Chaka Khan has insisted becoming a singer was a “calling”.
Chaka Khan – Avalon – November 2019, Charlie’s Angels premiere
The 73-year-old singer had her big break aged 20 when her band Rufus signed a record deal and enjoyed massive success in the following years.
Chaka left the group around 10 years later, and made a name for herself as a solo artist with songs such as the now world-famous Ain’t Nobody.
Speaking on the BBC World Service’s The Interview podcast, Chaka reflected on her musical career to date, as she said: “This is a calling. It’s bigger than anything in your life as an individual.
“If you found the thing that you were put on this planet to do, and a lot of people are put on this planet and they don’t know, it’s such a gift to find it.”
Despite the fact that Chaka always looks calm and collected on stage, she told hosts Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus that it was a different story behind the scenes.
She admitted: “I’ve always been terrified, I still am. But I find it a good thing. I was doing a lot of gigs and I was petrified for a long time but I found a way to not appear that way.
“I never talked to the audience. I just said, at most, what the next song was. I wished I could but it was too much.”
But it was a piece of advice from musical legend Carlos Santana that helped her work on her nerves and turn the experience into one she enjoyed.
He told her “when you get on stage, focus on one person – if you touch them, you touch everyone”.
With Chaka praising the tip for “freeing me up”.
Now she’s lucky enough to still be taking to the stage and delighting fans worldwide – and Chaka knows how rare that is.
She questioned: “How many people get to make a living doing something that brings such crazy mad love and enjoyment to you?
“I’m so lucky and blessed to have that aspect in my life.”
Chaka was speaking to the BBC ahead of a stage show of her life opening up in London this July – Chaka Khan: I’m Every Woman – The Musical.
