Disco pioneer and cancer survivor Nile Rodgers is more prolific than ever

To the class of 2013, he's the man who helped Daft Punk unplug from the mainframe and rediscover disco on the worldwide summer smash . But for the millions who knew the name Nile Rodgers before he teamed up with Pharrell Williams and France's favourite robot duo, this latest chapter of his story is just another star turn in a glittering career.

The driving force behind 1970s disco titans Chic, whose hits include the perennial dance-floor classics , and , Rodgers would go on to produce some of the bestselling albums of the 1980s, including Madonna's , Diana Ross' and David Bowie's . Since then, he's added his producing or guitar-playing talents to a mind-boggling number of records for everyone from Paul Simon and Cyndi Lauper to INXS and Mariah Carey, while his work has been sampled to memorable effect by the likes of Will Smith, The Sugarhill Gang, The Pharcyde and The Notorious B.I.G.

In short, he's one of the most prolific artists of the past 40 years, although the word still feels inadequate in describing a man who seemingly lives to make music.

Now, after surviving cancer and having been catapulted back into the limelight, 61-year-old Rodgers is more in-demand than ever. As well as working on a new Chic album that includes another collaboration with the French electro duo de jour, he's working on new material for artists as diverse as Avicii, David Guetta, Jessie Ware, Disclosure, Chase and Status and Adam Lambert, and is touring the world to play shows at a rate that would exhaust a man one-third of his age.

As part of the current tour, Rodgers and Chic are jetting in to play Hong Kong's Clockenflap festival on Saturday in what will be the band's first appearance in the city. Rodgers and Chic will be in town for only a matter of hours, squeezing Hong Kong between a Friday show in Shanghai and a Sunday appearance in New Delhi that requires them to head for the airport after stepping off stage at West Kowloon.

Over the phone from Tokyo, Rodgers sounds energised and just a little hoarse from the previous night's exertions at The Blue Note as we discuss his incredible career, current renaissance and the reason for his Herculean touring schedule. "We're trying to finish up playing Asia because I'm taking off after the beginning of the year to finish up a bunch of recordings, you know, with Daft Punk, with Avicii, with Disclosure, all these different acts," he says. "And of course we're doing the new Chic record that many of them will be collaborating on. So I have to get all the touring out of my system so I can go to work making my new record."

Even a year ago, the idea of a new album - never mind one with such an illustrious cast of collaborators - would have seemed a remote possibility. But after a summer that saw Rodgers receive the all clear in his recovery from prostate cancer, a critically acclaimed Chic performance at Glastonbury and, of course, the Daft Punk-powered renewal of interest in Rodgers' back catalogue, the album is not only happening but is set to be one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2014. And yet, despite their resurgence, Rodgers admits that Chic are "sort of semi-anonymous" - at least for now.