Nile Rodgers’ mother, Beverly Goodman, who had been battling late-stage Alzheimer’s, has died.
“My mom #BeverlyGoodman #RIP passed away around 6am today. I breathed some of my 1st breaths with her and she breathed some of her last with me. My brothers and I will contact everyone soon. Today I’m numb,” Rodgers wrote on social media Sunday afternoon (Dec. 27). He shared a heartbreaking image of himself laying his head down next to hers.
Just before Christmas, on Dec. 23, Rodgers had written a message about how much he missed spending time with his mom over the holidays.
“The saddest part of this #COVID holiday is not being able to visit my #mom,” he said. “She’s always happy and entertaining even w late stage #Alzheimer’s. I’ve learned to redirect or not, so she’s never uncomfortable with her memory loss.”
Along with his tweet that day, he shared a home video of the pair bantering. “This was 2 years ago and she’s still sharp today,” he noted.
In an interview with the BBC in the summer of 2019, Rodgers said that while caring for his mother, he had become “more involved in her life than I have been since I was 14 years old … It’s really strange because we, right now, seemingly have the best relationship we’ve ever had in our lives.”
Remarkably, the legendary musician, co-founder of Chic, said he’d “never really heard my mother sing aloud in my life until she developed Alzheimer’s,” when she “developed perfect pitch, which is incredible.”
“When my mom and I go walking down the street, she’s all of a sudden got a real singer’s voice, and she’s hitting the notes perfectly,” Rodgers said.
