At the last Grammy Awards Chaka Khan walked away with no fewer than two prizes. For any who still had doubts, this was clear proof that Khan remains a significant force as a singer. On her latest album Funk This she returns to her roots with abandon: as a funky diva in a duet with Mary J. Blige, as a sensual lover and as a dynamic power lady in old-school R&B. Yvette Marie Stevens from Chicago debuted at the end of the seventies under the stage name Chaka Khan with the album Chaka, with the hit I'm Every Woman. She began to gain fame much more than she had previously with the band Rufus, in which she had been singing before going solo. Her real breakthrough came with What Cha' Gonna Do for Me in which famous jazz artists played in the band. La Khan cannot be tied down to a single style. Her recordings comprise ballads and dance tracks in R&B, soul, disco and yes, even country style. And jazz, of course, because with the help of jazz legends like Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock and Lenny White the singer amazed listeners in 1982 with Echoes of an Era. Her penultimate project in 2004 was remarkable too: Classikhan, bursting with classics, was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
