Chaka Khan (born March 23, 1953) is an American soul singer who first emerged as the featured vocalist of Chicago funksters Rufus during the mid-1970s.
Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953, in Chicago, the oldest of five children in a bohemian household. Her sister, Yvonne Stevens (b. 1954), also had a successful singing career under the name Taka Boom. Their brother, Mark Stevens, sang in soul-funksters Aurra.
As a child, her grandmother introduced her to jazz music. As tweens, both sisters sang in the girl group Crystalettes. At age 13, Yvette was christened Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi by a Yoruba Baba. For a time in the late 1960s, she sang in Lyfe, the backing band of electric blues guitarist Cash McCall. In 1970 at age 17, she married her then-boyfriend Hassan Khan. Despite their eventual divorce, she kept his surname.
In 1971, Khan served as a latter-day replacement for the late Baby Huey in his backing band The Babysitters. The following year, she was spotted by two members of an up-and-coming local act, Rufus. Between 1973 and 1981, she recorded six albums with the band, scoring a huge hit in 1974 with the Stevie Wonder-penned “Tell Me Something Good.”
Discography:
- Chaka (1978)
- Naughty (1980)
- What ‘Cha Gonna Do for Me (1981)
- Chaka Khan (1982)
- I Feel for You (1984)
- Destiny (1986)
- C.K. (1988)
Sources:
Artist/Album Pages:
Bernard Szajner is a French electronic musician who first recorded under the moniker Zed, issuing ...
Pat Travers (born April 12, 1954) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and bandleader who released eig...
Percy Sledge (Nov. 25, 1940 — April 14, 2015) was an American soul singer who released 10 albums on ...
George McCrae (born Oct. 19, 1944) is an American soul singer from West Palm Beach, Fla. Discog...
Rainbow Theatre were an Australian symphonic/art-rock band that released two albums on Clear Light...
Ocean were an American jazz-rock band from Cincinnati that released the album Sunrise on self-pres...
The Lines were an English art-punk band from London that released a standalone single on self-pres...
Jeremy Steig (Sept. 23, 1942 — April 13, 2016) was an American jazz-rock flutist from NYC. Disc...
LeBlanc & Carr were an American soft-rock duo that released the album Midnight Light on Atlan...
Lynsey de Paul (June 11, 1950 — Oct. 1, 2014) was an English pop vocalist and songwriter who relea...
Shiva were an English hard-rock band from Bristol that released the album Firedance on Heavy Metal...
Kornet were a Swedish jazz-rock band from Piteå that issued two albums between 1975 and 1977 on Ma...