Alfa Anderson, the singer of some of disco group Chic’s biggest songs, including “Le Freak,” “Good Times,” “My Forbidden Lover,” “At Last I Am Free,” “I Want Your Love,” has died. The band’s Nile Rodgers shared the news on social media, but he did not disclose a cause of death. Anderson was 78 year old.
Anderson was born in Augusta, Georgia, on September 7, 1946. She is said to have composed her first song at the age of three, but, as she grew older, she made her focus education, eventually attending school to be a teacher, first at Paine College and then at Columbia University. Still, she sang in her schools’ choirs, and, eventually, she debuted as a backup singer for Cannonball Adderley, at Carnegie Hall, in 1976. Anderson went on to record background vocals for Dionne Warwick and Roy Buchanan; she also featured on the Quincy Jones–produced 1978 soundtrack for The Wiz. While working on the soundtrack, she met Luther Vandross, who encouraged her to audition for the newly formed Chic in 1977.
Both Vandross and Anderson sang on Chic’s self-titled 1977 debut, but Anderson wouldn’t claim her place as lead vocalist until the departure of original lead Norma Jean Wright the following year. She would go on to feature prominently on the group’s biggest albums—1978’s C’est Chic and 1979’s Risqué—until Chic’s first dissolution in 1983. During this time, Anderson was a frequent guest on Soul Train and Top of the Pops, and she sang on Chic-produced albums like We Are Family, by Sister Sledge, and Diana, by Diana Ross.
After touring internationally with Vandross in the mid-1980s, Anderson turned to teaching, eventually becoming the principal at Brooklyn’s El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. She released music intermittently, through the 2010s, including the single “Former First Lady of Chic” and the self-released album Music From My Heart. In 2015, Chic’s “Le Freak” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and, three years later, it was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.