Chaka Khan<\/a> has insisted becoming a singer was a \u201ccalling\u201d. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Chaka Khan – Avalon – November 2019, Charlie’s Angels premiere<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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\u2019t Nobody. <\/p>\n
Speaking on the BBC World Service\u2019s The Interview podcast, Chaka reflected on her musical career to date, as she said: \u201cThis is a calling. It’s bigger than anything in your life as an individual. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDespite 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. <\/p>\n
\nShe admitted: \u201cI\u2019ve 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. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cI never talked to the audience. I just said, at most, what the next song was. I wished I could but it was too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBut 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. <\/p>\n
\nHe told her \u201cwhen you get on stage, focus on one person – if you touch them, you touch everyone\u201d. <\/p>\n
\nWith Chaka praising the tip for \u201cfreeing me up\u201d. <\/p>\n
\nNow she\u2019s lucky enough to still be taking to the stage and delighting fans worldwide – and Chaka knows how rare that is.<\/p>\n
\nShe questioned: \u201cHow many people get to make a living doing something that brings such crazy mad love and enjoyment to you? <\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m so lucky and blessed to have that aspect in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nChaka was speaking to the BBC ahead of a stage show of her life opening up in London this July – Chaka Khan: I\u2019m Every Woman – The Musical.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"25 May 2026 Chaka Khan has insisted becoming a singer was a \u201ccalling\u201d. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4290,888,8950,15397],"class_list":{"0":"post-242327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-annie-macmanus","9":"tag-chaka-khan","10":"tag-nick-grimshaw","11":"tag-rufus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}