Chaka Khan

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Chaka Khan in December 2010

Chaka Khan (born March 23, 1953 as Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American soul and pop singer. She is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.

biography

She took the name "Chaka" when she joined the Black Panther Party's free breakfast program. In the mid-1970s she began her musical career as a singer with the funk band Rufus and, with the help of Stevie Wonders and the title Tell Me Something Good, was able to gain a foothold in the pop and funk charts in 1974. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the band had a number of hits as "Rufus featuring Chaka Khan" including Sweet Thing, Once You Get Started (1975), At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up) (1977), Do. You Love What You Feel (1979) and Ain't Nobody (1983). On the 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter by Joni 'Mitchell Chaka Khan also worked as a singer.

Chaka Khan at a concert in 2006

In 1978 Chaka Khan released her solo debut with Rufus, which was simply titled Chaka and was awarded gold in the USA for 500,000 records sold . To this is their first big hit without Rufus, I'm Every Woman , included. The 1981 LP What Cha 'Gonna Do for Me? received a gold award. In 1984, Chaka Khan celebrated her greatest solo success: The funk piece I Feel for You , written by Prince and produced by Arif Mardin , was a million seller and reached number 3 in the pop and number 1 in the R&B charts in the USA. Guest musicians on this song were Stevie Wonder (harmonica) and Melle Mel (rap) from the Furious Five . The corresponding LP of the same name sold over a million times in the USA alone and was awarded platinum . The album Chaka Khan and the song I Feel for you brought her the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance twice in a row in 1983 and 1984 . With The Woman I Am , she got a third Grammy in this category in 1993.

In 1994 and 1995, Khan toured Europe with Joerg Reiter and also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival . Lionel Hampton sang with her on his album For the Love of Music (1995); she interpreted the standard summertime on the Joe Henderson album Porgy and Bess . In 2002 a guest appearance followed on the song All Good by the hip-hop band De La Soul . On December 3, 2004, she received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music . A year later it celebrated its first precious metal award in around 20 years; the compilation Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan was awarded gold for 500,000 units.

In 2007 Khan released her album Funk This, which was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and James "Big Jim" Wright. The album features new and covered songs, including Pack'd My Bags by Rufus and Sign o 'the Times by Prince, as well as collaborations with Mary J. Blige and Michael McDonald . In November 2009, Here Come the Girls started, a joint tour through Great Britain with the singers Anastacia and Lulu . The program contained both own hits and cover versions. In the sequel a year later, Khan was replaced by Heather Small , lead singer of the band M People .

On the occasion of Prince's death on April 21, 2016, a tribute evening in honor of the musician took place on October 13, 2016 in Saint Paul (US state Minnesota) in the Xcel Energy Center , at which Khan also performed.

In February 2020, Khan took part as Miss Monster in the third season of the US version of The Masked Singer , in which she was eliminated as the third of a total of 18 participants.

Trivia

Chaka Khan lives mostly in Los Angeles and also owned a house in London 's West Hampstead from 1985 to 2015 . In the 1990s she also had a permanent residence in Mannheim , where she worked with the drummer Ralf Gustke and his band Zebra.

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US R&B R&B
1973 Rufus
ABC 783
- - - - US175
gold
gold

(6 weeks)US
R&B44 (10 weeks)
R&B
First publication: June 1973
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
Producer: Bob Monaco
1974 Rags to Rufus
ABC 809
- - - - US4th
gold
gold

(30 weeks)US
R&B4 (37 weeks)
R&B
First publication: June 1974
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
Producers: Bob Monaco, Rufus
1975 Rufusized
ABC 837
- - - UK48 (2 weeks)
UK
US7th
gold
gold

(24 weeks)US
R&B2 (30 weeks)
R&B
First publication: December 1974
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
Producer: Bob Monaco
Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan
ABC 909
- - - - US7th
gold
gold

(32 weeks)US
R&B1 (31 weeks)
R&B
First publication: November 1975
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
Producer: Rufus
1977 Ask Rufus
ABC 975
- - - - US12
platinum
platinum

(25 weeks)US
R&B1 (27 weeks)
R&B
First publication: April 1977
Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
Producer: Rufus
1978 Street Player
ABC 1049
- - - - US14th
gold
gold

(26 weeks)US
R&B1 (27 weeks)
R&B
First published: January 1978
with Rufus
Producers: Roy Halee, Rufus
Chaka
Warner 3245
- - - - US12
gold
gold

(21 weeks)US
R&B2 (22 weeks)
R&B
First published: October 1978
Producer: Arif Mardin
1979 Masterjam
MCA 5103
- - - - US14th
gold
gold

(26 weeks)US
R&B1 (28 weeks)
R&B
First published: November 1979
with Rufus
Producer: Quincy Jones
1980 Naughty
Warner 3385
- - - - US43 (16 weeks)
US
R&B6 (23 weeks)
R&B
First published: June 1980
Producer: Arif Mardin
1981 Camouflage
MCA 5270
- - - - US98 (14 weeks)
US
R&B15 (16 weeks)
R&B
First release: October 1981
with Rufus
Producer: Rufus
What Cha 'Gonna Do for Me
Warner 3526
- - - - US17th
gold
gold

(18 weeks)US
R&B3 (23 weeks)
R&B
First published: April 1981
Producer: Arif Mardin
1982 Echoes of an Era
Elektra 60021
- - - - US105 (11 weeks)
US
-
First published: 1982
with Joe Henderson , Chick Corea , Stanley Clarke ,
Lenny White and Freddie Hubbard
Producer: Lenny White
Chaka Khan
Warner 23729
- - - - US52 (18 weeks)
US
R&B5 (24 weeks)
R&B
First release: December 1982
Grammy (R&B Vocal Female)
Producer: Arif Mardin
1984 I Feel for You
Warner 25162
DE17 (16 weeks)
DE
- CH14 (11 weeks)
CH
UK15th
gold
gold

(22 weeks)UK
US14th
platinum
platinum

(49 weeks)US
R&B4 (47 weeks)
R&B
First published: October 1984
Producers: Arif Mardin, Russ Titelman , David Foster
1986 Destiny
Warner 25425
DE50 (5 weeks)
DE
- CH26 (3 weeks)
CH
UK77 (2 weeks)
UK
US67 (12 weeks)
US
R&B24 (17 weeks)
R&B
First published: August 1986
Producers: Arif Mardin, Russ Titelman
1988 CK
Warner 25707
- - - - US125 (12 weeks)
US
R&B17 (28 weeks)
R&B
First published: December 1988
Producers: Russ Titelman, Prince
1992 The Woman I Am
Warner 26296
- - - - US92 (9 weeks)
US
R&B9 (31 weeks)
R&B
First release: April 1992
Grammy (R&B Vocal Female)
Producers: Marcus Miller , Ralf Zang, Arif Mardin
1998 Come 2 My House
NPG 9281
- - - - - R&B49 (15 weeks)
R&B
First published: October 1998
Producer: Chaka Khan, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince
2004 Classikhan
AGU 06076-87524-2
- - - - US42 (5 weeks)
US
-
First release: October 2004
feat. London Symphony Orchestra
Producers: Chaka Khan, Eve Nelson
2007 Funk This
Burgundy 88697 09022 2
- - - - US15 (8 weeks)
US
R&B5 (35 weeks)
R&B
First published: October 2007
Producers: James Wright, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
2019 Hello happiness - - CH32 (2 weeks)
CH
UK18 (1 week)
UK
- -
First published: February 15, 2019

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

literature

  • Kunzler Jazz Lexicon 2002

Web links

Commons : Chaka Khan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. Chaka Khan. November 19, 2019, accessed December 9, 2019 .
  2. Honorary Degree Recipients, Berklee College of Music (English)
  3. M People singer Heather Small touring with Anastacia and Lulu , ProSieben.de, September 7, 2010, accessed on July 20, 2011.
  4. Jon Bream: Prince tribute shows why he is missed. In: StarTribune.com. October 14, 2016, accessed October 14, 2016 .
  5. Evan Minsker: Chaka Khan Unmasked on The Masked Singer: Watch. In: Pitchfork Media . February 13, 2020, accessed on July 14, 2020 .
  6. Soo Kim, Chaka Khan's Traveling Life , in: The Telegraph , July 3, 2015
  7. Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
  8. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
  9. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .