Bulldog said:

I'm giving props to Ashford & Simpson for writing the song and Arif Mardin for an outstanding production and arrangement!

I second that.

kitbradley said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Why can't you stand Chaka singing these songs anymore? Granted, her voice may be lower than it once was in her prime but she can still sing and does so very well still! So, I'm puzzled by your statement... :scratch head:

No, her voice is fine. It's just that whenever she makes a television appearance, she's so predictable. She's either going to sing "IEW" or "Ain't Nobody" or both and she has worn those songs OUT!!! That's why I say I can't stand hearing her sing them. I know these are songs the massess are familiar with but most of her fans who have been following her for years want to hear her sing other songs from her incredibly vast catalog. 27 years of hearing her perform "Ain't Nobody" over and over and over again, it's just grown really old. It's like, "Oh God! Not again!!!"

[Edited 10/8/10 17:36pm]

I'll give you that--I would love to hear Chaka Khan show a wider audience her substantial jazz skills as well as the old songs she is known for. Just as long as you are not faulting her "chops!" She can still belt out great R&B, jazz, etc....maybe in a lower key...but oh! the Voice!

purplethunder3121 said:

kitbradley said:

No, her voice is fine. It's just that whenever she makes a television appearance, she's so predictable. She's either going to sing "IEW" or "Ain't Nobody" or both and she has worn those songs OUT!!! That's why I say I can't stand hearing her sing them. I know these are songs the massess are familiar with but most of her fans who have been following her for years want to hear her sing other songs from her incredibly vast catalog. 27 years of hearing her perform "Ain't Nobody" over and over and over again, it's just grown really old. It's like, "Oh God! Not again!!!"

[Edited 10/8/10 17:36pm]

I'll give you that--I would love to hear Chaka Khan show a wider audience her substantial jazz skills as well as the old songs she is known for. Just as long as you are not faulting her "chops!" She can still belt out great R&B, jazz, etc....maybe in a lower key...but oh! the Voice!

That woman's so diverse it's crazy...

Cerebus said:

Never liked any version of this song... other than the deep "whoa.. whoa... whooooooa" part.

finally someone who agrees

Wow,,,,,this is the first time I hear somebody point their dislike about the song.

I mean...

I can cast a spell

With secrets you can't tell
Mix a special brew
Put fire inside of you.
Any time you feel danger or fear
Instantly I will appear

How can anybody dislike that? It has a subliminal empowering message,,,and I could def sense that Ashford & Simpson took afew ideas from Maya Angelou's notebook.

To me, what I love most about it was the fact that it was one of the few songs(sung by a woman, and a soul singer mind you) at the time, where she didn't dwell or lament about "her man" leaving her, or that she needed to fight "other women" off him to keep him, in fact, this time, the woman seemed to be the one who assumed the self-possessed role. It defied the normal cliche, and for once, somebody realized that the sky's the limit when it comes to storytelling.

Ironically, Ashford & Simpson did a COMPLETE flip-side when they wrote "Keep Away Girls" for Ms.Stephanie Mills

UptownCitizen said:

Did you know that Whitney also sang on the original?

i wonder where songfacts & wiki got their info from because besides Cissy singing on a few other album tracks,

she and Whitney don't appear in the published credits of "I'm Every Woman". Only Chaka is credited for all the background vocals.

Did Whitney or Cissy confirm this themselves ? I can imagine though that Cissy brought Whitney with her to the studio.

I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan Songfacts

I'm Every Woman - Wikiped...cyclopedia

Chaka Khan - Chaka (Vinyl...at Discogs

allmusic ((( Chaka > Credits )))

A similar example i heard during an interview with Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson. He told that back

in the 70's he had a thing with Chaka and sang with her in the background during the recording of Parliament's

song "Flashlight", but they're not mentioned in the album credits. Liner notes also seem not always accurate.

Shango said:

A similar example i heard during an interview with Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson. He told that back

in the 70's he had a thing with Chaka and sang with her in the background during the recording of Parliament's

song "Flashlight", but they're not mentioned in the album credits. Liner notes also seem not always accurate.

Sometimes people ask not to be listed in the credits or use fake names to remain anonymous for different reasons like maybe the act is on another record label and the main act doesn't have to get permission from the guest performer's label to use them. The Beatles were known for this. John Lennon has gone under "Dr. Winston O' Boogie", George Harrison has done guest appearances as "Bette Y El Mysterioso", and Paul McCartney has used "Percy Thrillington". They've also used many other names. It's been said that Michael Jackson sings background vocals on the Doobie Brothers' What A Fool Believes, but he is not credited. On Minnie Riperton's Perfect Angel album, Stevie Wonder is credited as "El Toro Negro".

Maybe one of the reasons why Nippy went uncredited as a background singer on "IEW" was because she was only a young kid at the time. I remember reading she was in the studio with her mom at the time and they just kind of let her join in on the chorus. It wasn't anything that was pre-arranged.

Artists contribute background vocals to songs all the time and often go uncredited for various reasons. It's even happened with Chaka. This is going way back to a really obscure song from the 70s by Bruce Fischer entitled "Red Hot". Chaka performed the background vocals on that song. It was clearly her singing and her voice was very prominent. But, due to some contractual issues, she went as uncredited in the liner notes of the album. For those of you not familiar with the song, check it out. It's really cool. She sounds very sexy! It used to be posted on youtube but I'm not sure if it still is.

^Good points in both posts^ and thanks also for both your examples

kitbradley said:

Maybe one of the reasons why Nippy went uncredited as a background singer on "IEW" was because she was only a young kid at the time. I remember reading she was in the studio with her mom at the time and they just kind of let her join in on the chorus. It wasn't anything that was pre-arranged.

Artists contribute background vocals to songs all the time and often go uncredited for various reasons. It's even happened with Chaka. This is going way back to a really obscure song from the 70s by Bruce Fischer entitled "Red Hot". Chaka performed the background vocals on that song. It was clearly her singing and her voice was very prominent. But, due to some contractual issues, she went as uncredited in the liner notes of the album. For those of you not familiar with the song, check it out. It's really cool. She sounds very sexy! It used to be posted on youtube but I'm not sure if it still is.

Speaking of credits, Chaka applied background vocals to Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" but it was originally a duet between the two. For some reason, someone had the bright idea to take out her response back to Steve's vocals therefore just leaving the backgrounds. Technically she did get a number-one hit out of it but she ain't quite "recognized" for it I guess because of the edits.

Chaka also gets some royalties as a vocal arranger to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" but the song was also originally a duet with her and Robert and Robert basically recorded a solo version. The version with Chaka and Robert is still in her former label's archives.

I think Whitney was credited for her vocals on Chaka's "Naughty" album. I think this is where the Whitney biographies stated: "By 1980, Whitney was singing background vocals for Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan and the Neville Brothers..."

So if she wasn't credited for "IEW" initially as a background vocalist, her age could've been a factor. I mean no one knew 11-year-old Barry White was on Jesse Belvin's "Goodnight My Love" for years so it makes sense (Whitney was 15 at the time).

Shango said:

UptownCitizen said:

Did you know that Whitney also sang on the original?

i wonder where songfacts & wiki got their info from because besides Cissy singing on a few other album tracks,

she and Whitney don't appear in the published credits of "I'm Every Woman". Only Chaka is credited for all the background vocals.

Did Whitney or Cissy confirm this themselves ? I can imagine though that Cissy brought Whitney with her to the studio.

I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan Songfacts

I'm Every Woman - Wikiped...cyclopedia

Chaka Khan - Chaka (Vinyl...at Discogs

allmusic ((( Chaka > Credits )))

A similar example i heard during an interview with Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson. He told that back

in the 70's he had a thing with Chaka and sang with her in the background during the recording of Parliament's

song "Flashlight", but they're not mentioned in the album credits. Liner notes also seem not always accurate.

You know something? I thought I heard Chaka singing with them on that song especially when it got to "everybody's got their little light under the sun". Chaka's sister Taka later sung with P-Funk around that same time.

[Edited 10/9/10 10:00am]

That's cool ... i didn't know that Taka sang with the P-Funk gang though. I've read that she was part of Undisputed Truth, Dream Machine with her husband,

and she even formed a group with Chaka and a few other ladies, called The Crystalettes. More good info here : Taka Boom Bio (Part 1) Taka Boom Bio (Part 2)

And her connection with P-Funk is indeed described in that article

[Edited 10/9/10 10:24am]

Shango said:

That's cool ... i didn't know that Taka sang with the P-Funk gang though. I've read that she was part of Undisputed Truth, Dream Machine with her husband,

and she even formed a group with Chaka and a few other ladies, called The Crystalettes. More good info here : Taka Boom Bio (Part 1) Taka Boom Bio (Part 2)

Yeah according to credits on Parliament's "The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein", she's credited as one of the vocalists on it. Taka's been everywhere. I remember seeing her on Soul Train with the Undisputed Youth. You can tell she got Chaka's mannerisms and vocal style...well hell they are sisters so of course they're gonna act and sound familiar hahaha

lol, true that

Timmy84 said:

kitbradley said:

Maybe one of the reasons why Nippy went uncredited as a background singer on "IEW" was because she was only a young kid at the time. I remember reading she was in the studio with her mom at the time and they just kind of let her join in on the chorus. It wasn't anything that was pre-arranged.

Artists contribute background vocals to songs all the time and often go uncredited for various reasons. It's even happened with Chaka. This is going way back to a really obscure song from the 70s by Bruce Fischer entitled "Red Hot". Chaka performed the background vocals on that song. It was clearly her singing and her voice was very prominent. But, due to some contractual issues, she went as uncredited in the liner notes of the album. For those of you not familiar with the song, check it out. It's really cool. She sounds very sexy! It used to be posted on youtube but I'm not sure if it still is.

Speaking of credits, Chaka applied background vocals to Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" but it was originally a duet between the two. For some reason, someone had the bright idea to take out her response back to Steve's vocals therefore just leaving the backgrounds. Technically she did get a number-one hit out of it but she ain't quite "recognized" for it I guess because of the edits.

Chaka also gets some royalties as a vocal arranger to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" but the song was also originally a duet with her and Robert and Robert basically recorded a solo version. The version with Chaka and Robert is still in her former label's archives.

I think Whitney was credited for her vocals on Chaka's "Naughty" album. I think this is where the Whitney biographies stated: "By 1980, Whitney was singing background vocals for Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan and the Neville Brothers..."

So if she wasn't credited for "IEW" initially as a background vocalist, her age could've been a factor. I mean no one knew 11-year-old Barry White was on Jesse Belvin's "Goodnight My Love" for years so it makes sense (Whitney was 15 at the time).

Same thing happened to her with, "Don't Look Any Further". She was originally supposed to be a part of the duet, with Dennis but for some reason, her vocals were either replaced or she was passed up.

shorttrini said:

Timmy84 said:

Speaking of credits, Chaka applied background vocals to Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" but it was originally a duet between the two. For some reason, someone had the bright idea to take out her response back to Steve's vocals therefore just leaving the backgrounds. Technically she did get a number-one hit out of it but she ain't quite "recognized" for it I guess because of the edits.

Chaka also gets some royalties as a vocal arranger to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" but the song was also originally a duet with her and Robert and Robert basically recorded a solo version. The version with Chaka and Robert is still in her former label's archives.

I think Whitney was credited for her vocals on Chaka's "Naughty" album. I think this is where the Whitney biographies stated: "By 1980, Whitney was singing background vocals for Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan and the Neville Brothers..."

So if she wasn't credited for "IEW" initially as a background vocalist, her age could've been a factor. I mean no one knew 11-year-old Barry White was on Jesse Belvin's "Goodnight My Love" for years so it makes sense (Whitney was 15 at the time).

Same thing happened to her with, "Don't Look Any Further". She was originally supposed to be a part of the duet, with Dennis but for some reason, her vocals were either replaced or she was passed up.

According to Chaka or Dennis, she wasn't available because either she was performing at the time the song was recorded or recording an album somewhere not related to the location so someone picked Siedah.

Timmy84 said:

shorttrini said:

Same thing happened to her with, "Don't Look Any Further". She was originally supposed to be a part of the duet, with Dennis but for some reason, her vocals were either replaced or she was passed up.

According to Chaka or Dennis, she wasn't available because either she was performing at the time the song was recorded or recording an album somewhere not related to the location so someone picked Siedah.

I knew that you knew the scoop, Timmy.

shorttrini said:

Timmy84 said:

According to Chaka or Dennis, she wasn't available because either she was performing at the time the song was recorded or recording an album somewhere not related to the location so someone picked Siedah.

I knew that you knew the scoop, Timmy.

Always.

SoulAlive said:

Chaka!!

Chaka gets my vote too.

Timmy84 said:

Do we have to go through this again?

YVETTE MARIE STEVENS AKA CHAKA KHAN'S of course, DUH!

vainandy said:

Any version of any song by any artist is better than a version by Shitney. Hell, even the old ass original version of "The Star Spangled Banner" from the 1700s or 1800s is better than hers.

NMuzakNSoul said:

[img:$uid]http://www.gifsoup.com/view4/1214584/uhm-o.gif[/img:$uid]

Uhm...

Chaka of course

[Edited 10/7/10 6:34am]

I love it!

DesireeNevermind said:

BklynBabe said:

Chaka! That's why Whitney put her in the video.

Nobody wanted to see Whitney's pregnant ass. That's why Chaka was in there and Ashford and Pimpson and TLC. Shit she needed all the help she could get.

I hate Whitney's version btw. Chaka owns this song and her video is superior as well.

Nobody should ever cover a Chaka Khan song. You're better off wearing a sign on your head that says " I AM INFERIOR TO CHAKA KHAN AND YOU ALL KNOW IT!"

@ this whole post.

bboy87 said:

[img:$uid]http://i55.tinypic.com/2urpjkz.jpg[/img:$uid]

I have a moving gif of MJ eating popcorn, but can't post it because my computer is being a fucktard right about now.

Timmy84 said:

kitbradley said:

Maybe one of the reasons why Nippy went uncredited as a background singer on "IEW" was because she was only a young kid at the time. I remember reading she was in the studio with her mom at the time and they just kind of let her join in on the chorus. It wasn't anything that was pre-arranged.

Artists contribute background vocals to songs all the time and often go uncredited for various reasons. It's even happened with Chaka. This is going way back to a really obscure song from the 70s by Bruce Fischer entitled "Red Hot". Chaka performed the background vocals on that song. It was clearly her singing and her voice was very prominent. But, due to some contractual issues, she went as uncredited in the liner notes of the album. For those of you not familiar with the song, check it out. It's really cool. She sounds very sexy! It used to be posted on youtube but I'm not sure if it still is.

Speaking of credits, Chaka applied background vocals to Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" but it was originally a duet between the two. For some reason, someone had the bright idea to take out her response back to Steve's vocals therefore just leaving the backgrounds. Technically she did get a number-one hit out of it but she ain't quite "recognized" for it I guess because of the edits.

Chaka also gets some royalties as a vocal arranger to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" but the song was also originally a duet with her and Robert and Robert basically recorded a solo version. The version with Chaka and Robert is still in her former label's archives.

I think Whitney was credited for her vocals on Chaka's "Naughty" album. I think this is where the Whitney biographies stated: "By 1980, Whitney was singing background vocals for Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan and the Neville Brothers..."

So if she wasn't credited for "IEW" initially as a background vocalist, her age could've been a factor. I mean no one knew 11-year-old Barry White was on Jesse Belvin's "Goodnight My Love" for years so it makes sense (Whitney was 15 at the time).

I thought in both these cases, the gentleman's labels would not allow them to duet. To Winwood's credit, he made the video with Chaka as a protest.

Harlepolis said:

Wow,,,,,this is the first time I hear somebody point their dislike about the song.

I mean...

I can cast a spell

With secrets you can't tell
Mix a special brew
Put fire inside of you.
Any time you feel danger or fear
Instantly I will appear

How can anybody dislike that? It has a subliminal empowering message,,,and I could def sense that Ashford & Simpson took afew ideas from Maya Angelou's notebook.

To me, what I love most about it was the fact that it was one of the few songs(sung by a woman, and a soul singer mind you) at the time, where she didn't dwell or lament about "her man" leaving her, or that she needed to fight "other women" off him to keep him, in fact, this time, the woman seemed to be the one who assumed the self-possessed role. It defied the normal cliche, and for once, somebody realized that the sky's the limit when it comes to storytelling.

Ironically, Ashford & Simpson did a COMPLETE flip-side when they wrote "Keep Away Girls" for Ms.Stephanie Mills

it's precisely these pompous 'strong woman' lyrics that put me off

Chaka . . .

did someone else attempt to cover this song?

Timmy84 said:

Shango said:

i wonder where songfacts & wiki got their info from because besides Cissy singing on a few other album tracks,

she and Whitney don't appear in the published credits of "I'm Every Woman". Only Chaka is credited for all the background vocals.

Did Whitney or Cissy confirm this themselves ? I can imagine though that Cissy brought Whitney with her to the studio.

I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan Songfacts

I'm Every Woman - Wikiped...cyclopedia

Chaka Khan - Chaka (Vinyl...at Discogs

allmusic ((( Chaka > Credits )))

A similar example i heard during an interview with Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson. He told that back

in the 70's he had a thing with Chaka and sang with her in the background during the recording of Parliament's

song "Flashlight", but they're not mentioned in the album credits. Liner notes also seem not always accurate.

You know something? I thought I heard Chaka singing with them on that song especially when it got to "everybody's got their little light under the sun". Chaka's sister Taka later sung with P-Funk around that same time.

[Edited 10/9/10 10:00am]

I'm going to have to give that jam a spin again because all these years and I aint neva heard a whif of Khan

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Timmy84 said:

You know something? I thought I heard Chaka singing with them on that song especially when it got to "everybody's got their little light under the sun". Chaka's sister Taka later sung with P-Funk around that same time.

[Edited 10/9/10 10:00am]

I'm going to have to give that jam a spin again because all these years and I aint neva heard a whif of Khan

Well when a song's that funky, fuck credits.