Chaka Khan

Khan has been married three times. In 1970, at age 17, she married her first husband, Hassan Khan, though the marriage ended in divorce shortly afterward. She married Richard Holland in 1976, a relationship that ended when Holland filed for divorce in 1980. She later married music producer Doug Rasheed in 2001.

She has two children: a daughter, Indira Milini, born to Khan and Rahsaan Morris, and a son, Damien Holland, born during her marriage to Richard Holland. In 2004, Damien was involved in a fatal shooting incident at Khan's residence; Khan testified on his behalf during the criminal trial, which resulted in his acquittal in 2006.

Khan has spoken candidly about her past challenges with substance abuse, including alcoholism and dependencies on illicit and prescription drugs. After achieving sobriety from drugs in the late 1990s and alcohol in 2005, she and her sister entered a rehabilitation program in 2016 for prescription medication dependency. Khan follows a plant-based diet to support her health. Over the course of her career, she has lived in London and Germany, and she resides in Los Angeles.

Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois, to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman. She grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side as the eldest of five children. Her grandmother introduced her to jazz at an early age, sparking an interest in vocal music that led her and her sister Yvonne (later known as singer Taka Boom) to form a vocal group called the Crystalettes when Khan was 11 years old.

During her teenage years, Khan became engaged in the civil rights movement. In 1967, after meeting activist Fred Hampton, she joined the Black Panther Party and assisted with the group's community initiatives, including its free breakfast program for children. Around the age of 13, a Yoruba priest bestowed upon her the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi. She subsequently left the Panthers and left formal schooling at age 16 to pursue music full-time.

After performing with local Chicago groups such as Lyfe and Baby Huey & the Babysitters, Khan was invited in 1972 to replace departing lead vocalist Paulette McWilliams in the band Rufus. The band soon caught the ear of Ike Turner, who flew the group to Los Angeles to record at his studio. Although Turner invited Khan to join the Ikettes, she chose to stay with Rufus.

Rufus signed with ABC Records and released their debut album in 1973. Mainstream success arrived with their 1974 follow-up album, Rags to Rufus, propelled by the Stevie Wonder-penned single "Tell Me Something Good." The song climbed into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the group their first Grammy Award. The band followed up with hit records including "You Got the Love," "Once You Get Started," "Sweet Thing," "Hollywood," and "Do You Love What You Feel."

Khan's stage presence, multi-octave vocal range, and percussive musicianship made her the central focal point of the group. The act was later billed as Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. Their final major studio collaboration came on the 1983 live and studio collection Stompin' at the Savoy, Live, which featured the Grammy-winning hit single "Ain't Nobody" before the group disbanded.

In 1978, Khan launched her solo career with the release of Chaka on Warner Bros. Records. The album went platinum on the strength of "I'm Every Woman," an anthem written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. She also collaborated with Quincy Jones on his 1978 single "Stuff Like That" and continued to alternate between solo releases, such as Naughty (1980) and What Cha' Gonna Do for Me (1981), and Rufus obligations.

Her solo career reached its commercial pinnacle in 1984 with the album I Feel for You. The title track, written by Prince, incorporated a harmonica performance by Stevie Wonder and an introductory rap by Grandmaster Melle Mel. It topped the R&B charts, became a crossover smash on pop radio, and earned multiple Grammy Awards, marking the first time an R&B artist achieved a major crossover hit featuring a featured rapper. The album also yielded the enduring ballad "Through the Fire."

Throughout subsequent decades, Khan released diverse projects spanning pop, soul, and jazz, including The Woman I Am (1992), the Prince-produced Come 2 My House (1998), the jazz collection ClassiKhan (2004), and the Grammy-winning album Funk This (2007), which included the Mary J. Blige duet "Disrespectful." In 2019, she returned with the studio album Hello Happiness.

Beyond the recording studio, Khan appeared in several film and theatrical productions. She made a cameo appearance as a church choir soloist in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers and played Sister Carrie in the 1995 London production of the gospel musical Mama, I Want to Sing!. In 2008, she made her Broadway debut portraying Sofia in the stage adaptation of The Color Purple.

In 1999, she established the Chaka Khan Foundation to support women and children at risk, as well as families affected by autism. In 2003, she published her autobiography, Chaka! Through the Fire.

Khan has accumulated eleven Grammy Awards over five decades in music, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2013, the city of Chicago ceremonially renamed a section of Blackstone Avenue near her former school as Chaka Khan Way. In 2023, Khan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.