About Chaka Khan
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.In the late 1960s, Stevens joined the Black Panther Party in Chicago. At the age of 13, she was given the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi KarifiIhren by a Yoruba Babalawo during a naming ceremony.
After her marriage to bassist Hassan Khan in 1970, she became Chaka Khan. In the mid-1970s, she began her musical career as a singer with the funk band Rufus and, with the help of Stevie Wonder and the title Tell Me Something Good, she 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). Chaka Khan also contributed as a singer to Joni Mitchell's 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
In 1978, alongside her career with Rufus, she released her solo debut, simply titled "Chaka", which was certified gold in the US for 500,000 sales. It included her first major hit without Rufus, "I'm Every Woman." Her 1981 LP, "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me?", also received a gold certification. In 1984, she achieved her greatest solo success; the funk track "I Feel for You," written by Prince and produced by Arif Mardin, became a million-seller, reaching number 3 on the US pop charts and number 1 on the R&B charts. Guest musicians on the song included Stevie Wonder (harmonica) and Melle Mel (rap) of the Furious Five. The accompanying LP of the same name sold over a million copies in the US alone and was certified platinum. The album Chaka Khan and the song I Feel for You earned her two consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1983 and 1984. With The Woman I Am, she received a third Grammy in this category in 1993.
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