Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan (born Yvette Marie Stevens; March 23, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned four decades, beginning in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. Widely known as the Queen of Funk, Khan has won ten Grammys and has sold an estimated 70 million records worldwide. She has seven gold singles, seven gold albums, and three platinum albums. Khan was ranked at number 17 in VH1's original list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. In 2015, she was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time; she was previously nominated as member of Rufus in 2011. Khan was the first R&B artist to feature a rapper with "I Feel For You" in 1984.

1953–1972: Early life

Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953 into an artistic, bohemian household in Chicago, Illinois. She was the eldest of five children born to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman, and has described her father Charles as a beatnik and her mother as 'able to do anything.' Raised in the Hyde Park area, 'an island in the middle of the madness' of Chicago's rough South Side housing projects. Her sister Yvonne later became a successful musician in her own right under the name Taka Boom. Her only brother, Mark, who formed the funk group Aurra, also became a successful musician. She has two other sisters, Zaheva Stevens and Tammy McCrary, the latter of whom is her current manager.

Chaka Khan (album)

Chaka Khan is the eponymous fourth solo album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1982.

Overview

Two singles were released from Chaka Khan: the Michael Jackson cover "Got to Be There" (US Pop #67, US R&B #5) and "Tearin' It Up" (US R&B #48), the latter also as a 12" single including an extended remix (- 7:21) as well as an instrumental version (- 8:07), both mixed by Larry Levan and included on Warner Music Japan's 1999 compilation Dance Classics of Chaka Khan. The album track "Slow Dancin'" was a funky ballad duet with Rick James. On Billboard's charts, the album reached #5 on Black Albums and #52 on Pop Albums. The "Be Bop Medley" won producer Arif Mardin and Khan a Grammy Award in 1984 in the Best Vocal Arrangement For Two Or More Voices category.

Following the release of the Chaka Khan album and the greatest hits package The Very Best of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Khan reunited with the band Rufus later that year for one final album together, the double live/studio set Stompin' at the Savoy - Live (1983). Her next solo album I Feel for You followed in 1984.