By SDCN Editor
The SRG/ILS group has collaborated with one of the most iconic and recognizable voices in American music, Chaka Khan.
A singer, songwriter, actor, and activist, Khan is one of the world’s most gifted and celebrated musicians the world has ever known. Impacting almost every popular musical genre and having sold an estimated 70 million records, she has influenced generations of recording artists.
“Chaka Khan is a beacon of light in our industry. Her spirit and her vocals soar. It is a pleasure working with her on this next chapter and we got a hot record here,” Claude Villani, founder, and CEO of The SRG/ILS Group.
“I am very proud to be with The SRG/ILS Group, a company that is run by a real musician who understands the needs of artists that have been overlooked for years,” Chaka Khan said.
Her legendary career jump-started when Stevie Wonder penned the now-classic “Tell Me Something Good” for Khan when she was lead singer of the R&B, Funk band Rufus in 1974. Both the song and the album, “Rags To Rufus,” topped the charts, were certified Gold, and won the Grammy that year for Best R&B Vocal Performance.
After six albums with Rufus nearly all of which went Gold or Platinum, in 1978 Khan started her solo career by releasing the all-time classic “I’m Every Woman” (Ashford and Simpson). Produced by iconic songwriter, arranger, producer, and executive Arif Mardin, the single and the album cemented Khan as a force that was about to take over popular music.
After incredible success both solo and collaborative, in 1984 Khan released the iconic album “I Feel For You.” The title track, a cover of a Prince song, was a gigantic pop hit on the radio and MTV and earned her second Grammy Award as a solo artist for Best R&B Vocal Performance. Alongside being a top-selling chart-topper, the song made history by being the first R&B song to feature a rap that was performed by Grand Master Melle Mel. That kind of forward-thinking always kept Khan one step ahead of and praised by her peers.
The late, great Miles Davis often said, “She [Chaka] sings like my horn.” And the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin said, “[Chaka] is a one-of-a-kind, premier vocalist.”
Alongside the hit albums and singles, Khan has appeared on stage and screen in such standout productions as “The Blue Brothers” movie, “The Color Purple” on Broadway, and “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” a musical based on the music of her friend Stevie Wonder.
In 2022 the 10-time Grammy Award winner is about to chart a new path on all fronts of her record-breaking career. Khan is continuing her hit-making and chart-topping ways as she wraps up the production of new music that is both contemporary and every bit classic Chaka Khan.