Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan, born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American singer, songwriter, and Broadway performer whose career has spanned more than five decades. Raised in the Hyde Park area of Chicago's South Side, she is the daughter of Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman. Her sister Yvonne performs under the name Taka Boom, and her brother Mark founded the funk group Jamaica Boys and was a member of soul group Aurra. Khan has two half-sisters, Zaheva and Tammy. She credits her grandmother with introducing her to jazz as a child, and she became a devoted rhythm and blues fan in her preteen years. At age 11, she formed a girl group called the Crystalettes with her sister Taka. At 13, she received the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi during a naming ceremony conducted by a Yoruba Babalawo priest; Chaka means "woman of fire." In the late 1960s she attended civil rights rallies and joined the Black Panther Party after befriending Chicago activist Fred Hampton in 1967. She dropped out of high school, having attended Calumet High School and Kenwood High School, and began performing with small groups around Chicago, including Cash McCall's group Lyfe. She married Hassan Khan in 1970.

Khan's professional trajectory shifted in 1972 when two members of a newly forming group called Rufus spotted her performing in local bands. After lead singer Paulette McWilliams departed and recommended Khan as her replacement, Khan joined the group. Rufus signed with ABC Records in 1973 and released their debut album that year. Their breakthrough came when Stevie Wonder wrote and collaborated with the group on "Tell Me Something Good," which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974 and earned the group their first Grammy Award. The follow-up single "You Got the Love" peaked at number eleven on the Hot 100 and reached number one on the R&B chart, helping their second album, Rags to Rufus, go platinum. Between 1974 and 1979, Rufus released six albums, including Rufusized, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, Ask Rufus, Street Player, and Masterjam. Additional hits from this period included "Once You Get Started," "Sweet Thing," "Hollywood," "At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)," and "Do You Love What You Feel." Khan played drums and bass and provided percussion during her time with the group, and most of her compositions were collaborations with guitarist Tony Maiden. With Rufus, she accumulated three gold singles, one platinum single, four gold albums, and two platinum albums.

While still a member of Rufus, Khan signed a solo contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1978. Her debut solo album that year featured "I'm Every Woman," written by Ashford & Simpson, which became a number-one R&B hit and crossover disco success, propelling the album to platinum sales. That same year she appeared on Quincy Jones's "Stuff Like That," which also featured Ashford & Simpson. In 1979 she dueted with Ry Cooder on his album Bop Till You Drop and reunited with Rufus for the Jones-produced Masterjam. Her 1981 solo album produced the R&B hit "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me." In 1984, her cover of Prince's "I Feel for You" made her the first R&B artist to achieve a crossover hit featuring a rapper; the accompanying album went platinum. Additional solo hits included "Through the Fire" and a 1986 collaboration with Steve Winwood that yielded "Higher Love," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In her solo career, Khan accumulated three gold singles, three gold albums, and one platinum album with I Feel for You.

Over the course of her career, Khan has collaborated with Whitney Houston, Ry Cooder, Robert Palmer, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Guru, Chicago, Joni Mitchell, Gladys Knight, De La Soul, Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande, and Sia. She also provided backing vocals on singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop's 1976 debut album Careless, which went gold. In December 2016, Billboard ranked her the 65th most successful dance club artist of all time, and VH1 placed her at number 17 on its list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. Khan has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times as a solo artist and four times as a member of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, with her first nomination coming in 2012 as a member of Rufus. In 2023, she was selected as an inductee in the Musical Excellence category. She has won eleven Grammy Awards in total, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Originally from Great Lakes, Illinois, Khan made her Broadway debut in 2005, appearing in The Color Purple.