MUSIC: 'Our Country Is in Need of "We Are Family""

Putting family controversy behind her, Sister Sledge's Kathy talks moving on, new music and the 2024 election

- SHANNON POWER

IT IS NOT A STRETCH TO IMAGINE MOST PEOple in the world have heard Kathy Sledge's voice at some point in their lives.

After all, it is the 65-year-old's lush vocals that lead Sister Sledge's "We Are Family," the hit song which has come to symbolize so much more than familial ties but is an anthem of solidarity everywhere.

Its success can be measured in many ways, not just by the fact that it sold millions at the time of its release in 1979 and regularly appears in best song lists, or the fact it has been covered many times from the Spice Girls to Sesame Street.

But "We Are Family's" true success is its enduring legacy of unifying and uplifting people. Sledge believes that is needed now more than ever in a country divided deeply down political and cultural lines.

"I say that song is the gift that keeps on giving. At the end of a concert everybody's hugging each other, or singing along or jumping up on stage and I think it brings out that feeling not just of unity, and it might sound cliched, but love," she tells Newsweek, adding: "There's a realness there."

Sister Sledge, which the singer describes as "the original girl group," has many hits under its belt including "Thinking of You" and "He's the Greatest Dancer," but it is "We Are Family" which made them household names. In 2008, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.