• MUSIC • Happy Birthday, Chaka Khan!

The fourth and last installment of my birthday salutes to music artists, and for this month of March 2018, goes to my favorite female singer.


Chaka Khan turns 65 on March 23, 2018.

Born Yvette Marie Stevens, on March 23, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois, and in a bohemian household and raised in the area of Hyde Park, Chaka Khan’s music career dates back to the early-1970s when she was the lead singer of the R&B and funk group Rufus.

Her siblings are Taka Boom, of The Undisputed Truth and The Glass Family, and Mark Stevens, of The Jamaica Boys.

Chaka Khan got her name when she was a member of the Black Panthers. The name Chaka means “woman of fire.”

The winner of ten Grammy Awards, over the span of four consecutive decades (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s), and with over 20 nominations, Chaka Khan was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.


For more background information on Chaka Khan: Wikipedia — Chaka Khan.



The following are ten personally selected favorites in music. I divided them from separate periods of her recording career. The first five are from when she was with Rufus. The next five are from a solo Chaka Khan.

The first from Rufus is “Tell Me Something Good,” written by Stevie Wonder, which won them the 1974 Grammy for R&B Duo or Group Vocal Performance. The last with the group was the final chart, “Ain’t Nobody,” written by Rufus keyboardist David “Hawk” Wolinski, which won them their second Grammy for R&B Duo or Group Vocal Performance for 1983. (On March 14 was Quincy Jones’s 85th birthday. Khan worked with him numerous times. Jones produced the group’s 1979 R&B/disco-themed album Masterjam, with its standout “Do You Love What You Feel,” not included among the below videos.) I will note the third song, 1975’s “Sweet Thing,” was co-written by Khan with Rufus guitarist Tony Maiden.

The next group are from a solo Chaka Khan. She started branching out during her period with Rufus with 1978’s “I’m Every Woman,” written by spouses Nickolas Ashford (1941–2011) and Valerie Simpson, and later covered by Whitney Houston (1963–2012) with the motion picture and its soundtrack The Bodyguard (1992), winner of the 1993 Grammy for Album of the Year. Chaka Khan’s biggest solo hit was 1984’s “I Feel For You,” written by the late great Prince (in the year of his smash LP and film Purple Rain), which won her that year’s Grammy for R&B Female Vocal Performance. (It also won Prince, who wrote it in the late-1970s, the Grammy for R&B Song.)

Here are a couple videos in which Chaka Khan is interviewed. The first interview is from 1976. She is on The Mike Douglas Show. Mike Douglas asks Chaka Khan, then 22 (but 23 that year), about her success with Rufus and whether she anticipates leaving the group. The second interview is from 2014. Chaka Khan, then 61, was asked by Wendy Williams, on The Wendy Williams Show, about personal matters including aging and a recent stint in rehab.