In the early 1979, Sister Sledge appeared to take over the disco and pop charts, with their Chic-produced album, We Are Family. “He’s the Greatest Dancer”,which was the first single from We Are Family, reached #9 on Billboard’s Hot 100, the title track soon eclipsed it.“We Are Family” was a great hit on the dance floor and radio. More importantly, the cultural impact of “We Are Family” was immediate and long-lasting. 

Even as disco records were infamously being destroyed during a “disco demolition night” at Chicago’s Comiskey Park during a White Sox game, the song still became the theme song of the 1979 World Series-bound Pittsburgh Pirates. “We Are Family” established the production genius of Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who, individually and collectively, went on to produce hit albums by Diana Ross, Madonna, Duran Duran, David Bowie, and many others.

 At the time, 19 year old Kathy Sledge was the lead vocalist of “We Are Family”, and has played at countless family celebrations over the decades. In 2016, the song was chosen by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. None of this might have happened had Philadelphia’s Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge not put in the work to record the songs chronicled on the new compilation The Early Years.

Sister sledge was a musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group was consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge and they formed in 1971. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era.