Yvette Marie Stevens, professionally known as Chaka Khan, was born 70 years ago in Chicago, USA, is divorced and has 2 children. She is a singer, songwriter and drummer.
As a kid, she was introduced to jazz music by her grandmother and later became a rhythm and blues enthusiast. She created a girl group named the ‘Crystalettes’ when she was 11 years old and in later years performed in several small bands, commencing with a band called ‘Lyfe’, where she met her first husband. They married in 1970 but divorced shortly after.
Two years later, Chaka was requested to join a group named ‘Rufus’ after she was seen performing and was even noticed by musician Ike Turner, who asked her to join his backing vocalists named ‘The Ikettes’, however, she refused.
‘Rufus’ debut album was released in 1973, but was not as successful as expected, despite that it featured a version of singer Stevie Wonder’s ‘Maybe your Baby’. Things took a positive turn when Stevie himself wrote a song for Khan named ‘Tell me Something Good’ and managed to reach number 3 on the Billboard chart. Until 1979, the band released 6 albums which included hits like ‘Once you get Started’, ‘Sweet Thing’, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Do you love what you Feel’, amongst others.
By this time, the band gained a lot of popularity, particularly due to Khan’s live performances, her strong voice and stage outfits. The group also wrote and produced most of their songs, whilst Chaka, apart from singing, played the drums, bass and percussion. Towards the end of the 70s, however, there was a lot of friction between the group members and Khan decided to pursue a solo career, although she sometimes did still collaborate with the group.
In fact, her first solo album was released in 1978 and featured the disco hit ‘I’m Every Woman’. Until the end of the 80s, Chaka released 7 more albums but reached international stardom in 1984 with the UK & US number one hit ‘I Feel for You’. Other successful tracks include ‘This is my Night’ and ‘Through the Fire’.
In the last 3 decades, Chaka collaborated with several renowned artists like Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Peter Cetera, rapper Guru, Anastacia and Beverley Knight, amongst many others. She sang in duet, provided vocals, went on concert tours and issued 5 more albums. She also made various appearances in some TV productions like ‘American Idol’ and ‘The Masked Singer’.
During her +50-year career, Khan received numerous awards and honours including 10 Grammy, 2 Soul Train and 2 UK Music Video.