Full Solar Eclipse, March 20, 2015, which falls on the vernal equinox.

Today is the shortest day of the year and officially the 1st day of winter. Science says every year gets longer by 25 millionths of a second. If that's a fact, tonight will be the longest in Earth’s history. The days will get longer until the vernal equinox, when day and night are of equal length... but in 2015, parts of the northern hemisphere will have a total solar eclipse... which won't happen on a vernal equinox again in my lifetime.

Lately I've been obsessed with time. When cancer attacks you, it can have many after-effects. In my case, I think about my lifetime and people I've lost since I've been making music. I guess this makes sense because music and those people are so important to me.

It also makes sense that I've been thinking of Bernard Edwards, my CHIC co-partner. I found him dead in his hotel room in Tokyo, Japan, on April 18, 1996. The last time I heard Bernard's voice alive was after our last show together. I called his room and our short call ended with me asking, "Are you sure you don't need anything?" He replied, "Everything's alright, I just have to rest."

1996 may seem like a long time ago, but it feels like yesterday to me... as well as an eternity.

Tony Thompson, Raymond Jones and Luther Vandross enter my thoughts a lot, too. While working on the new CHIC album, I thought of a way to pay tribute to them all. When we made records we used to work on the end groove first, then we'd go back and do the beginning. This technique assured us the beginning of a song would have the same excitement as the end.

One of my Lost CHIC Analog Demo Tapes is called, "Love Somebody Today." It's actually a recording of a practice take. It's one of the few CHIC Organization tracks where there's an outtake of a slightly different version of what became a song for Sister Sledge. It has all the members of our original core band performing it.

These recently-found lost tapes gives me the opportunity to play with my bandmates, who've passed away, again. I completed the track and wrote a new song. It will be the lead single from the next CHIC album.

I never reveal a song's DHM (deep-hidden meaning) before its release because I want people to interpret the work themselves - art is supposed to have secrets. But, in this case I'm telling you before hand so you'll understand what I'm doing as a part of this project's overall spirit.

I'm releasing the new record on March 20, 2015... on the vernal equinox. There will be a lot going on in the heavens that day, along with the total solar eclipse.

The name of the song is "I'll Be There." The reason is: after I found Bernard's body, I said to him "Now, I can be there for you in death, the way you were There For Me in Life."