she says.
Daughters of a dancer father and actress mother, the sisters were mentored by their opera singer grandmother, Viola Williams. Performing music and skits at social events, offers to play clubs and venues soon followed, and they found themselves opening for such established acts as Aretha Franklin and Bill Withers. They released their first single in 1971, and The Jackson 5 sounding Mama Never Told Me became a UK Top 20 hit in 1975, but it was 1979's Chic-produced We Are Family album - also featuring Lost In Music and Thinking Of You - which was their real breakthrough.
Nearly 40 years on from those hits, the group continue to perform to huge crowds, though now - following the sudden death of Joni in March 2017, aged 60 - with just Debbie and Kim at the helm.
"Her spirit is always with us, always, every time, whether it's a family event or a show, we always feel her presence, there's always that reminder, there's always that place for her set at dinner," Kim says of Joni's passing.
"We have her son touring with us - Thaddeus - which is great, he's an amazing artist, so talented.
"Just him singing some of her songs, and being there, is another way of having her there, and at the same time, honouring what her desire was for him. Because he'd been touring with us, he'd just started, while she was still alive, she was so delighted to have her there, he has such a gift.
"But," she pauses," "... it is different. Hard sometimes. Sometimes you get overwhelmed, because it's real. Joni and I used to kick back, we never went to bed, we'd hang out, right from day one, because there was always something to see, something to do. She was very spontaneous and full of life. I miss her. I miss that ..."
Performing in Joni's honour, Kim says that they're also in the process of completing a new album - some of which may get at airing at Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival.
"We've got some new, absolutely new, material, including some of the things Joni was working on before she passed. We're picking up some of those things and including them."
And the album could be out within the next 10 months.
"We're shooting for the end of the year, but I think it's safer to say spring [2019] because what happens is that after you finished it, you do a test, make sure it's exactly what you want to express. Make sure that people like it!
“And we have to like it, believe in it."
Sister Sledge play Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Sunday 8 July 2018.
Other acts appearing over the three days (6-8 July 2018) include Jimmy Cliff, The Jungle Brothers, Roy Ayers, Candi Staton, Fred Wesley and The New JBs and Craig Charles.
For tickets and more information, see mostlyjazz.co.uk
By Dave Freak