Chaka Khan "accompanied" me in the 80s to the dance floor where I let loose on her music (and still do). I asked good friend Jan Nijland to write something about her.
Of the hundreds of top-40 songs from your youth, you only recognise most when you hear them again. Often you (I) then have to dig into your memory for a song title and/or artist. However, there are a few dozen songs whose details you immediately know, they have really stuck. A number of those songs in my memory are by Chaka Khan.
At 11, I knew it; I wanted to be a DJ, dance and especially funk was my music (of course, I didn't know it was called that yet). "Once You Get Started" by Chaka and Rufus was one of my favourites. When the album "Chaka" came out in 1978, I only bought 7'' singles and so I had the song "I'm Every Woman". Slightly less "artificial" than the songs with Rufus and actually her debut single. Great record!
Looking back, a bit surprised to see how incredibly productive she was and that relatively few successful singles came out of it. Of course, "I Feel For You" and "Ain't Nobody" are also in my collection but I haven't played them for years. Recently I bought 2 good turntables again and am expanding my collection. Still singles but now exclusively 12 Inches. Recently got "Ain't Nobody", more than just the music...
Jan Nijland, Bella Macchina
Chaka Khan
Yvette Marie Stevens, better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (23 March 1953), is an American singer-songwriter.
At the age of twenty, she became the singer of the funk band Rufus. Thanks to Stevie Wonder, she broke through in pop music in 1974 with the song Tell Me Something Good. In the late seventies, she scored a big disco hit with I'm Every Woman, a song later also performed by Whitney Houston. In the eighties, success continued with Ain't Nobody (her last single with Rufus) and a cover of a Prince song, I Feel for You.
Source: Wikipedia
Photo: By The Heart Truth - Chaka Khan in Chris March
