Chaka Khan is a successful American R&B singer whose popularity soared with her 1984 cover of Prince’s “I Feel For You.” Born Yvette Marie Stevens, on March 23, 1953, in Great Lakes, Illinois to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman, Chaka Khan was raised on the South Side of Chicago. At the age of 11 Chaka Khan formed her first singing group named the Crystallettes.  In high school she was a member of the Afro-Arts Theater, a group which toured with Mary Wells, a Motown great.  Chaka spent time volunteering with the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast Program.  While working with them, she took on the African name Chaka.  In the year 1969, Chaka Khan dropped out of high school in 1969 and first joined the group Lyfe and then the dance band The Babysitters.  Neither group was successful.  Her luck changed when she joined ex-American Breed member Kevin Murphy and Andre Fisher to form the group Rufus.  Chaka’s last name changed to Khan when she married bass guitarist Hassan Khan.

In 1973 Rufus debuted their self-titled album.  Rufus was a well know funk group in the 70’s and Chaka Khan’s unique and dynamic vocals helped them achieve their fame.  In 1974 Rufus crossed over into the pop music and R&B charts when Stevie Wonder helped with the hit song “Tell Me Something Good.” Rufus earned many gold and platinum albums before Chaka Khan went solo in 1978.

Chaka Khan recorded her first solo smash hit “I’m Every Woman” in 1978 on the album Chaka.  This song was #1 on R&B and #21 on Pop records.  At this time, however, Kahn was still contractually bound to Rufus for two more LP’s. This public rivalry tempered Khan’s success.

In 1982 Khan recorded a jazz album, Echoes of an Era.  Khan returned to Rufus and fulfilled her contract by recording the album Stompin’ At The Savoy: Live.  It was in 1984 that Khan’s recording career was launched back into the spotlight when she released I Feel For You.   This was a platinum-selling album based on the popularity of its title cut.  This Grammy Award winning cut was a hip-hop version of a Prince song, which featured Stevie Wonder on the harmonica and rap by Melle Mel. This album also contained the popular song “Through the Fire”, produced by David Foster, which set a record for spending the most consecutive weeks on the Billboard R&B charts.

In the late 1980’s Khan remained high on the R&B charts but her popularity in pop’s mainstream began to decline.  She then moved to Europe. She did win another Grammy in 1990 for “I’ll Be Good To You,” a duet with Ray Charles and had another #1 R&B and Top 20 Pop hit.

Chaka Khan left Warner Brothers and teamed up with Prince who produced Come 2 My House on Prince’s independent label in 1998.  In 2004 Chaka wrote an autobiography entitled  Chaka!Through the Fire.  That same year she also earned another Grammy for performing Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with The Funk Brothers. 

More recently, in 2006 Chaka Khan signed with Sony BMG’s Burgundy Records.  Her newest album, Funk This, consists of cover songs an original material.  On its release in September 2007, it debuted at #15 on the Top 200 Album Chart and at #5 on the R&B album chart which is her highest chart position since her first solo album in 1978.