Chaka Khan has, well at least 2 my knowledge, has just released her autobiography entitled "Chaka! Through the fire". It's available in hardback. There are Prince mentions in the book and of course Miles Davis. And for those that may wonder why she left the Prince fold, let's see, their are obsenties in the book!

Love4OneAnothertheorignal said:

c'mon spill!!

Chaka was one of the most mistreated singers of american music. Such a talent, a great singer. But lots of bad producers never made justice to her talent. Most of her albums were filled with cheap synth-pop. While IMO, she is a lady, like Billie Holliday. She should be produced by guys like Quincy Jones, Arif Mardin and David Gamson.
Even `Come 2 my house´ could have been a lot better, if Prince didnt give too much space to Kirk J. It would be great to see Prince using his full power with such a great singer.
Ironically some of the best recent moments were the outtakes included on ´Epiphany´.

come on now, chaka had a past you no. she wasn't always a princess.I'm sure that she wasn't always the best person to work with.don't blame prince for everything that goes on in everyone else's career.give the brother a break.

maybe u haven't heard all her shit. she has a lot very good albums, have u heard of rufus and chaka? how do u think she became what she is. it wasn't just her voice, my girl has some nice lp's. her album ck is my favorite, got no air play.u should dig up some shit. come 2 my house was cool also. no air play or it would have blown up.

GustavoRibas said:

Epiphany is great.

Bull said:

Naughty was my favorite LP by Chaka lots of good tunes on that one and you can still buy it for less than 10 bucks!

nammie said:

Naughty and Whatcha Gonna Do For Me are my 2 favorite Chaka albums. The Woman In Me is also one of my favorites. Everyone should check these out. If you listen to Launch on Yahoo, they have The Woman In Me featured as one of the selections you can listen to on your station.

did anyone else get the feeling when she was with Prince in 1998ish .. and clearly when she was on BET Live w/ Prince & larry she was on COKE.

GustavoRibas said:

I agree, it would also be interesting to have seen her work with Prince in his last project and tour...I'm sure they'll work 2gether again.

locoarts said:

You'd need some sort of pick me up listening to those two goons go on about the scriptures 24/7.

I am still curious about what she has to say on Prince and Miles Davis.

Is it possible to post her comments?

Also, one of the best she ever did was;


The playlist is as follows;

1. At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)
2. Close the Door
3. Medley: Slow Screw Against the Wall/A Flat Fry
4. Earth Song
5. Everlasting Love
6. Hollywood
7. Magic in Your Eyes
8. Better Days
9. Egyptian Song

This album is so firm, from beginning to end. It has a lot of Clare Fisher on it, it was the work he did on THIS album that made Prince hire him for Parade.
Also, you will recognise some other things, Prince is a good thief. He borrowed from the best and then gave it is own twist.
Ask Rufus shares the lushness with Parade.

Uhm, the pic does not work, now does it?

THe album is called Ask Rufus

Awesome. A must have for EVERY Prince fan, serious.

Whee!!!

I just ordered it, based on your recommendation, Gooey. Thanks for the tip!

Payday rocks.

i have always loved chaka even back in the days when it was Rufus and Chaka, those were the days, great albums

joelmarable said:

- I didnt hear most of her stuff with Rufus. But CK is full of cheap synth production (I have this one). Come 2 my house has some nice moments too, but it could be more well produced (Prince was in that dark phase and I dint feel his maximum effort there)
She released a very nice album called ´Echoes of an era´ with jazz monsters Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, Lenny White and Joe Henderson

0rlando said:

- Oh yeah...wouldnt it be much better if Chaka performed in the ONA tour? This kind of arrangement suits her much more than the 1998 stuff

joel, I am in no way saying that I don't like chaka or her music,I have every albun and CD that she has ever put out.I was simply responding to gus.I just don't think that people should throw stones unless their willing to open up about their personal lives. just ask rush limbaul.

gooeythehamster said:

- Thanks for the tip! Clare Fisher is great.

GustavoRibas said:

HUH? you have no idea what you are talking about. Those RUFUS sets were primo tight-ass funk. AFAIK, the only abuse Chaka suffered was getting hooked on coke and ballooning out. All which were self-inflicted.

You'll be surprised to know that Arif Mardin worked the backscenes on some of her work with tie-ins with the guys from Average White Band. Quincy actually produced the MASTERJAM, which was not really one of their best.
[This message was edited Fri Oct 3 10:57:10 PDT 2003 by PFunkjazz]

GustavoRibas said:

OK I see you're basing this on her solo career and not the RUFUS era. Still, considering the 80s style, PIONEERED BY PRINCE, called for "cheap pop synths there is a lot of crap in there. Hardly the fault of her producers. Lord knows I've gone over the GEORGE CLINTON 80s CAPITOL catalog with the same grievances

The ones I like are here:
Naughty (good!!)
What Cha' Gonna Do for Me (simply stellar!!!)
Chaka Khan (GooD!!)
I Feel for You (Excellent!!!)

Not couting ECHOES cuz that's really out-of-the-ordinary (and I don't think it's very good, anyway)



(BTW: ARIF MARDIN was indeed her producer on these solo sessions).
[This message was edited Fri Oct 3 11:11:27 PDT 2003 by PFunkjazz]

Another one of her best songs is "Slow Dancin'" with Rick James...

I did an interview with Chaka Khan in 1999 where we also talked about Prince.

I'll post it on the Org sometime soon. (I'll need to do a transcript of the tape as the initial result was written in Danish.)
[This message was edited Sat Oct 4 7:48:39 PDT 2003 by scififilmnerd]

PFunkjazz said:

.
- Yes. I think the ´synth pop´ worked very well with Prince, but lots of artists who never had nothing to do with it started using it just to be ´modern´ and the result was cheap production. Chaka isn´t the only one. George Benson´s drum programming on some of his 80s albums suck.


- No? Do you think Chaka did the synth arrangements? Singers usually dont have the final word about arrangements and such. Why do you feel that most singers sound the same when it comes to rythm tracks? I remember that Prince said it in an interview, that she was suffocated by synths and she never got the treatment she deserved. Ironically, I dont think Prince gave her the treatment she deserved too (I mean, he didnt give his best on Come 2 my house IMO), in terms of production. But I think he helped her a lot just opening the Paisley doors for her and playing with her on TV shows, etc.


- Yes, it´s good, but it was recorded live in the studio. If she had the chance to re-record some of the tracks, it would sound surely better.



- Oops...in this case I am wrong...sorry...

locoarts said:

It wouldn't surprise me. A good friend of mine is a Brit Award winning producer, and when we went 2 see the Jam of The Year tour at Brixton Academy in London in 1998, He was telling me this story of how he was in a well-reknowned studio once and she caused a huge rumpus when she had been snorting in the ladies washroom, then decided 2 flip-off the recording session by escaping thru the window.
Basically - she got uh....stuck!
[This message was edited Mon Oct 6 13:06:13 PDT 2003 by bananacologne]

Romance1600 said:

TOO funny!

Love4OneAnothertheorignal said:

Freddy??