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Today's artist is an American singer whose career has spanned four decades, beginning in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. Widely known as the Queen of Funk, she has sold an estimated 70 million records worldwide. Khan was ranked at number 17 in VH1's original list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. In 2015, she was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time; she was previously nominated as member of Rufus in 2011. To date, Khan has won 10 Grammy Awards, including two as a member of Rufus. She has received 22 Grammy Award nominations, including three as a member of Rufus.... ..... N'joy

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Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953 into an artistic, bohemian household in Chicago, Illinois. She is the eldest of five children born to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman, and has described her father Charles as a beatnik and her mother as 'able to do anything.' Raised in the Hyde Park area, 'an island in the middle of the madness' of Chicago's rough South Side housing projects. Her sister Yvonne later became a successful musician in her own right under the name Taka Boom. Her only brother, Mark, who formed the funk group Aurra, also became a successful musician. She has two other sisters, Zaheva Stevens and Tammy McCrary, the latter of whom is her current manager.

Chaka Khan was raised as a Catholic. She attributed her love of music to her grandmother, who introduced her to jazz as a child. Khan became a fan of rhythm and blues music as a pre-teen and at eleven formed a girl group, the Crystalettes, which included her sister Taka. In the late 1960s, Khan attended several civil rights rallies with her father's second wife, Connie, a strong supporter of the movement, and joined the Black Panther Party after befriending fellow member, activist, and Chicago native Fred Hampton in 1967. Though many think that she was given the name Chaka while in the Panthers she has made it clear that her name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi was given to her at age 13 by a Yoruba Baba. In 1969, she left the Panthers and dropped out of high school, having attended Calumet High School and Kenwood High School (now Kenwood Academy). She began to perform in small groups around the Chicago area, first performing with Cash McCall's group Lyfe, which included her then boyfriend Hassan Khan, whom she would later marry.

She was asked to replace Baby Huey of Baby Huey & the Babysitters after Huey's death in 1970. The group disbanded a year later. While performing in local bands in 1972, she was spotted by two members of a new group called Rufus and soon won her position in the group (replacing rock and roll singer Paulette McWilliams). They later signed with ABC Records in 1973. Prior to signing with the label, she married on-and-off boyfriend Hassan Khan, changing her stage name to Chaka Khan.

In 1973, Rufus released their eponymous debut album. Despite their fiery rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Maybe Your Baby" from Wonder's acclaimed Talking Book and the modest success of the Chaka-led ballad "Whoever's Thrilling You (Is Killing Me)", the album failed to garner attention. That changed when Wonder himself collaborated with the group on a song he had written for Khan. That song, "Tell Me Something Good", became the group's breakthrough hit, reaching number-three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, later winning the group their first Grammy Award. The single's success and the subsequent follow-up, "You Got the Love", which peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, helped their second parent album, Rags to Rufus, go platinum, selling over a million copies. From 1974 to 1979, Rufus released six platinum-selling albums including Rufusized, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, Ask Rufus, Street Player and Masterjam. The band gained a reputation as a live performing act with Khan becoming the star attraction, thanks to her powerful vocals and stage attire which sometimes included Native American garb and showing her midriff. Most of the band's material was written and produced by the band itself with few exceptions. Khan has also been noted for being an instrumentalist playing drums and bass; she also provided percussion during her tenure with Rufus.

In 1978, Warner Bros. Records released Khan's solo debut album, which featured the crossover disco hit, "I'm Every Woman", written for her by songwriters Ashford & Simpson. The success of the single helped the album go gold, selling over a million copies. In 1979, Khan reunited with Rufus to collaborate on the Jones-produced Masterjam, which featured their hit "Do You Love What You Feel", which Khan sang with Tony Maiden. In 1980, while Rufus released Party 'Til You're Broke, again without Khan, she released her second solo album, Naughty, which featured her on the cover with her six-year-old daughter Milini. The album yielded the disco hit "Clouds" and the R&B ballad "Papillon".

Also in 1980, she had a cameo appearance as a church choir soloist in The Blues Brothers with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Khan released two albums in 1981, the Rufus release, Camouflage and the solo album What Cha' Gonna Do for Me. The latter album went gold. In 1982, Khan issued two more solo albums, the jazz-oriented Echoes of an Era and a more funk/pop-oriented self-titled album Chaka Khan. The latter album's track, the jazz-inflected "Be Bop Medley", won Khan a Grammy and earned praise from jazz singer Betty Carter who loved Khan's vocal scatting in the song.

In 1983, the singer returned with Rufus on a live album, Stompin' at the Savoy - Live, which featured the studio single, "Ain't Nobody", which became the group's final charting success reaching number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B chart, while also reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom. Following this release, Rufus separated for good.

In 1984, Khan released her sixth studio album, I Feel for You. The title track was the first single released. Originally written and recorded by Prince in 1979, it had also been recorded by The Pointer Sisters and Mary Wells. Khan's version featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder and an introductory rap by Grandmaster Melle Mel. It became a million-selling smash in the U.S. and United Kingdom and helped to relaunch Khan's career. "I Feel for You" topped not only the U.S. R&B and dance charts, but achieved great success on the U.S. pop chart and reached #1 in the United Kingdom. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1984 and remained on that chart for 26 weeks, well into 1985. Additionally, it hit #1 on the Cash Box chart. It was listed as Billboard′s #5 song for 1985 and netted Prince the 1985 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. In addition to the song's successful radio airplay and sales, a music video of Khan with break dancers in an inner-city setting enjoyed heavy rotation on television and helped to solidify Khan's notoriety in popular culture.

Khan followed up her successful I Feel For You album with 1986's Destiny and 1988's CK. Khan found more success in the late 1980s with a remix album, Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project, which reached the top ten on the British albums chart. As a result, she performed regularly in the United Kingdom, where she maintained a strong fan base. Khan returned with her first studio album in four years in 1992 with the release of The Woman I Am, which was a success thanks to the R&B songs "Love You All My Lifetime" and "You Can Make the Story Right". Khan abruptly left Warner Bros. after stating the label had neglected her and failed to release Dare You to Love Me

In 1998, Khan signed a contract with Prince's NPG Records label and issued Come 2 My House, followed by the single "Don't Talk 2 Strangers", a cover of a 1996 Prince song. Khan later went on a tour with Prince as a co-headlining act. In 2000, Khan departed from NPG and in 2004 released her first jazz covers album in twenty-two years with 2004's ClassiKhan. She also covered "Little Wing" with Kenny Olson on the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Three years later, after signing with Burgundy Records, Khan released what many critics called a "comeback album" with Funk This, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis & Big Jim Wright The album featured the hit, "Angel", and the Mary J. Blige duet, "Disrespectful". The latter track went to number one on the U.S. dance singles chart, winning the singers a Grammy Award, while Funk This also won a Grammy for Best R&B Album.

In a 2008 interview Khan said that she, unlike other artists, felt very optimistic about the current changes in the recording industry, including music downloading. "I'm glad things are shifting and artists – not labels – are having more control over their art. My previous big record company (Warner Bros.) has vaults of my recordings that haven't seen the light of day that people need to hear. This includes Robert Palmer's original recording of 'Addicted to Love' – which they took my vocals off of! We are working on getting it (and other tracks) all back now. On May 19, 2011, Khan was given the 2,440th Hollywood Walk of Fame star plaque on a section of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Her family was present when the singer accepted the honor, as was Stevie Wonder. Khan is working on her new album called iKhan which is said to be released in 2015...still in the pipeline. Instead she released Soul Diva Chaka Live in flac format. In July 2016, she canceled concert performances and entered rehab, we wish her strength.

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When Chaka Khan recorded her fifth solo album, I Feel for You, in 1984, she knew that R&B had changed a lot since the 1970s. Horn-powered funk bands, strings-laden Philadelphia soul, and orchestral disco were out of vogue, and the urban contemporary audiences of 1984 were into a more high-tech, heavily electronic style of R&B. Many artists who had been huge in the 1970s found that they no longer appealed to black radio programmers, who had abandoned them and turned their attention to electro-funksters and Prince disciples. But Chaka Khan had no problem keeping up with the times; I Feel for You made it clear that she could easily be relevant to the urban contemporary scene of 1984. No one would mistake I Feel for You for a Rufus project from 1975 -- it's way too high-tech -- and yet, everything on the album is unmistakably Chaka Khan. That is true of up-tempo items like "Love Is Alive" (an interesting remake of Gary Wright's 1976 hit) and "La Flamme," as well as the ballad "Through the Fire," which was a big hit on urban radio but crossed over to adult contemporary stations in a major way. "This Is My Night" (which was written and produced by the System) also became an urban radio hit, but the album is best known for Khan's unlikely remake of Prince's "I Feel for You." When Prince first recorded "I Feel for You" in 1979, it wasn't a hit; Khan's version, however, soared to number one on Billboard's R&B singles chart. Khan had a very different take on the song than Prince; while his original version was subtle and restrained, Khan went for exuberance and added a strong hip-hop flavor. Excellent from start to finish, this album went down in history as both a creative and a commercial success.

Chaka Khan - I Feel For You    (flac  300mb)

01 This Is My Night 4:38
02 Stronger Than Before 4:21
03 My Love Is Alive 4:42
04 Eye To Eye 4:38
05 La Flamme 4:27
06 I Feel For You 5:44
07 Hold Her 5:14
08 Through The Fire 4:45
09 Caught In The Act 3:45
10 Chinatown 4:37

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CK is the seventh studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1988. CK was Khan's first album not to be recorded with Arif Mardin, instead it had with the exception of two tracks Russ Titelman at the helm as producer, with whom she had collaborated on hits like "Ain't Nobody" (1983), "Eye to Eye" from 1984's platinum-selling I Feel for You as well as "Tight Fit" from her previous album Destiny. Musically ck combined a variety of genres such as soul, R&B, funk, pop as well as two jazz titles and altogether the set was more laid-back, less hip-hop influenced and production-wise not as complex and synth-driven as I Feel for You and Destiny.

Three singles were released from CK: Womack & Womack's Latino-flavoured "It's My Party" which reached #5 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, "Soul Talkin'" and "Baby Me" which became another Top 10 hit on the R&B chart, peaking at #8. The ck album itself also charted higher than the preceding Destiny, reaching #17 on the R&B Albums chart. CK opens with Khan's cover of Stevie Wonder's 1970 hit "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", again featuring the composer himself on harmonica, just like on "I Feel for You".

One of the two tracks not to be produced by Russ Titelman was the funky and improvisational "Sticky Wicked", Khan's first proper collaboration with Prince after having covered his "I Feel for You" in 1984 and turning it into a million-selling hit single. ck also includes a second Prince composition, "Eternity" (produced by David Frank and Khan herself), and some ten years later Khan and Prince were to team up for a full-length album together, Come 2 My House.She currently speaks with disdain about the record business, and it's probably due to the relative failure of great records like this to break out and really enjoy the success they merit that's disillusioned.

Chaka Khan - CK   (flac 297mb)

01 Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) 4:45
02 Soul Talkin' 4:16
03 It's My Party 5:11
04 Eternity 4:03
05 Sticky Wicked 6:54
06 The End Of A Love Affair 5:10
07 Baby Me 4:04
08 Make It Last 4:47
09 Where Are You Tonite 4:54
10 I'll Be Around 5:20

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Criminally overlooked upon its release, 1998 saw Chaka Khan shine on Come 2 My House. This album is thanks largely to the work of Prince, whose voice, words, and musicianship permeate the record all the way down to the colorful packaging. In fact, compared with New Power Soul, his own lackluster release that year, Come 2 My House and Graham Central Station's 2000, also from the Prince camp, should count as the real Prince albums of 1998.
What might have been rather mundane Prince songs about the usual subjects shimmer in the throat of Chaka Khan, whose singing here runs the full range of high and lows; funky or slow, seductive, spiritual, or funny. Prince's production is lush and deep, filled with orchestral and electronic arrangements, funk flourishes and voices deep in the mix: a tribute both to his own old-school '80s funk/R&B inventions, and the ease with which he's been able to incorporate them into a contemporary atmosphere without the overcalculation that's plagued much his own late '90s work. This shows on every track. For the longtime fan of both Khan and Prince, maturing through the years, this is music that delights both in its familiarity and consistency. Amidst the midtempo groove of "Spoon," Chaka Khan concurs: "U are just like my favorite spoon/cuz U stir me up." House will stir up anyone delighted by these pros in the past.

Chaka Khan - Come 2 My House   (flac  414mb)

01 Come 2 My House 4:46
02 (Intro) 0:32
03 This Crazy Life Of Mine 2:33
04 Betcha I 4:30
05 Spoon 3:50
06 Pop My Clutch 4:47
07 Journey 2 The Center Of Your Heart 4:16
08 I'll Never B Another Fool 4:13
09 Democrazy 6:08
10 I Remember U 4:16
11 Reconsider (U Betta) 4:23
12 Don't Talk 2 Strangers 3:16
13 Hair 5:45
14 The Drama 6:36

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Three years on from Chaka Khan's recording of Classikhan with the London Symphony Orchestra, Funk This is likewise heavy on fresh looks at some of Khan's favorite songs, but its sources involve the likes of Jimi and Joni instead of Leiber & Stoller. Recorded with a core of Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Bobby Ross Avila, with guest contributions from Mary J. Blige, Michael McDonald, and Rufus guitarist Tony Maiden, Funk This sounds like much of it was recorded live, giving it a loose, not-fussed-over sound, though there are some questionable moves -- like the favoring of a smoothed-out synth over a crunching guitar riff during Rufus' "You Got the Love," or the use of a talk box on McDonald's "You Belong to Me." The covers do work more often than not, highlighted by Prince's "Sign 'O' the Times" and Joni Mitchell's "Ladies Man" (an unlikely but very smart choice). There's a handful of new songs, including the nostalgic "Back in the Day," where Chaka looks back to when she was known as Yvette Stevens, and the fast and furious "Disrespectful" -- where Jam and Lewis try to capture some of Rich Harrison's breakbeat-heavy "Crazy in Love"/"1 Thing" magic -- but the one that sticks out most is "Hail to the Wrong," which could be mistaken for a new version of an excellent album cut from 1980's Naughty or 1981's What Cha' Gonna Do for Me. Chaka sounds mostly excellent from track to track, especially during the more relaxed moments.

Chaka Khan - Funk This   (flac 393mb)

01 Back In The Day 4:29
02 Foolish Fool 3:47
03 One For All Time 4:45
04 Angel 4:26
05 Will You Love Me? 4:59
06 Castles Made Of Sand 4:00
07 Disrespectful (feat Mary J. Blige) 4:45
08 Sign 'O' The Times 5:24
09 Pack'd My Bags/You Got The Love 5:55
10 Ladies' Man 3:52
11 You Belong To Me (feat Michael McDonald) 3:59
12 Hail To The Wrong 3:43
13 Super Life 5:01


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