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 Ain’t nobody does it better than Chaka Khan. The renowned singer spoke with Katrina Fox on the eve of her Australian tour.
Soul, funk, pop, rock, disco, R&B, rap, hip hop, classical and world music – Chaka Khan has done them all. Born Yvette Marie Stevens, she grew up in Chicago, formed her first singing group at the age of 11 and joined the Black Panthers political movement in her late teens.
“I’m sensitive to injustice,” she tells SX when asked what impact this had on her. “I’m not a racist, it didn’t get me there!” she laughs. “I’m sensitive to children who are suffering anywhere because of dumb adults doing dumb things. It made me very cause-motivated.”
In 1969 Yvette was renamed Chaka by an African priest from the Yoruba culture. She began performing with the band Rufus before going solo at the age of 25 in 1978. Since then she’s clocked up 10 Grammys and worked with a long list of musical legends including Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Miles Davis.
Best known for her rendition of ‘Ain’t Nobody’, cover of Prince’s ‘I Feel For You’, and of course her anthem for the female population ‘I’m Every Woman’, Khan would appear to have lived a charmed life, but it’s not been an easy ride. In her autobiography Through the Fire, she reveals a candid portrayal of a woman caught up in depression and drugs.
She describes her latest album Funk This, just released in Australia, as an attempt to find Yvette again.
“Yvette is my core person; she’s the person that’s been with me and known me all my life,” she says. “I was living the Chaka Khan life and that life was missing a lot of good core and value systems that I used and applied in my earlier life. I got off track a bit; I was self-medicating. I went into rehab, then came out and did this brilliant album! I make it sound so simple but it was a very intense and amazing journey that I took.”
 One of the songs on the new album, ‘Angel’, was in fact written when she was in an altered state. “I used to lock myself down, medicate and write poems, so I had lots of poetry books. I was rummaging through some things as I was moving house and I came across this one and took it to the studio.”
Funk This sees Khan return to ‘old-school’ funk and soul, featuring a selection of her own compositions and collaborations plus her interpretation of classic tunes originated by the likes of Prince, Joni Mitchell and Jimi Hendrix. Another treat is a duet with Mary J Blige called ‘Disrespectful’. “Mary wrote that song,” Khan says. “She wanted to do a Chaka Khan type of song and Mary and I had been threatening to do a duet with each other for years so this was a great opportunity.”
For the most part the concept of the album is about empowerment, Khan says – like her signature tune ‘I’m Every Woman’. “That’s a powerful song. It’s a song about empowerment, for men and women. I didn’t write the damn song – I wish I had! If I had, I would have included the male gender to make it more gender friendly. It’s that you can do anything, that’s the message.”
And Khan, it seems, can do many things, including a lot of work for HIV organisations and setting up a foundation to help women and children at risk.
“We have an education campaign we’re doing in low-income areas where we take fifth graders and stick with them for six years until they get into college,” she says. “We take them away from the gang and drug influence.”
Like many a diva, Khan is not short of gay fans. “I’m just so happy to have a gay following like I do, because I’m telling you they’re the most loyal, unfickle following a girl could have,” she enthuses. “These are people that are highly sensitive who are looking deeply into who you are and what you’re about before they give you their stamp of approval. When you get a stamp of approval from the gay community you are doing something, you know what I mean?”
As for her own proclivities, she’s not keen on labels. “Love is love, man. If you can get honest, true love then go for it. You know, love – real love – is a beautiful amazing thing and if you can find that in any person I think that’s who you should be, because it’s so hard to find someone who’ll love you for who you are.”
So what does a woman who’s been in the business for 40 years think of the music industry today? “I don’t know if I’m in a circus, peep show, carnival, fashion show or what these days!” she laughs. “I just want to sing good music without all the bells and ponies. I like hip hop and Chinese folk music if it’s good music. I don’t listen to the radio, because I refuse to garbage out my ears and hear the same shit over and over again.”
When asked what Australian audiences can expect when she hits our shores this month, she says without hesitation, “A damn good show!”
Chaka Khan Live – 35th Anniversary World Tour, June 14, 7.30pm at the Enmore Theatre, Enmore Road, Enmore. Special guest Marcia Hines. $130/$100. Bookings ticketek.com.au. Official website: chakakhan.com.
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