Stephen Wunderlich
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Happy Belated 71st Birthday Chaka Khan!🎁🎂Chicago singer, she became famous after joining the racially mixed group Rufus in ‘72-‘73, a Chicago group who had evolved from the late 60’s pop band American Breed. Their 1st LP in ‘73 was a critical hit yet didn’t sell. But 1 of their covers caught the
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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attention of its writer, Stevie Wonder (the song - Maybe Your Baby) who loved the female vocal. He wrote the song Tell Me Something Good for Chaka, which became the lead single of the 2nd LP & then a smash hit in ‘74, hitting #3 on the pop & R&B charts. Rufus w/ Chaka would have 5 other #1 R&B hits
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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in the next 10 years & 8 Hot 100 Top 40 hits, including 2 more Top 10s- Once You Get Started & Sweet Thing (#5 in ‘75), but in ‘78 Chaka simultaneously started a solo career getting significant help from Quincy Jones & Ashford & Simpson. Her 1st solo LP contained her first #1 solo hit, I’m Every
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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Woman, #1 R&B, #21 Pop, #11 UK, & later was a Top 5 hit for Whitney in ‘92. The summer of ‘78 also featured her on another #1 R&B hit (& another #21 pop hit), Stuff Like That from a same-titled Quincy Jones LP. Both songs were written by Ashford & Simpson (Stuff Like That had other writers as well).
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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thread 5/9
Chaka left Rufus in ‘79 but their biggest song, & their farewell song, was included on an ‘83 live LP, Ain’t Nobody. It was their final #1 R&B hit & again reached #22 on the Hot 100. It again won them a Grammy - they had won for Tell Me Something Good. But it also went Top 10 in the UK twice- in ‘84
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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and again in ‘89 for her remix LP.
Her career peak came from her next LP, her 6th, which again involved Stevie Wonder but for the 1st time, Prince. He’d written a song in ‘79 already recorded by the Pointer Sisters, I Feel For You. Chaka added a harmonica solo from Stevie & an iconic rap & the song
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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thread 7/9
became a million-selling smash in both the US (#3) & the UK (#1). It remained on the charts for 26 weeks in the US & finished as the #5 song of the year, also winning a Grammy (for Prince). Her final Top 40 Pop hit came in ‘90 w/ a remake of I’ll Be Good To You (#18) from another Quincy LP.
But she
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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Stephen Wunderlich
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thread 8/9
was involved w/ one more #1 song as a background singer - something she did fairly often in the 80’s & 90’s. She was the background singer on the smash #1 hit Higher Love, from Steve Winwood in ‘85.
From the I Feel For You LP, her Top 20 hit, also in ‘85, Through The Fire.
09:27 PM - Mar 25, 2024
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