Chaka Khan

Emerging as one of the era’s most versatile and successful talents in the early 1970s, Chaka Khan first rose to prominence as lead singer of Rufus. The group, whose members hailed from varied backgrounds and blended soul, funk, rock, and jazz with ease, broke into the mainstream via the sinuous 1974 single “Tell Me Something Good,” a Top Five pop entry that earned a Grammy. Throughout the rest of the decade the band kept placing LPs high on both the pop and R&B charts. While still active with Rufus, Khan began her solo path in 1978 with the uplifting disco crossover “I’m Every Woman,” which spawned eight further Top Ten R&B singles. Standouts among them include the 1983 Rufus collaboration “Ain’t Nobody” and her 1984 reading of Prince’s “I Feel for You,” sleek, electronically driven productions that nevertheless highlighted the sheer exuberance and strength of her voice. Across five decades she has also interpreted many jazz standards, showcased most compactly on Echoes of an Era (1982) and Classikhan (2004). Her 2007 covers collection Funk This earned two of her ten Grammy trophies. Following an extended recording hiatus she resurfaced with the buoyant 2019 EP Hello Happiness, which moved fluidly between updated disco and reggae textures.

Yvette Marie Stevens grew up in Chicago’s Hyde Park district on the South Side. Immersed in music from childhood, she assembled her debut group, the Crystalettes, at age eleven. During high school she took part in the Afro-Arts Theater troupe, which toured alongside Motown legend Mary Wells, and, driven by political conviction, she affiliated with the Black Panther Party. At that time she went by the name Chaka Karifi, bestowed upon her by a Yoruba priest. In 1969 she exited the Panthers, left high school, and eventually sang with Cash McCall’s Lyfe, whose lineup also included Hassan Khan, her short-lived husband. She next joined the Babysitters after the death of their frontman Baby Huey, yet that stint proved equally brief and unsatisfying.

Khan found stable footing once former American Breed members Kevin Murphy and André Fischer recruited her for their developing project Rufus. The ensemble issued its self-titled ABC debut in 1973. Propelled by Khan’s luminous vocals and commanding stage presence, Rufus delivered six gold or platinum albums by decade’s end and notched three Top Ten pop singles, among them “Tell Me Something Good,” which captured the Grammy for Best R&B Performance. Reflecting her rising profile, the band’s billing shifted repeatedly—from Rufus to Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, then Rufus & Chaka Khan, and finally Rufus & Chaka.

By 1978, around the time Quincy Jones topped the R&B chart with “Stuff Like That” featuring Khan alongside Ashford & Simpson, it became clear Rufus could no longer hold its singer and co-writer. She had already accumulated outside credits on recordings by Stephen Bishop, Chicago, the Gap Band, Joni Mitchell, and Lenny White, though these were relatively modest. The Jones single, paired with her ever-increasing visibility inside Rufus, positioned her for a decisive solo launch. Khan signed with Warner Bros. and released Chaka that October. Working with producer-arranger Arif Mardin, she featured the Ashford & Simpson-penned disco anthem “I’m Every Woman,” which led the R&B chart and reached number 21 on the Hot 100. While diverging from her Rufus material, the album paid homage to her Chicago origins by updating “Love Has Fallen on Me,” originally written by Charles Stepney for Rotary Connection’s Hey Love.

Despite her solo momentum, Khan rejoined Rufus for the Quincy Jones-produced Masterjam, the band’s fourth and last R&B chart-topper. Only months later she returned with her second solo LP, Naughty, in March 1980. Another Ashford & Simpson composition, “Clouds,” became its biggest single, peaking at number ten R&B with backing vocals from Cissy Houston and her then-unknown daughter Whitney. Khan’s third consecutive Top Ten R&B solo album, What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me, arrived the following April; its title track, first cut by Average White Band, delivered her second R&B number one. She and Rufus also reconvened that year for Camouflage.

Wider stylistic explorations marked 1982 and 1983. Echoes of an Era presented jazz standards alongside Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. A self-titled solo album followed, containing a hit treatment of “Got to Be There,” a polished bebop medley, and a Rick James collaboration. Most successful was the Rufus & Chaka Khan double live/studio package Stompin’ at the Savoy, whose new studio side included the band’s final R&B chart-topper, “Ain't Nobody,” also a number-22 pop hit. Each of the three 1982–1983 projects earned Khan a Grammy: “Bebop Medley” for Best Vocal Arrangement, the solo album for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female, and “Ain't Nobody” for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Khan extended her flair for inventive covers in 1984 with an electro-funk reshaping of Prince’s “I Feel for You.” Featuring Melle Mel and Stevie Wonder, the single became her biggest solo success, topping R&B and reaching number three pop. Certified gold by the RIAA, it also secured her another Grammy for Best R&B Performance, Female. Three further charting singles appeared on the platinum album of the same name, among them the David Foster co-written and produced ballad “Through the Fire,” which established a lasting adult-contemporary staple. Destiny (1986) and CK (1988) followed, spotlighting a Scritti Politti collaboration (“Love of a Lifetime”) and a broad array of material involving Prince, Womack & Womack, and Brenda Russell. Throughout the period Khan contributed to other recordings, including Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” and Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” the former originally tracked as a duet before her label declined the joint release, though she still received credit for vocal arrangement. At decade’s end Quincy Jones revived “I’ll Be Good to You,” originally produced for the Brothers Johnson; the new version, pairing Khan with Ray Charles, topped R&B and brought her a fifth Grammy in the R&B Performance categories.

Khan’s final Warner Bros. studio album, The Woman I Am, appeared in 1992 and reunited her with Arif Mardin. Scritti Politti’s David Gamson produced “Love You All My Lifetime,” which nearly reached number one R&B. The set earned another Grammy for Best R&B Performance. Over the next three years she recorded a follow-up, Dare You to Love Me, which the label rejected. Warner Bros. shelved the project, appended several tracks to the 1996 compilation Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, and scattered remaining material onto soundtracks, including Waiting to Exhale. Frustrated, Khan left the major-label system to work with Prince on his NPG imprint; her sole album for the label, Come 2 My House, surfaced in 1998.

Early in the next decade she appeared on De La Soul’s charting single “All Good?” and published the autobiography Chaka! Through the Fire. In 2004 she collected another Grammy for her performance of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with the Funk Brothers in the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Later that year she returned to jazz standards on Classikhan, released worldwide via independent outlets. Funk This, a blend of covers and originals produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, followed; it won the 2007 Grammy for Best R&B Album, while “Disrespectful” took Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Additional collaborations and honors accumulated, including a hometown tribute that designated a street Chaka Khan Way. Her next solo single, “Like Sugar,” emerged in 2018. The similarly upbeat Hello Happiness EP arrived the following year, both produced by Switch and Sarah Ruba Taylor. In March 2020 BMG issued the live CD/DVD Homecoming, captured the prior year at Chicago’s Harris Theater with her twelve-piece band.