Excerpt from "Brand New Dance" by Gail Mitchell, an article in the 9 February 2019 issue of Billboard magazine, in the section "The Beat - The pulse of music right now":

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On her first album in 12 years, R&B icon Chaka Khan just wants to “keep it light”

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Chaka Khan is releasing her first album in 12 years, but don’t call it a comeback. As far as the 10-time Grammy Award-winning legend is concerned, she never left. “I’ve been on the road constantly,” says Khan, speaking from her home in Los Angeles, “doing the songs that everybody loves to hear. Nobody was asking for nothing new.” Khan, 65, sees herself as a perennial — “a seed that blooms when the season’s right.”

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Apparently, it’s that time. On Feb. 15 she’ll release her 13th studio album, Hello Happiness (Diary Records/Island Records). Its funky lead single, “Like Sugar,” arrived last June and sparked the global #LikeSugarChallenge, a testament to Khan’s staying power after 46 years in the business. Meanwhile, her current single, the new album’s title track, is a testament to her sunnier state of mind. The LP marks Khan’s first since she decided to enter rehab for prescription drug abuse following the death of her “brother,” and former NPG Records boss, Prince.

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Over her career, Khan has talked about various potential one-off recordings, from a jazz album produced by Robert Glasper to a Joni Mitchell covers album. Today, she adds an extraordinary, never-to-be-realized project to the list: a collaborative album she had discussed with Prince and Miles Davis before “they both left.” (Davis played on her 1988 CK track “Sticky Wicked,” which was produced by Prince and Khan.)

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The article is also available online: https://www.billboard.com...-interview

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BartVanHemelen said:

Interesting. Thanks!

"Rehab for prescription drug abuse following the death of her “brother,” and former NPG Records boss, Prince."

[Edited 2/11/19 6:41am]

scififilmnerd said:

databank said:

scififilmnerd said:

"Rehab for prescription drug abuse following the death of her “brother,” and former NPG Records boss, Prince."

[Edited 2/11/19 6:41am]

Calling him her former "boss" is a little far fetched. I was told she scolded him badly (and in front of his band) about some things that didn't go her way during the European 98 tour (probably around the time you interviewed her and she was upset the next interview), and Prince reportedly took it all and didn't say a word, like a scolded child. Only Chaka could get away with this [Edited 2/11/19 23:20pm]

H.M. Buff said in his Violet Reality interview that when he denied Chaka Khan the opportunity to play with 's guitar during the recording of Come 2 My House, scolded him afterwards: "You don't say "no" to the Queen". So must have really been in awe of her.

This new interview is also fun, although it doesn't offer any further details: https://www.thesun.co.uk/...nce-death/

scififilmnerd said:

databank said:

scififilmnerd said: Calling him her former "boss" is a little far fetched. I was told she scolded him badly (and in front of his band) about some things that didn't go her way during the European 98 tour (probably around the time you interviewed her and she was upset the next interview), and Prince reportedly took it all and didn't say a word, like a scolded child. Only Chaka could get away with this [Edited 2/11/19 23:20pm]

H.M. Buff said in his Violet Reality interview that when he denied Chaka Khan the opportunity to play with 's guitar during the recording of Come 2 My House, scolded him afterwards: "You don't say "no" to the Queen". So must have really been in awe of her.

This new interview is also fun, although it doesn't offer any further details: https://www.thesun.co.uk/...nce-death/

“I had so much sh*t to battle with in the Eighties and Nineties with my record label. I was a slave to the system until I got free from Warners.”

“Prince and I had plans of having a label together but things didn’t quite work out.

“It was going to be him, myself and Miles Davis, and we were also going to do an album together.

“I have no doubt we will do one in heaven.”

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It's funny because I've always said if Miles had lived, he'd either have ended the 90's working with Bill Laswell OR adding a 4th album to the Newpower Pak trilogy. However realistically I suspect Miles would never have taken the chance to release a record on NPG Records, Miles was beyond superstardom at this stage of his career, he was major material and probably wanted major money.

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Now that statement by Chaka is challenging because I'm not sure when her problems with WB started, but Miles died in 91 so that would have meant that at some point before 1991, loooong before the Newpower Pak, she, Prince and Miles discussed the possibility of leaving WB to go indie, and that doesn't really add-up with what we know of the Prince/WB relationship. I wonder under which circumstances they discussed this.

I'm sure there were many projects Prince talked about with potential collaborators during his career that never went beyond the discussion point.

The most interesting are the ideas that were actually worked on before being abandoned.

scififilmnerd said:

I'm sure there were many projects Prince talked about with potential collaborators during his career that never went beyond the discussion point.

The most interesting are the ideas that were actually worked on before being abandoned.

It's old news. From George Cole's "The Last Miles" (2005):

olb99 said:

It's old news. From George Cole's "The Last Miles" (2005):

Thank you for the info. I used it in my Chaka Khan chapter on my princevswarners-blog and mentioned you in the Thank You-list of the Acknowledgments section for bringing it to my attention.

scififilmnerd said:

olb99 said:

It's old news. From George Cole's "The Last Miles" (2005):

Thank you for the info. I used it in my Chaka Khan chapter on my princevswarners-blog and mentioned you in the Thank You-list of the Acknowledgments section for bringing it to my attention.

Cool. The whole book is worth reading, IMO. There's a small chapter about Prince. Nothing earth-shattering, but it was pretty good (and accurate) for 2005.

databank said:

scififilmnerd said:

"Rehab for prescription drug abuse following the death of her “brother,” and former NPG Records boss, Prince."

[Edited 2/11/19 6:41am]

Calling him her former "boss" is a little far fetched. I was told she scolded him badly (and in front of his band) about some things that didn't go her way during the European 98 tour (probably around the time you interviewed her and she was upset the next interview), and Prince reportedly took it all and didn't say a word, like a scolded child. Only Chaka could get away with this [Edited 2/11/19 23:20pm]

She also cursed him out at a club in front of Larry, his wife and Mayte during a stop at the Newpower Soul Festival tour and left the tour on the spot...

TrcikyChristopher said:

She also cursed him out at a club in front of Larry, his wife and Mayte during a stop at the Newpower Soul Festival tour and left the tour on the spot...

Why did she cuss him out?

PennyPurple said:

TrcikyChristopher said:

She also cursed him out at a club in front of Larry, his wife and Mayte during a stop at the Newpower Soul Festival tour and left the tour on the spot...

Why did she cuss him out?

Well, first off, she was drunk off her ass...

Secondly, from what I heard from someone there, it had something to do with Larry and his influence on Prince. She knew at the time that Mayte wasn't into the JW thing and Chaka respected Larry's views but did not respect the way she felt P was being "brainwashed".

If you really pay attention to Chaka's attitude on their interview on Vibe (June 98) and then BET Tonight (October 98), she was fed up by October. Prince tried to make amends by trying to get Come 2 My House distributed on Arista/BMG (without the NPG label) during his initial talks with Clive, but by that time, she was done.

[Edited 2/22/19 17:58pm]

TrcikyChristopher said:

PennyPurple said:

Why did she cuss him out?

Well, first off, she was drunk off her ass...

Secondly, from what I heard from someone there, it had something to do with Larry and his influence on Prince. She knew at the time that Mayte wasn't into the JW thing and Chaka respected Larry's views but did not respect the way she felt P was being "brainwashed".

If you really pay attention to Chaka's attitude on their interview on Vibe (June 98) and then BET Tonight (October 98), she was fed up by October. Prince tried to make amends by trying to get Come 2 My House distributed on Arista/BMG (without the NPG label) during his initial talks with Clive, but by that time, she was done.

[Edited 2/22/19 17:58pm]

Ah, thanks. I don't think a lot of people were happy with the Larry thing.

TrcikyChristopher said:

PennyPurple said:

Why did she cuss him out?

Well, first off, she was drunk off her ass...

Secondly, from what I heard from someone there, it had something to do with Larry and his influence on Prince. She knew at the time that Mayte wasn't into the JW thing and Chaka respected Larry's views but did not respect the way she felt P was being "brainwashed".

If you really pay attention to Chaka's attitude on their interview on Vibe (June 98) and then BET Tonight (October 98), she was fed up by October. Prince tried to make amends by trying to get Come 2 My House distributed on Arista/BMG (without the NPG label) during his initial talks with Clive, but by that time, she was done.

[Edited 2/22/19 17:58pm]

What I was told about the incident I mentioned apparently had more to do with the tour itself, she wasn't happy with the touring conditions, IDK what exactly. But both stories do not necessarily exclude each other, it's very possible she was fed-up with a lot of different things and you know how things pile up when you start getting upset.

Thanks for the thread. What a great collaboration to try, even just a few songs would be nice. Such a specific place and time back then for those 3 to do something experimental. They were all already famous, so it was artist not industry driven.

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I love chaka's new album

but a bit short, 7 tracks, 27 minutes or so

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producer Switch did a great job !

I love that producer

he did great with M.I.A.

check it out

even his own music is worth to have a listen

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