United Kingdom, June 7 -- Nile Rodgers has revealed the loss of three close friends in the 9/11 attacks inspired him to found his charity.

The 72-year-old musician runs the We Are Family Foundation and was speaking ahead of a performance at the Soho Sessions in New York when he made the revelation.

He told the crowd: "Three of my friends were on the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center."

One of them, he said, was photographer Berry Berenson, the widow of Psycho star Anthony Perkins.

Nile had lived next door to the couple in Greenwich Village.

He added: "I wanted to be involved with something that I thought would be effective."

Founded in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the We Are Family Foundation was esta...